Computer Games Laboratory (IN7106, IN710615)

Time, Place:	Mo. 14:00 - ca. 16:00, room: MI 02.13.010 (Only on days with milestone submissions, see detailed schedule below)
Supervision:	Prof. Rüdiger Westermann
Begin:	Mandatory kick-off metting: Wednesday, April 12., 2023, from 10-11 a.m. in room: MI 02.13.010 For further details, please carefully read the registration section below!
Details:	Main wiki: https://wiki.tum.de/display/gameslab2023summer/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 presentations of the games to the public will take place during the demo day (tba).
Prerequisites:	Bachelor Informatics: 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 succesfully passed 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.

Registration

This practical course does not use the regular TUM informatics matching system you might know from other seminars and practicals. In order to attend the Computer Games Laboratory, make sure to participate in the mandatory project kick-off meeting to form groups (it might take place before the semester starts because of the tight milestone schedule), and also join the mandatory milestone meetings afterwards. If you are unable to attend the kick-off meeting, send an email to Prof. Rüdiger Westermann beforehand to discuss if you can participate nevertheless.

It is not possible to join later during the semester as the game development projects have to be planned from the first milestone at the beginning of the semester. Note that you should not sign up for this course until you are sure you will fully participate. If you drop out, this can cause significant problems for your other team members!

Timeline

The following table gives an overview of all online meetings during the semester. On all none mentioned weeks there is no class. For the contents of the report and the team presentations see the project structure document below (or have a look at the previous course instances).

milestone / lecture	date	team presentation in class	to publish on the wiki (due sunday before presentation)
Kick-off Meeting Lecture: Intro, Softskills	12.04.		Form groups and send email with all members to westermann@tum.de by 17.04.
1. Milestone: Game idea pitch	8.05.	Game idea pitch	Report: Game idea proposal Slides: Game idea Wiki: Mutual critiques until 10.05.
2. Milestone: Interim demo	29.5.	Interim demo	Report: Interim Report Slides: Interim demo presentation
3. Milestone: Alpha release Lecture: Playtesting	19.06.	Alpha release	Report: Alpha documentation Slides: Alpha release
4. Milestone: Playtesting	3.07.	Playtesting	Report: Playtesting results Slides: Playtesting results
5. Milestone: Final release	17.07.	Final release	Report: Final documentation Slides: Final release Gameplay video Compiled final game version
Demo Day: live presentation	18.07.	Demo day (in-person)	Details at http://in.tum.de/demoday

Course materials

Previous instances of this course

Winterterm 2021/2022

Summerterm 2021

Winterterm 2020/2021

Summerterm 2020

Winterterm 2019/2020

Summerterm 2019

Winterterm 2018/2019

Summerterm 2018

Winterterm 2017/2018

Summerterm 2017

Winterterm 2016/2017

Summerterm 2016

Winterterm 2015/2016

Summerterm 2015