CIS 3710 Game Design
Preliminary Syllabus
WARNINGS: 
Not a required course.  
Not sufficient to guarantee you a job at a major gaming company.
Designing a game is not as much fun as playing a game.

Class: TuTh 9:25-10:40 AM
Synchronous
BOOK:
Most resources will be available on the Internet.
Instructor: Dr. Keith Tookey
Office: Cyberspace
Phone: x1286
Email: keith.tookey@vtc.edu 
Office Hours: MWF  11-12, after class,              or by appointment.

Overview & Outcomes:
This course looks at the history of computer games and game design; roles and careers in game design; what makes a good game; and kinds and purposes of games in order to learn how to design games. The student is required to produce computer games including group projects.
There will be at least one major, group, semester project.
It will probably involve the whole class.

Course Materials: 
Most course materials will be available on the Internet.

Grading:
The best way you learn to code is… by writing code!  The best way you learn to design games is… by designing games!  The same applies to other homework for this class.  Learn by doing! 
Individual work should be done without outside help.  Your solution should match anything on the Internet or any work done by a classmate.
Group Work:  There will be times when you will be working in small groups to solve problems. Groups work together and hand in one solution.  Each member of the group must INDIVIDUALLY send to the professor your estimation of how much work was done by each member of the group.  Percentages MUST add up to 100%. 
Project work: Project work will be spread over weeks to months, and there may be weekly estimations of how much is being done by each member of each group.
Exams include short exercises and/or written questions designed to assess conceptual knowledge given on or about the dates indicated in class. There is likely to be a midterm and a final.
In the certain event there are group Project (or Projects) assigned for this class, (a.k.a. The Project), the grade for the project(s) will count as an exam grade.  Normally, the grade will be 60% exams, 30% individual and group work, and 10% attendance and class participation.  
Roughly, 90% will be the lowest A, 80% the lowest B, etc.  Plus and Minus grades will be determined statistically.

Expect:
20%	Midterm
20% 	Final
20% 	major game project(s)
30%	other homework, both individual and group
10%	attendance and class participation

Homework/due dates:
All homework, projects, papers due not later than Term Study Day for the end of the semester.
No work is to be handed in during finals without permission given PRIOR TO Study Day.
Most work has an earlier due date, one week, from when assigned, unless otherwise announced.  Most homework can be submitted by email. Include the name of your class (e.g. Games) and your name as well as the assignment or topic in the subject of the email. The Semester Project will be due BEFORE finals week.
Programs should be completed within two weeks of being assigned, or risk not being graded.

Attendance Policy:
Class attendance is required. There is no such thing as an excused absence. You are responsible for material covered and announcements made whether you are there or not. Attendance and class participation are included in your grade. It is solely the option of the instructor what to do about classes missed for any reason. If you MUST miss, an E-mail to my office must be made as soon as you know you will miss. If you miss class for ANY reason, you are still responsible for learning missed material. You may come by office hours to review work missed. If you tell me at class time of a future absence, please also send me an email. Religious observances and College sponsored events may be a valid reason to miss class, but must be arranged PERSONALLY BY YOU in advance, and you still need to learn missed material. There will be some small group work in this class. Missing a day on which there is small group work or a lab means that you need to do the work by yourself instead of with help, or get a ZERO for the assignment.

The Project: The class will be expected to design and produce a game or games.  The instructor has sole authority over the game design, but students may make suggestions.  Students may be divided into teams, to work on different parts/aspects of the game.  This project should be the kind of quality work you would be proud to show prospective employers.  Your part in the project(s) shall be equal in points to an exam.

Procrastination 
One of the easiest ways to fail this course is to put off doing required work. Procrastination is usually fatal in this class.  If you are having trouble completing work, the BEST thing to do is to go to office hours early and often.   The WORST thing to do is to wait, hoping the homework will magically complete itself.  It won’t. You learn by doing; procrastination interferes with learning. Procrastination on things needed for the group project may lead to the WHOLE CLASS being down-graded.
Assignments should be done one week from when they are assigned, unless otherwise announced. If you need an exception for a due date, discuss it with me during office hours. If you are not visiting office hours, normally you do not get an exception to the due date policy.

The target grade for completion of homework is ONE WEEK from when it is assigned, except for the project.  No credit will be given for assignments handed in later than TWO WEEKS.  Assignments do not complete themselves—if you are having difficulty, ask for help!

Punctuality:
Showing up late for class is disruptive, and you risk missing important announcements and foundational material. I normally start on time and use the full class period.

Failure to Complete Work:	
Anyone who fails to do required work, misses an exam, has inappropriate classroom conduct, or has serious attendance problems, will be warned and if the problem is not corrected will be failed.  Failure to hand in or present an assignment is sufficient grounds to be dropped.  (Keep a backup copy of anything important.  NEVER hand in the only copy.)  

Makeup Exams:
If you need to take an exam at a different time, you must arrange it BEFORE the week of the exam.  If you will miss due to unforeseen emergency, you MUST email me as soon as you know you will miss, and not later than the time of the exam.  If I have not received a communication from you (or your next of kin) by the day of the exam, you will get a zero on the exam.  Only students who have called as soon as reasonably possible will be allowed a makeup option. If you miss an exam for a campus event, you MUST take the exam early.

Academic Integrity:
Academic integrity is a core value which insures respect for all. VTC expects that students will conduct themselves in an honest and ethical manner and respect the intellectual work of others.  Please ask about my expectations regarding permissible or encouraged forms of student collaboration if they are unclear.   At minimum, all sources of help must be reported.  The minimum penalty for academic dishonesty is a 0 for the work in question.  Academic Honesty violations will be reported.
Collaboration in a classroom small group project is perfectly fine; forming study groups is an excellent idea; collaboration on individual assignments is academic dishonesty unless approved and reported in advance.

Classroom and Student Conduct:
Please do your part to make the classroom a constructive learning environment for everyone by restraining from engaging in distracting behaviors. Unprofessional behavior by students during the course is grounds for dismissal. 
Use of cell phones or any other distraction from class counts as an absence.  Please be on time.  Be professional.     If your behavior or attire becomes a distraction in the classroom, you will be warned, and if the problem is not corrected, you will be removed from the class.

Commitment to a Positive Learning Environment:
If you are picked on, bullied, harassed, discriminated against, assaulted, or suffer any other problem which interferes with your participation in the learning environment, please contact the appropriate office.  Faculty are legally required to report problems, such as physical assault, if they become aware of them.  Your instructor is willing to help, or find you help, if you need it. Every student deserves equal opportunity to participate in the class. 

CANVAS and email:
Announcements for this class will be made by email, or via CANVAS.  You are responsible for knowing anything that is posted on CANVAS for this class. 

Adding/Dropping and Withdrawing from the class
The final day to add or drop a course, or Withdraw with a W, is on the academic calendar.

Class meetings:
This class is officially Synchronous Remote.  It is our fond hope that students on the same campus will be able to meet together when they wish to do so. As much as possible, class meetings will be recorded, so that anyone who misses can easily makeup material.  

Center for Academic Success
All students are strongly encouraged to utilize available resources, for help in the writing and revision process. In addition to offering invaluable tutoring services in English, Student Support Services provides all students access to innovative assistive technology practices and systems. The Center for Academic Success operates facilities in Randolph Center (Conant Hall), and in the 400 Building of the Williston Campus. Appointments are available on a regular basis, free of charge. Please visit them for more information, either in person or via their presence on the VTC website.   

Accommodations for learning disabilities
Anyone who feels they may be eligible for an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me to arrange an appointment to discuss the course format and the sorts of support that may be needed.  I rely on the Learning Specialist’s Office (in C.A.S.) for assistance in verifying the need for accommodations and developing accommodation strategies.
Robin Goodall, Vermont Technical College’s Learning Specialist is available at the Center for Academic Success, (802) 728-1278, or by email at rgoodall@vtc.edu. 

Additional resources:
If anyone needs additional resources, please feel free to ask the professor for help in obtaining services. 

What This Course Is About:

This course looks at the history of computer games and game design; roles and careers in game design; what makes a good game; and kinds and purposes of games in order to learn how to design games. The student is required to produce computer games including group projects.
Course Content:
1.	What makes a good game? 
2.	Gamer personalities 
3.	History and development of (computer) games
4.	Roles and careers in game design 
5.	Game concept development
6.	Kinds and purposes of games 
7.	Designing stories & FSAs
8.	Level editors
9.	Maps, attributes, equipment lists, points
10.	Game platforms
11.	Programming approaches
12.	Game development tools
13.	Debugging and testing
14.	Marketing
15.	Distribution
16.	Evaluation, rating of games
17.	Artificial Intelligence, heuristics, and minimaxing

The successful student will be able to:
1.	Have a historical perspective on computer game design
2.	Understand different types of games
3.	Understand different purposes of games
4.	Understand different motivations for computer gamers
5.	Understand how games are affected by diverse platforms
6.	Understand roles and careers in game design
7.	Understand preparation for a career in game design
8.	Know what game development tools are available
9.	Using INFORM7, design a text based computer game.
10.	Using HTML, create a ‘choose your own adventure’ Web page.
11.	Understand how Finite State Automata are the background for how computer games work.
12.	Work as part of a team to create a worthwhile game.
13.	Be able to identify and effectively describe a user's problem and to design and develop an appropriate software solution   
14.	Apply knowledge of computer science fundamentals to develop high-quality software applications
15.	Choose, read, and evaluate academic and industry publications
Expect the following topics:
What is a game? What makes a good game? (initial impressions)
Gamer personalities. 
History and development of (computer) games 
Roles and careers in game design (marketing, business, programming, graphics, script, map)
Skills to make games
Preparation for jobs
Curriculum for major
Game concept development (intro)
Kinds and purposes of games 
stimulate (action, entertain, exercise, puzzle, pastime, role play, social, erotic), 
inform (educate, simulation)
persuade (advertise, evangelize)
Designing stories & FSAs
Level editors
Maps, attributes, equipment lists, points.
Platforms: cell phones; desk top; game system; web page; android; flash/applet
Music, sound, interactive media.
Programming approaches.
Flash animation.
HTMLn
Java, applets, script
Visual C++, Basic, Visual Basic
Pearl
Game development tools

PART ONE:
What is your gaming personality?
Take the quiz.  Compare your favorite games to the results of your quiz. 
Compare your results to the results of others in your small group. 
http://www.gamerdna.com/quizzes/bartle-test-of-gamer-psychology

What well established game development companies are out there?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_developers
Each person in the class reports on a different company.

What academic game design programs are out there?
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2010/02/the-princeton-reviews-top-50-undergraduate-game-design-programs--/1 
Each person in the class reports on a different program.

PART TWO:
What is an Adventure Game?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure 
http://www.rickadams.org/adventure/ 
Play ONE of the following, as an individual:
Download and play Ken Plotkin’s DOS executable from:   
     http://www.rickadams.org/adventure/e_downloads.html 
OR play Zork at: http://www.play.vg/games/104-Zork.html 
OR play Rogue at: http://www.freearcade.com/Zplet.jav/Rogue.html 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_(video_game) 
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/ 
http://brasslantern.org/writers/howto/i7tutorial.html 
http://www.ironrealms.com/text-games-five-tips-for-writing-character-backgrounds 

PART THREE:
Design your own ‘Adventure’ game
Download inform7 from:
     http://inform7.com/download/ 
Design your own ‘text based’ game.  
Compare it to games others have written.

PART FOUR:
Kinds and Purposes of Games
stimulate (action, entertain, exercise, puzzle, pastime, role play, social, erotic), 
inform (educate, simulation)
persuade (advertise, evangelize)
http://www.yesteryeargames.com/purpose-video-games-emphasizing-purpose.html 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_genres 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_game 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_game 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_video_game 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puzzle_game 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_game 
http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/online-gamers-crack-aids-enzyme-puzzle-161920724.html 

Identify at least one game from each category.
Can you come up with any categories we missed?

PART FIVE:
What makes a good game?
Evaluation, rating of games
http://www.theknowledgeguru.com/play-and-evaluate-games/
https://designrshub.com/2019/05/gaming-questionnaires.html
https://stari.co/scores/how-to-evaluate-video-games
http://www.craiganderson.org/wp-content/uploads/caa/Scales/VideoGameEvaluation.pdf

Part SIX:
Choose your own adventure web pages
Part SEVEN:
How do games work?
Artificial Intelligence; heuristics and minimaxing.
Regular Expressions
Finite State Automata
Context Free Grammar

Part EIGHT:
How are games developed?
Debugging and testing.
Marketing. Distribution.
Platforms: 
 desk top; lap top; game system; embedded systems;  cell phones;  web page; html;
 javascript; flash;applet

Part NINE:
Design a game!
Identify roles:
Designers, Graphics, coders, scripters/plotters, Systems Analyst, strategists.
Testers, debuggers, marketing.
Resources needed?
Project repository, ....

For the record:
This is NOT a democracy.
Rule number one:
Decisions of the instructor are final.
If in doubt about rule number one, a majority vote of instructors assigned to the course has determined:
Rule Number One is applicable to all aspects of the course, especially grading.

Preliminary Readings

What is your gaming personality?
http://www.gamerdna.com/quizzes/bartle-test-of-gamer-psychology

First Readings:
http://www.animationarena.com/video-game-design.html 
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2010/02/the-princeton-reviews-top-50-undergraduate-game-design-programs--/1 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_developers

Adventure Game Readings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure 
http://www.rickadams.org/adventure/ 
Download and play Ken Plotkin’s DOS executable from:   
     http://www.rickadams.org/adventure/e_downloads.html 
OR play Zork at: http://www.play.vg/games/104-Zork.html 
OR play Rogue at: http://www.freearcade.com/Zplet.jav/Rogue.html 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_(video_game) 
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/ 
http://brasslantern.org/writers/howto/i7tutorial.html 
http://www.ironrealms.com/text-games-five-tips-for-writing-character-backgrounds 
	Download inform7 from:
     http://inform7.com/download/ 

Kinds and purposes of games 
stimulate (action, entertain, exercise, puzzle, pastime, role play, social, erotic), 
inform (educate, simulation)
persuade (advertise, evangelize)
http://www.yesteryeargames.com/purpose-video-games-emphasizing-purpose.html 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_genres 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_game 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_game 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_video_game 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puzzle_game 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_game 
http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/online-gamers-crack-aids-enzyme-puzzle-161920724.html 

Game development tools
  http://www.dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Game_Design/Development_Tools_and_Software/ 
  e.g. http://game-maker.en.softonic.com/; http://www.terraria.org/ 
  http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/five-free-game-development-tools-make-your-own-games/ 

http://content.gpwiki.org/index.php/How_do_I_get_Started
http://content.gpwiki.org/index.php/Game_Engines

Debugging and testing.
Marketing. Distribution.
What makes a good game?
Evaluation, rating of games
Artificial Intelligence; heuristics and minimaxing.

Platforms: 
 desk top; lap top; game system; embedded systems;  cell phones;  web page; html;
 javascript; flash;applet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_application_development

http://www.magmito.com/ 

android;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_App_Inventor 
 http://developer.android.com/index.html

ELEMENT	CONTENT	
DEPARTMENT	CIS	
AUTHOR (S)	Keith Tookey	
COURSE NUMBER	CIS 3710 (Topics)	
COURSE TITLE	Introduction to Computer Game Design	
SHORT TITLE	Game Design	
COURSE LEVEL	3000	
SHARED VSC COURSE	No	
DATE CREATED	2/28/2020	
CHECKED/CHANGED		
PREREQUISITES	CIS 2262 or 2271	
	Prerequisite must be taken previously    ☒	
COREQUISITES		
	Corequisite must be taken concurrently  ☐	
RESTRICTIONS 		
SPECIAL FEES	No	
CREDITS	4	
CROSS-LIST		
HOURS	5 contact hours (3 hour lecture, 2 hours lab)	
SEMESTER	Fall	
COURSE DESCRIPTION	This course looks at the history of computer games and game design; roles and careers in game design; what makes a good game; and kinds and purposes of games in order to learn how to design games. The student is required to produce computer games including group projects.	
SUGGESTED TEXTS		
OPTIONAL TEXTS		
COURSE OUTCOMES
	The successful student will be able to:
16.	Have a historical perspective on computer game design
17.	Understand different types of games
18.	Understand different purposes of games
19.	Understand different motivations for computer gamers
20.	Understand how games are affected by diverse platforms
21.	Understand roles and careers in game design
22.	Understand preparation for a career in game design
23.	Know what game development tools are available
24.	Using INFORM7, design a text based computer game.
25.	Using HTML, create a ‘choose your own adventure’ Web page.
26.	Understand how Finite State Automata are the background for how computer games work.
27.	Work as part of a team to create a worthwhile game.	
COURSE CONTENT	18.	What makes a good game? 
19.	Gamer personalities 
20.	History and development of (computer) games
21.	Roles and careers in game design 
22.	Game concept development
23.	Kinds and purposes of games 
24.	Designing stories & FSAs
25.	Level editors
26.	Maps, attributes, equipment lists, points
27.	Game platforms
28.	Programming approaches
29.	Game development tools
30.	Debugging and testing
31.	Marketing
32.	Distribution
33.	Evaluation, rating of games
34.	Artificial Intelligence, heuristics, and minimaxing	
LAB/STUDIO OUTCOMES		
LAB/STUDIO CONTENT		
LECTURE CAPACITY	32	
LAB CAPACITY	16	
GRADED OR P/NP	Graded	
EVALUATION	Exams, assignments, projects (group and individual), peer review	
DELIVERY METHOD	LEC, LAB	
ROOM REQUIREMENTS	Computer lab for LAB	
AUTHOR’S NOTES	Computer games are used as a way to integrate learning for Computer Science students