Computer Games Laboratory (IN7106, IN710615)
Time, Place | Wednesday, 16:00-18.00, initial meeting in room: MI 02.13.010 on-campus and online (only on days with milestone submissions, see detailed schedule below) |
Begin: | Mandatory kick-off meeting on Oct. 13th., 2021 in room: 02.13.010 and online (No matching system needed. If you cannot make it to the kick off, send email to westermann@tum.de. |
Details: | Main wiki: https://wiki.tum.de/display/gameslab2022/Home This course is open only to master students in Informatik: Games Engineering. The module comprises lectures, programming exercises, and student presentations |
Final pres.: | The final presentation of results will take place during the demo day (exact date tba). |
Prerequisites | Bachelor Informatik: Games Engineering |
Description
This is a practical course which involves a hands-on approach with neither traditional lectures nor exercises. Instead, we will meet ca. once every two weeks to discuss technical issues and to track progress via milestones. Students can utilize available game engines, yet we will make sure that a considerable own programming effort will be invested. While development will take place on PCs, students are free to choose the target platform of their final game.
At the end of the course, all results will be presented to the public.
Prerequisites
- Good programming skills (course projects are written in C++ or C#).
- Students should have passed successfully the Realtime CG lecture and practical.
- This practical is open for students of Master Informatics: Games Engineering only.
Organization
Regardless the content of the game, the development process must adhere to the guidelines proposed below. Students are encouraged to design a game that has strong links to one of the areas of specialization in the curriculum of the Master program Informatik: Games Engineering.
After choosing their favorite area of specialization, the students plan the project and prototype the intended game. Then, the game is implemented and iteratively improved via playtesting until it is ready to be presented at the end of the semester. Teams from different areas can also join to create an even more complex game.
Timeline
The following table gives an overview of all in class meetings during the semester. Please note that the dates will be updated according to the new semester times. On all none mentioned weeks there is no class.
lecture / milestone | date | team presentation | to publish on the wiki (due before presentation) |
---|---|---|---|
Kick-off Lecture: softskills and prototyping | Oct. 20th | Form groups, email to westermann@tum.de (also if you didn't find a group so far, but still want to participate!) | |
1. Milestone: Game idea pitch | Nov. 10th | Game idea | Report: Game idea proposal Slides: Game idea |
2. Milestone: Prototype | Nov. 24th | Prototype | Report: Prototype Slides: Prototype |
3. Milestone: Interim Demo | Dec. 15th | First programming results | Report: Interim results Slides: Interim results |
Lecture: Playtesting 4. Milestone: Alpha release | Jan. 19th | Alpha version | Report: Alpha release documentation Slides: Alpha release |
5. Playtesting | Feb. 2nd | Playtesting results | Report: Playtesting results Slides: Playtesting results |
6. Final Release | Feb. 16th | no presentation | Report: Final documentation |
Demo Day live presentation | Feb. NNth | pre-final Live Demo |
Course Materials
Previous instances of this course
Summerterm 2021
Winterterm 2020/2021
Summerterm 2020
Winterterm 2018/2019
Summerterm 2018
Winterterm 2017/2018
Summerterm 2017
Winterterm 2016/2017
Summerterm 2016
Winterterm 2015/2016
Summerterm 2015