09/05 Introduction; design vs. development; history of games;
game genres & archetypes; game theory & prisoner's dilemma;
deterministic games; game trees; minimax algorithms.
09/12 Non-deterministic games; games of imperfect knowledge;
decision trees; gambling and casinos. AI: search strategies;
monster behaviors.
09/19 Constraint propagation (sokoban, black box); puzzle design (word,
shape, number, memory, trivia, dexterity, team); lateral thinking
in puzzles.
09/26 Stories & backstories; text adventure design; storyboarding;
Inform tutorial; subgames; visual adventure games; path
multiplicity.
10/03 Role-playing game design; GURPS; LARP; Everquest & Neverwinter
Nights. Graphics (non-game-specific): rendering pipelines,
hidden line removal, occlusion, clipping, lighting, sprites,
Z-buffering.
10/10 Graphics (game-specific): texture mapping, skinning, bump
mapping, mip mapping.scrolling, levels of detail & popping,
progressive meshes & hysteresis, terrain generation, camera
algorithms, octrees, collision detection, keyframe animation,
attenuation maps, lens flares.
10/17 First-person shooter design (DOOM, Quake; Half-life);
world-exploration game design (Super Mario 64).
Training players; cut scenes; save games. Game programming
environments: ActionScript, Perl/Tk, Java, OpenGL, CG, Direct3D,
SDL, game engines; EGGG.
10/24 Video game design; MAME; arcade vs. game consoles. Networked
games: architectures, security, wireless gaming.
10/31 Physics; kinematics & dynamics; quaternions; projectiles; cars;
airplanes & spacecraft; boats & water; friction & viscosity;
Euler integration.
11/07 Simulation design; resource allocation; WorldForge tutorial;
the Sims & Creatures; real time strategy design; FreeCraft tutorial;
StarCraft & Gettysburg; God game design; Civiliation III; Black
& White. Sports games: realism vs. gameplay, team control,
fantasy sports.
11/14 User interface; heads-up displays; accessibility vs. ergonomics;
shortcuts; mapping; player expectations; sound; haptics.
11/21 Miscellaneous topics: the game business, playtesting, mutating
games, rating systems...
12/05 Public exhibition.