CS 4730: Computer Game Design

This course will introduce students to the concepts and tools used in the development of modern 2-D and 3-D real-time interactive computer video games. Topics covered in this include graphics, parallel processing, human-computer interaction, networking, artificial intelligence, and software engineering.

Course Objectives

Our course is an introductory course in video game design and production. We will focus on both the design and technical aspects of creating a game, from concept inception and prototyping through coding and playtesting.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

• Understand the social and ethical context in which video games are developed, marketed, and played;
• Understand the technologies and platforms upon which modern interactive video games are developed;
• Understand the software engineering concepts necessary to develop video games (and other large systems) in a large development group;
• Comprehend the computational theory used in video games design, as well as, to a lesser extent, related fields (artificial intelligence, computer graphics, networks, etc.);
• Understand the theoretical topic of game theory, and how that applies to multi-player games (and, to a lesser extent, artificial intelligence).

Game Projects

Play games created by the students of CS 4730 at http://cs4730.games!