Tentative Syllabus
CRN: 85711, 90791 (honors), 85712
Classroom South Room: 101
02:30 PM - 04:15 PM
Instructor: Dr. Michael Weeks
Computer Science Department
Office: 25 Park Place, room 754
Office Hours: for now, by appointment.
I am also in the office from 1-2 Mondays and Wednesdays.
web-page: http://hallertau.cs.gsu.edu/~mweeks/csc4821
department phone (404) 413-5700 (does not receive texts)
Teaching Assistant:
Lahari Appala
(vappala1 @ student.gsu.edu)
TA's office hours (held via Webex):
Monday: 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM,
Tuesday: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM,
Thursday: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM,
Friday: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Click here for the Syllabus policies
CSc 4821/6821. Fundamentals of Game Programming (4)
Four hours lecture per week.
Prerequisites: CSc 3320
Final Exam time slot
The Final Exam will be presentations, including Wednesday December 10, 2025 13:30-16:00 (the official final exam time).Books
Main Text: Ernest Adams, Fundamentals of Game Design (3rd ed), Pearson, 2014, ISBN-10: 0321929675, ISBN-13: 978-0321929679.Need a book on JavaScript? This one looks good:
Arjan Egges, Building JavaScript Games: for Phones, Tablets, and Desktop, 1st edition, September 23, 2014, Publisher : Apress, ISBN-10 : 1430265388, ISBN-13 : 978-1430265382
Here is another:
Marijn Haverbeke, Eloquent JavaScript, Third Edition, 2018 available here
Read the book as we cover it.
- We will cover the chapters in the same order as they appear in the book.
- We will discuss topics from every chapter, though there are more chapters than there are weeks in the semester, so some will be covered lightly.
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
Prerequisites:
Computer Science majors: CSc 3320
Objectives:
Prerequisite: CSc 3320 with grade of C or higher.
Students must meet the Computer Science Major Eligibility Requirement in
order to enroll in this course. Covers major aspects of game design such
as challenges, gameplay, actions, core mechanics, worlds, characters,
game balancing, user interfaces, and game genres.
Topics
- Types of Games
- Game Design
- Genres
- The environment: the player, the gaming device
- Game Worlds
- Types of Play
- Storytelling
- User Interface and Experience
- Game Play: Fun, Challenge, Difficulty
- Core Mechanics
- Balancing and Fairness
- Level Design
- Online Games
Format:
Approximately 4 hours of the course contact time will be in lectures.
Weekly
technology homework assignments and one project are planned.
There will be about 4 quizzes scheduled.
Any pop-quizzes will factor into the test average.
Grading:
There
will be a team project during the semester that synthesizes the assignment
procedures and course content learned. This project will be developed jointly
by all student members of a team.
Tests are longer than quizzes, and count more. For example,
a quiz might have 2 short answer/essay questions, while a test might have
8 to 10.
Each short answer/essay question should take you about 10 minutes to answer.
Other types of questions might be included along with, or instead of,
short answer/essay questions.
Homeworks/Assignments may vary in weight. A Lab assignment requires a report,
along with a demonstration, and thus has a typical weight of 20%.
A programming assignment requires source code,
along with a demonstration, and thus has a typical weight of 20%.
A written homework assignment either has a weight of 5 to 10% when
graded, or 1 to 2% when checked. Graded assignments are carefully
reviewed for correctness, while checked assignments are not.
Graduate students will be assigned one or more research papers to read, and will be graded on their review of the material. A class presentation will be required on this assignment. The grade for the review will be factored in the assignment grade as a 7th assignment. In addition, graduate students may be asked additional questions on the tests, and may have additional work on the assignments.
Deliverable Weight CSc 4821:
- 20% Homeworks/Assignments
- 40% Quizzes (about 4 to 5 planned)
- 30% Project (including frequent progress updates)
- 10% Attendance and Participation (this may include short activities like discussions or quizzes on the lecture)
- 25% Homeworks/Assignments + Paper review (this includes a presentation on the paper)
- 35% Quizzes/Tests (as above)
- 30% Project (including frequent progress updates)
- 10% Attendance and Participation
Notes:
- There will be a presentation session, where you will show a video that you made about your project, then we will ask you questions.
- Demonstrations may be required of the homeworks. For example, part of your homework grade may be based on you showing the Teaching Assistant that your solution works.
- Pop quizzes are worth 10% of a normal quiz grade. E.g. with quizzes worth 20 points each, a pop quiz is worth 2 points.
- The assignments may include other homeworks, such as research papers, word problems, programming exercises, in-class presentations, etc.
((W2 + X2 + Y2/5 + Z2 + AA2 + AB2 + AC2/5 + AD2/2)*100)/320
W2 = Abstract (10), X2 = Update Video (100), Y2 = Update Feedback (100), Z2 = Milestones 1 (10), AA2 = Milestones 2 (10), AB2 = Final Video (100), AC2 = Final Feedback (100), AD2 = Design (100)
Values in parenthesis indicate the total possible points for that part. Design (for the project) is a catch-all term for documentation, code you've written, art you've created, etc. It can also include logs from your group meetings, commit logs, rough sketches, and whatever else you have that can establish how much time and effort went into the project.
Learning Outcomes:
- After completing this course, students will be able to analyze game design topics, such as the genre, story, game world, and character development
- Students will gain proficiency with programming games, including the game loop, sprites, movement, sound, and input
- Students will gain understanding of game events, including collisions, spawning/de-spawning objects, and distance between game objects
- Students will create their own game project