Technical Game Development II
IMGD 4000 - D Term 2008

Final Game Projects: Click here for gallery!

Professor: Charles Rich

Teaching Assistant: Timothy ("TJ") Loughlin (tjloughl)

Lecture Times: Mon/Tues/Thur/Fri, 8:00am -- 8:50am

Lecture Location: Fuller Labs, Room 311

TA/Lab Hours: AK120D: Tue, 12-1pm and Fri, 9-10am

Official Course Description: IMGD Courses Page

Text Books: Mat Buckland, Programming Game AI by Example, Wordware, 2005. (Required)
Ian Millington, Artificial Intelligence for Games, Morgan Kaufmann, 2006. (Reference)

Detailed Schedule: Lectures, Assignments & Project Milestones
(Schedule is subject to change!)

Discussion Forums: myWPI (Subscription option recommended)

Homework Instructions:
  • The five homework assignments (see below) are to assess your individual progress. You are encouraged to talk about solutions with classmates, even to help each other debug code. However, cutting and pasting someone else's code or emailing your code to someone else crosses the line. (See Cheating policy below.)

  • Homework assignments are due at midnight on each of the first five Sundays of the term via Web Turn-In. (See Late Work policy below.)

  • Upload a single executable jar file. Verify before uploading that this jar file executes in JDK 1.6 (or JDK 1.5 for Mac). (See detailed instructions for jar file preparation.)

  • Uploaded file should also contains all source files, loaded resources and javadoc (see javadoc documentation or use Eclipse command 'Project>Generate Javadoc').

  • Uploaded file should contain a 'README.txt' file in toplevel directory to briefly explain any problems or special features to the TA and instructor.

    • Grading: 30% Individual Homework Assignments
    • 5% Hello Chess
    • 5% Legal Chess
    • 5% Shallow Blue
    • 10% Darkstar Chess
    • 5% Shady Chess (cancelled)

      For each homework assignment:

    • 80% Satisfies technical requirements
    • 20% Software engineering quality (modularity, documentation, coding style). See Sun's Javadoc style guide (especially the first few pages) for useful suggestions of how to write good comments, which are applicable to any language.

    30% Group Final Project - A Technical Game

    40% Exams (20% Mid-Term, 20% Final)

    Final grades will reflect the extent to which you have demonstrated understanding of the material and completed the assigned work. The base level grade will be a "B" which indicates that the basic objectives on homework, exams and project have been met. A grade of an "A" will indicate significant achievement beyond the basic objectives. A grade of a "C" will indicate not all basic objectives were met, but work was satisfactory for credit. No incomplete grades will be assigned unless there exist exceptional, extenuating circumstances. Similarly, no makeup exams will be given unless there exist exceptional, extenuating circumstances.


    Policies: Attendance
    • Regular class attendance (and active participation) is expected.
    • If you have an unavoidable need to be absent from the lecture, you do not need special permission, but you are responsible for the work covered.
    Late Work
    • All work should be submitted via Web Turn-In by midnight on the due date.
    • Work turned in after midnight on the due date will immediately be penalized 10% of total assignment value, with an additional 10% penalty added at 24-hour intervals following, up to one week from the initial due date, at which point no credit will be given.
    Cheating
    • Taking credit for work you did not do or getting unauthorized help on assigments or exams is cheating. If you are in doubt, ask the instructor first!
    • Cheating is a serious offense, punishable by an automatic NR for the course.
    • Institute policy on academic honesty will be followed in all cases.

    Acknowledgement: I would like to thank Mark Claypool for his advice and the use of his materials in planning and preparing materials for this course.