Game Programming

This unit is the second part of the capstone project building upon skills learnt in GDC300A Major game production 1 and progressing the alpha version of the game your team developed. You will progress through the industry development cycle to the completion of a publishable gold version. You will demonstrate advanced level knowledge of project development while leveraging technical skills in your area of specialisation, deliver game documentation and a post-mortem. You will apply professional level teamwork and project management skills and demonstrate advanced level design skills during the development and completion of the game.

You will also apply basic business planning skills to pitch a business plan, explore production and post-production stages, and complete your individual professional portfolio. You will be working more independently, while receiving feedback from your supervisor as a group, and utilising the skills you have gained throughout your study.

The final stage of the project requires you to provide constructive feedback to your peers in a professional manner and reflect upon and document your own performance and role in this project from initial design in GDC300A to final completion.

This unit will explore the nature of entrepreneurship and the role of the entrepreneur in pursuing innovative game concepts and technologies. You will extend your enterprise and business planning skills to cultivate and exemplify your identity as a professional practitioner by pursuing innovative game concepts, together with learning how to analyse case studies and conduct market analysis to develop strategic business plans.

This unit will include seminars and guest lectures given by established game development entrepreneurs, who will touch on key challenges experienced by start-ups including funding. Through multi-disciplinary teamwork, oral and written communication, and self-management skills you will collaborate on developing a business plan for a game start-up or technology and deliver a game pitch to an industry panel. You will also evaluate and peer review other teams’ business plans and pitches.

GDP302 Physics Engineering for Games is an exciting subject that teaches students about the techniques and algorithms used in modern physics simulations. As game developers continue to push the boundaries of realistic simulations, integrating physics into game mechanics can significantly enhance player immersion and engagement within the game world. This unit builds on GDP202 Algorithms and Data Structures and explores the theory and practice of implementing a custom physics engine. The course covers theoretical content on position, velocity, acceleration, force, mass, momentum, angular momentum, torque, inertia, and collisions, and practical demonstrations on how to implement these concepts into a real-time physics simulation. Students will learn how to write their own custom 2D physics engine and gain experience using a commercial physics engine. The unit also covers how to implement physics in modern game engines, including motors, ray casting, ragdolls, kinematics, player controllers, fluids, and soft bodies.

Understanding the physics behind game mechanics is crucial for game developers to create authentic and accurate simulations. Physics engines are a fundamental component of modern game engines, so learning how to use them optimally is an essential skill. Additionally, knowledge of physics engines can also be applied in other fields, such as virtual reality, simulation, and scientific research. Throughout the course, students will be assessed in multiple ways, including a multiple-choice and short-answer test of core physical concepts, formulae, and their application. They will also create a custom 2D real-time physics simulation and demonstrate advanced physics interactions using a third-party physics system within a game engine. This ensures that students have a comprehensive understanding of the material and can apply their knowledge to practical situations. By the end of the course, students will have developed valuable skills in physics simulation and game development.

Databases are fundamental to the video game industry and are essential for storing and querying player information in multiplayer games. GDP305 Data Management is an exciting introduction to data management that teaches students how to design, create, query, and modify databases using Structured Query Language (SQL) in modern computer games. Ethical design and use of data systems, security, and cryptography are also covered, which are crucial for protecting sensitive player data. This subject gives students practical experience working with databases in a gaming context to prepare them for a career in the gaming industry.

Assessment is based on performing a series of exercises to extract and format data from a database, designing and writing a back-end program that queries a data set, designing a database to a client brief, and writing a report outlining the design and consideration of ethical and privacy issues. Upon completion of this unit, students will have created a connected game project that queries and displays highscore data from an online database, showcasing their skills and knowledge in data management in the video game industry.

In GDP304, you will learn about various AI techniques and algorithms that allow game developers to create immersive and engaging games. You will build on your existing knowledge of programming techniques for games and learn about pathfinding, decision-making, planning, navigation, and more. By applying these concepts to help the AI agents in your simulated game worlds achieve specific goals, you will gain the skills to create more efficient and effective game systems.

Understanding AI techniques and algorithms is crucial for creating convincing and challenging AI opponents, which enhances the player experience and adds realism to games. By mastering AI for games, you will be able to develop more polished and engaging games. You will be assessed on your practical implementation of various AI algorithms and techniques. You will program pathfinding algorithms, create a finite state machine-based AI system, and write a real-time application that demonstrates AI agents implementing artificial intelligence behaviours and decision-making techniques. By the end of the course, you will have the skills and knowledge necessary to create efficient and engaging AI systems for modern games.

GDP306 Multi-threaded programming is a fascinating subject that teaches students about multi-core architecture and how to create a system that can complete more tasks simultaneously, optimizing overall system performance. This subject is crucial to modern video game design, allowing designers to create more realistic graphics, embed smarter artificial intelligence in game characters, and create more complex game worlds with a higher density of game objects. GDP306 builds on the knowledge learned in GDP201 Advanced programming techniques for games and delves into multi-threaded program design and development within modern game development.

In GDP306, students will learn how to communicate between threads, thread synchronization, and hazards in multi-threaded programming, and they will gain an understanding of hardware support for multi-threaded programming in modern console and computer hardware, including cores, processors, and threads. The subject also covers advanced multi-threaded capabilities of modern game engines, such as Entity Component System, C# Job System, and the Burst Compiler in Unity 3D.

The skills and knowledge developed in GDP306 are in high demand in the gaming industry, making this subject valuable for students pursuing a career in game development. Learning is assessed through practical assignments such as designing and implementing a game project using a custom multi-threaded game engine and utilizing the multi-threaded architecture of Unity to design gameplay mechanics and functionality. Students are also required to write a report analyzing multi-threaded game engine architecture.