CISC 3660 (54.1) - Game Programming
M,W 09:30-10:45AM
Lab 5301N
Fall 2010

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

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SYLLABUS / CALENDAR

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Course Abbreviation: CISC 3660 (formerly CIS 54.1)
Credits: 3.0 (3 hours)
Code: 2259
Section: MW9
Schedule: M,W 09:30-10:45AM
Room: 4411 N
Lab: 5301 N
Semester: Fall 2010

Instructor: Matthew Meyer
Office: 534 NE
Office Hours:
- Monday, 1:00-3:00 PM
- Wedensday, 1:00-3:00 PM
E-mail:
Web Page: http://www.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~meyer

This course is a comprehensive introduction to the wide variety of topics within game programming, including:

• History of computer games
• Fundamentals of game design
• Game programming languages and paradigms
• Game architecture
• Mathematics and physics of games
• Graphics
• Mobile device game programming
• AI in games
• Networking in games
• Audio design
• The business of games

Note on project requirements

Students will create several games as part of the class, and will be responsible for creating a portfolio to display those games at the final exam.

Note on final exam

The final exam for this course consists of a mock interview at a fictional computer game corporation. Students will present their resume and portfolio to the class as part of this interview as well as answer questions relating to the course.

Prerequisites:

CISC 1110 [CIS 1.5] Introduction to Programming Using C++
CISC 3110 [15] Advanced Programming Techniques
CISC 3130 [22] Data Structures

Introduction to Game Development (2nd Edition) by Rabin
ISBN: 1584506792
ISBN-13: 9781584506799

OR

Introduction to Game Development (1st Edition) by Rabin
ISBN: 1584503777
ISBN-13: 9781584503774

In addition handouts and lecture slides will be provided to students when appropriate.

Students may use their own computers at home or use the college computers (Library, Computer Café, Web Building).
When specialized software is required, it will be either provided in the lab, or be freely available online.
A USB FLASH drive is REQUIRED.

• Class Participation & Homework 10%
• Project 1 (Scratch) 20%
• Project 2 (Flash CS4) 20%
• Project 3 (Group Project) 20%
• Final Exam (Oral & Written Components) 30%

Attendance: I take attendance. Each unexcused absence will lower your FINAL grade by 1 percentage point. Each time you are late to class will cost you 1/2 of a percentage point on your FINAL grade.

Any acts of disruption that go beyond the normal rights of students to question and discuss with instructors the educational process relative to subject content will not be tolerated, in accordance with the Academic Code of Conduct described in the Student Handbook.

Cellular telephones, pagers, CD players, radios, and similar devices are prohibited in the classroom and laboratory facilities. Calculators and computers are prohibited during examinations, unless specified.

A midterm and final examination will be given in class. Please schedule your other activities in advance. No make-up exams will be allowed without prior arrangements being made.

Students will not be given an incomplete grade in the course without sound reason and documented evidence. In any case, for a student to receive an incomplete, he or she must be passing and must have completed a significant portion of the course.

Students are expected to uphold the school’s standard of conduct relating to academic honesty. Students assume full responsibility for the content and integrity of the academic work they submit. The guiding principle of academic integrity shall be that a student's submitted work, examinations, reports, and projects must be that of the student's own work. Students shall be guilty of violating the college’s policy if they:

• Represent the work of others as their own.
• Use or obtain unauthorized assistance in any academic work.
• Give unauthorized assistance to other students.
• Modify, without instructor approval, an examination, paper, record, or report for the purpose of obtaining additional credit.
• Misrepresent the content of submitted work.

Any student violating the college’s academic integrity policy is subject to receive a failing grade for the course and will be reported to the Office of Student Affairs. If a student is unclear about whether a particular situation may constitute violation, the student should meet with the instructor to discuss the situation.

For this class, it is permissible to assist classmates in general discussions of computing techniques. General advice and interaction are encouraged. Each person, however, must develop his or her own solutions to the assigned projects, assignments, and tasks. In other words, students may not "work together" on graded assignments. Such collaboration constitutes cheating. A student may not use or copy (by any means) another's work (or portions of it) and represent it as his/her own. If you need help on an assignment, contact your instructor, not other classmates.

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), all qualified students enrolled in this course are entitled to “reasonable accommodations.” Please notify the instructor during the first week of class of any accommodations needed for the course.

Tutors are available in the open lab in the laboratory facility at the WEB building. They may or may not be able to help you with your course materials.

• COME TO CLASS.
• Take good notes.
• Ask questions.
• Do the assignments on time.
• Contact me if you are confused or fall behind, for whatever reason. Come to my office hours or email me.
• I get MANY email messages every day, so please keep your message short and to the point. If your story goes on longer than a page (80 columns by 24 rows of text), then be aware that I probably won't read much past the first page.
• Note that email messages where the sender's name seems fake (e.g., "Mickey Mouse") or the subject is blank or undecipherable, may be automatically filtered out in attempt to eliminate spam and other offensive messages.
• Please don't email me programming code.
• Don't ever email me an application (executable code)!
• If I haven't replied to you, please be patient. Sending me multiple copies of the same message (or multiple messages that say the same thing) only clogs my inbox, which takes me longer to get to your message.
• PLEASE SIGN YOUR EMAIL with your full name AND the class you are in.

Each of the areas of study are covered by one or more "Projects". Each project is designed to give you an in depth introduction to a subject area. Students should prepare to spend AT LEAST 3 hours weekly, outside of the classroom, working on this material. If you do not have enough time, do not take the course. Do not kid yourself!

You need to create an archive of the files you are submitting, and then email the archive to me. If you are using a PC, please use WinZip (not WinRar) to create the archive. WinZip is a Shareware program which you can download if it is not already installed on your Windows machine.

If you are using a MAC, you can use the File - Create Archive utility in the Finder. Simply highlight all the files you want to include in the archive by clicking once on each file's icon while holding down the Apple key. Then from the Finder, click on File - Create Archive and an archive file will be created called Archive.zip.

Each assignment must be handed in or emailed to me on the day that it is due. Any assignment received after midnight of its due date will be penalized 10%, for each calendar day after the due date (after 10 days I don't accept it).

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