Computer Games Laboratory (IN7106, IN710615)
| Time, Place: | Wednesday, 16:00 - 18:00, room: MI 02.13.010 (in-person) (Only on days with milestone submissions, see detailed schedule below) |
| Supervision: | E. Franz, G. Kohl |
| Begin: | Mandatory kick-off meeting: October 19th 2022 at 16:00, room: MI 02.13.010 (No matching system needed, please carefully read the registration section below!) |
| Details: | Main wiki: https://wiki.tum.de/display/gameslab2223winter/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 (7.2.) |
| 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 at the Demo Day.
Prerequisites
- Good programming skills (course projects are written in C# or C++)
- Students should have succesfully passed the major games lectures from Bachelor Informatics: Games Engineering (esp. Realtime Computer Graphics and Game Physics)
- 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 Erik Franz or Georg Kohl 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 meetings during the semester. On all weeks that are not mentioned 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 tuesday before presentation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kick-off Meeting Lecture: Softskills | 19.10. | Form groups and send email with all members to erik.franz@tum.de and georg.kohl@tum.de by 21.10. | |
| 1. Milestone: Game idea Lecture: Prototyping | 09.11. | Game idea | Report: Game idea proposal Slides: Game idea |
| 2. Milestone: Prototype | 23.11. | Prototype | Wiki: Mutual critiques until 12.11. Report: Prototype Slides: Prototype |
| 3. Milestone: Interim demo | 14.12. | Interim demo | Report: Interim results Slides: Interim results |
| 4. Milestone: Alpha release Lecture: Playtesting | 11.01. | Alpha release | Report: Alpha documentation Slides: Alpha release |
| 5. Milestone: Playtesting | 25.01. | Playtesting | Report: Playtesting results Slides: Playtesting results |
| 6. Milestone: Final release | 08.02. | Final release | Report: Final documentation Slides: Final release Gameplay video Compiled final game version |
| Demo Day: Live presentation | 07.02. | Demo day (in-person) | Details at http://in.tum.de/demoday |
Course materials
Previous instances of this course
Summerterm 2022
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