Computer Game Development

Dr. Scott Schaefer

Course Information

• Instructor: Dr. Schaefer• Office: HRBB 527B• Office Hours: by appointment

• TA: Sarah Beth Eisinger

• Website: http://courses.cs.tamu.edu/schaefer/443_Fall2011

Grading

• In-class presentation (individual): 10%• Project 1 (group): 25%• Project 2 (group): 60%• Class Participation: 5%

In-class Presentation

• Pick a topic related to game development / design• Try to pick something of interest to you or

relevant to your game

• Give a 20 minute talk in class

• List of potential topics will be posted online

• Must pick talk topic by Monday! (9/5)

• Order of talks is randomly determined

Project 1: Initial 2D Game

• Designed to • get you working in teams • familiar with the game development process• aspects of game development

• Due: 9/23

Project 1: Requirements

• User Interface• Keyboard, Mouse, Gamepad• Status of game displayed on screen

• Graphics• Animation• 2D Graphics (at most 2D game play)• Import some art asset from file

• Game Play• Single player okay• No networking!• Must have win/lose conditions

Project 1: Grading

• Project Presentations (3): 30%

• Game Website: 10%• Screen shots• Status updates• Download link

• Game based on previous criteria: 50%

• Peer Evaluation: 10%

Building a Team

• Games are made up of lots of areas of CS• Graphics, networking, AI, physics, etc…• Consider building a diverse team

• Come up with a name for your team

• Four to five people per team

• Start after this lecture

Project 2: Final Project

• Due at end of semester

• May choose different teams

• Similar to Project 1, but more ambitious

Project 2: Grading

• Project Presentations (5): 15%

• Final Presentation: 5%

• Game Website: 10%

• Game: 45%

• Peer Evaluation: 10%

• Group-defined Milestones: 15%

Game Ideas

• Think small

• You don’t have • Experience

• Years of time

• Millions of dollars

• …

Game Ideas

• Try to do one thing well• Good graphics/animation• Cool physics• Excellent sounds• Clever puzzles

• Don’t do a mediocre job in everything• One of everything

• You won’t design hundreds of levels

Game Genres

• Action• 1st Person Shooter• Sports• Fighting• Puzzle• Racing• Role-Playing

The Evolution of Game Hardware

• Atari 2600 - 1977• 1.18MHz 6507• 128 bytes RAM• 4KB ROM

• Atari 5200 - 1982(incompatible cartridge with 2600)• 1.8MHz 6502• 16KB RAM

The Evolution of Game Hardware

• Nintendo Entertainment System - 1985• 1.79MHz• 256x240 pixels• 2KB RAM• Mario Bros!

The Evolution of Game Hardware

• Sega Genesis - 1988• 7.6MHz • 64KB RAM

• Game Boy -1989• 8-bit 4.2 MHz• 8KB RAM• Tetris!

The Evolution of Game Hardware

• Super NES - 1990• 3.58Mhz 65C816 16bit CPU

• 128KB RAM

• Playstation - 1994• 34 MHz R3900 32bit CPU

• 2MB RAM (CPU), 1MB RAM (Video)

• Nintendo 64 - 1996• 94MHz R4300 64bit CPU

• 4MB RAM

• Reality Co-Processor – SGI• 100K triangles/second!

The Evolution of Game Hardware

Playstation2 - 2000• 295MHz R12000 CPU• 32MB RAM

• XBox - 2001• 733MHz Celeron• 64MB RAM• nVidia GeForce4

• GameCube - 2001• 485MHz PowerPC• 43MB RAM

The Evolution of Game Hardware

Playstation3 - 2006• 3.2GHz Cell CPU• 256MB RAM + 256MB Video RAM

• XBox360 - 2005• 3.2GHz PowerPC• 512MB RAM

• Nintendo Wii - 2006• 729MHz PowerPC• 88MB RAM

The Evolution of Game Hardware

The PC• Different processors• Different GPUs• Different amounts

of RAM