Instructor: Dan Frost frost@ics.uci.edu   Office: Donald Bren Hall 5058 (949) 824-1588 (Why UCI? 1 Luv!) Office hours: Tuesdays, 2:00pm - 3:00pm, and by appointment, in DBH 5058
Teaching assistant: Mehdi Rahimzadeh   m.rahimzadeh at uci.edu

Goal: To learn about the science, art, craft, and industry of computer games.

Useful links:

• Team Information Form
• How To Make A Game
• Game Loop Pattern
• Notes from class on how the final game project is graded
• 3D modeling and rigging.
• TextureDemo.zip
• A form of AI
• Design Document drafts and pitches -- schedule and assignments
• Final presentation schedule and information
• Wonders of GPUs
• Game Megatrends
• Need space on the web? Consider ICS's web space and UCI Webfiles

Ground rules

• Your grade will be based mostly on your team's accomplishments, which are primarily the design document, the delivered game, and the final presentation. No quizzes, tests, or final exam. Usually all team members get the same grade for the team game.
• If you add the course after Sept. 29, or if you do not fill out and turn in the Team Information Form, or if you drop from your team and do not find another team, then you will not be able to work on a team and the best possible grade you can get for the course will be a B.

Important Dates

• Thursday, Oct. 1: team announcements and first team meetings
• Team Pitches: Tuesday, Oct. 27, Thursday, Oct. 29, Tuesday, Nov. 3
• Tuesday, Nov. 10: guest speaker Graham Harwood. Links: http://v2.nl/archive/people/graham-harwood, vimeo.com/32030825
• Thursday, Nov. 12: guest speaker Thomas Lee, owner and founder of Ying Ying Apps
• Tuesday, Dec. 8, 7:00pm - 9:00pm in DBH 4011 and DBH 5011: Open House during the course's final exam period time

Assignments and projects

• First individual assignment, due Tuesday, 9/29/2015 7:00pm: completed Team Information Form.
• Second individual assignment, due Sunday, 10/25/2015: Comment on another team's draft design.
• Third individual assignment: six weekly status reports, due Mondays of sixth through Finals weeks.

• The major part of the course is a project, to be completed by a team. The project will be to design and implement substantial portions of a computer game. The project consists of the following:
  1. A statement of team composition. Name the students on the team, the grade option of each student, the major of each student, the team name, brief descriptions of two ideas you are considering for the team's game, and the time and place your team will meet for three hours every week. If you plan to work with students from outside of the class, please mention that as well. Send by email to m.rahimzadeh at uci.edu, Friday, 10/2/2015, by noon. Put "CS 113/Inf 125" at the start of the email's subject line.
  2. A draft design document for the game. This should be between 20 and 40 pages in length. It should be on the World Wide Web using HTML, PDF, or Google Docs. The format must permit scrolling through the entire document; therefore a wiki is not acceptable. Due Wednesday, 10/21/2015 (by the end of the day). Email the URL of your draft to Prof. Frost. Structure your Design Doc based on our recommended Design Doc structure.
  3. A presentation, or "pitch," of the team's game idea in the fifth or sixth week of the class Tuesday, 10/27/2015, or Thursday, 10/29/2015, or Tuesday, 11/3/2015 (subject to change).
  4. A final design document for the game. This should be about 30 to 40 pages in length. In addition to describing the game, technologies, art, and game play in detail, it should describe the specific responsibilities of each team member. Due Wednesday, 11/4/2015 (for teams pitching in week 5) or due Friday, 11/6/2015 (for teams pitching in week 6). This is also on the web, and the URL should be emailed to Prof. Frost.
  5. A presentation of the game development status in eighth week. (Cancelled)
  6. A presentation of the game at the end of week 10 or in Finals Week. To be scheduled; each team will have 30 minutes. Your team's grade will be based on the game as of this presentation.
  7. A two to three minute video of the game and the team, ideally posted on YouTube.
  8. A completion document, which includes an optional users manual, revised design document, individual statements about the course of the project (optional), and a CD with source code, executables, art and music files, a link to the game video, and at least two screen shots. Due at final presentation.
  9. Participation in the CS 113/Informatics 125 Open House, held during the course's Final Exam period, Tuesday, 12/8/2015 7:00pm-9:00pm.

Scoring and grading

Each game project will receive a letter grade, e.g. A, A-, B+, B (these are by far the most common grades). The game project is worth at most 75 points, as follows: A+, 73 to 75; A, 71; A-, 68; B+, 65; B, 62; and so on.

The game design document (including pitch and 8th week status reports) is worth up to 10 points; most teams will get 9 (an A). Students who miss part or all of their team's pitch will receive less credit.

Individual accomplishments are worth up to 15 points:

5 - attendance (roll will be taken on six or more dates)
2 - comment on another team's draft design document
2 - attendance at and energy demonstrated in eighth week presentation
6 - six status reports

Special Accommodations: Any student who feels he or she may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss his or her specific needs. Also contact the Disability Services Center at (949) 824-7494 as soon as possible to ensure that such accommodations are implementationed in a timely fashion.

At the Computer Game Design Conference on May 6, 1998, there was a panel on design docs. Moderator Alex Dunne referenced a real design document which was submitted by panelist John Jack, a producer at Monolith. This design doc was from the company's recent computer game, "Claw". Claw Design Document.