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                       Announcing CSCI 4980.002
                 Computer Game Design and Programming

                              Fall 1994

Time:       MW 5:00--6:20         Office: GAB 327
Place:      GAB 438               Phone:  (817) 565-2845
Instructor: Dr. Ian Parberry      Email:  ian@ponder.csci.unt.edu

Synopsis: Want to learn how to design and program computer games? Want to
break into the computer games market? Want to write commercial quality games?
Want the opportunity to work in a group environment with experienced games
programmers? Are you self-directed?  Eager to learn?  Tired of traditional
classes?  Then this is the class for you.

Objectives: This course will provide an introduction to the design and coding
of computer games.  The emphasis will be on commercial quality games in the
most popular genres, including strategy, arcade, flight simulation, battle,
and brain-games.  The general principles will be taught by examining commercial
games and exploring the techniques used to program them.  The aim of this
course is to prepare students and give them the opportunity to gain the
experience needed to produce and market their own games, or find a job with
a computer games company.  Successful students will also have an opportunity
to participate in the Cygnus Project, a UNT project to produce shareware games.

Prerequisites: CSCI 2010 (Assembly Language Programming) and CSCI 3400 (Data
Structures).  Also recommended but not mandatory: CSCI 3700 (Advanced Assembly
Language Programming) and CSCI 4420 (Introduction to Computer Graphics).

Grading: Grades will be based on homeworks and programming assignments.
The majority of the grade will be based on a group project to produce a
proposal for a commercially viable computer game, with completion of a
demonstration program that exhibits the major features of the game.

Course Material: We will select material from the following list, according
to the interests and abilities of the students:

1. Basics:  Terminology.  The primary game genres.

2. Game reviews: The best games in the leading genres.  The features that make
   them sell.  How to program these features.

3. The parts of a game:  The pre-game module.  The game engine.  Menu systems.
   Scoring.  User interfaces that work.  Common mistakes to avoid in user
   interfaces.

4. Game design:  How to design a commercial game.  What the user looks for in
   a game.  Putting together a production team.  Team composition: programmers,
   level designers, gophers, artists, musicians, testers.  Storyboarding versus
   freewheeling.  Putting together a solid proposal.

5. Introduction to the Internet:  The programs ftp, archie, and
   gopher.  Connecting to the internet.  Network news.  Commonly used
   ftp sites.  Net etiquette.

6. Hardware:  Mice and joysticks.  Sound and video.  Midi and digital sampling.
   Game environments on the IBM PC, MAC, and Amiga.  Cartridge games.  CD-ROM.

7. Graphics for computer games:  3-D projection systems. 2-D graphics.
   Graphics libraries.

8. MUDS:  Multi-User interactive Dungeon Systems.  Design and implementation.
   Nongame applications.

9. Adventure games:  Common adventure engines: TADS, ADL, ADSYS.  Adventure,
   Zork, and their derivatives.  Designing interactive fiction.

10. Marketing strategies: Shareware.  Freeware.  Copy protection.  How to find
    a company to market your game.  Who the big players are.  How to get their
    attention.  What they do for you.  What they demand of you as a programmer.

11. Social issues: Copyright laws.  Pirating.  Political correctness.  Sex and
    violence in games.  Morals and personal ethics in the gaming industry.
____
Ian Parberry (ian@ponder.csci.unt.edu)
Associate Professor, Dept. of Computer Sciences, Univ. of North Texas
"Bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of an expanding bureaucracy"