Advanced Game Courses in Computer Science: Getting Beyond Square One with Torque

1
Advanced Game Courses in Computer Science
Getting Beyond Square One with Torque

• Brian Ladd
• Tiffany Barnes
• Dan Cliburn

2
What we will cover

• Terminology
• Games in the Curriculum
• What is Torque?
• How do I get Torque?
• How do I use Torque in a course?
• Lab Time!

3
Terminology

• Computer Game
• A computer game, taken broadly 7, is any game
  where game moderation or competition is provided
  by a computer program.
• Game Assignment
• Game assignments are individual assignments
  within a more traditional college-credit course
  that focus on the development of a computer game.
• Games Course
• A computer game course is a college-credit course
  with a primary focus on computer games. In
  Computer Science this means a focus on computer
  game development though some departments have
  game design courses and tracks.

4
Terminology

• Game Genres
• Describes the type of game, such as Real Time
  Strategy, Massively Multiplayer Online Role
  Playing, or First Person Shooter.
• Game Engine
• An application framework designed for building
  games. Typically engines are focused on
  particular genre and/or dimensionality.
• Game Platform
• The target computing platform where the program
  will run this can be the PC or, more and more, a
  game console with some sort of homebrew
  modification on it. XNA supports Xbox360
  Nintendo GBA and DS homebrew carts are fairly
  affordable open-source 8-bit rigs (such as the
  Hydra) are available.

5
Games in the Curriculum

• Games in Lower-division courses
• Game assignments can illustrate many CS topics
  2, 8
• Students prefer game assignments 4,5
• Students are domain experts with games 6
• Females enjoy playing games too 10
• PRACTICAL ISSUES
• Games typically for individual assignments
• Often much is provided for the students
• Focus on computing problems is important

6
Games in the Curriculum (cont)

• Games in Upper-division courses
• Greater breadth of design
• Game development is harder than you think 3
• Increased aesthetic investment
• Can control violence for different students
  tastes
• Project-based, team programming course
• Software engineering focus
• Chance for team failure
• Games in Summer Camps/Outreach Events
• Generally focus on what is fun about games

7
Software Engineering

• Large codebase (TGE 26K LOC)
• Design Patterns
• Factory
• Decorator
• Documentation
• Real, commercial code you can examine
• What does it mean to document intent?
• Version Control (non-optional)
• Useful tool
• Safety net
• blame for assigning team credit

8
Game Genre Selection

• What are we teaching?
• Game design
• Creating a compelling gameplay experience
  designing the game mechanics and levels.
• Game programming
• Translating a game design into a playable
  computer program. Realizing the compelling
  gameplay experience.

9
Dimensionality in Games

• Dimensions of freedom for the player 1,9
• 0D player limited to a single screen
• 1D player on a rail forward and backward
• 2D top-down, isometric-projection, platformer
• 3D fully realized world
• Increasing complexity of
• Design
• Interface

10
Interface and Dimensionality

• Text-based
• Interactive fiction
• Much easier interface
• Two-dimensional
• Sprite-based
• Isometric projection
• Three-dimensional
• Computer generated graphics

11
What is Torque?

• Benefits
• Mature product (2008 Game Engine of the Year by
  Game developer)
• XNA support out of the box
• Helpful community
• Good art asset support
• Costs
• Microsoft operating systems (primarily)
• Actual cost of software (reasonable)
• Alternatives
• Irrlicht (Open source)
• XNA Game Studio 3.0 (Free)
• Unreal Engine (Commercial)

12
How do I get Torque?

• Evaluation Licensing for all attendees
• E-mail sent to e-mail list.
• Pricing
• Educational pricing on 10 seats

13
Teaching with Torque Game Engine

• TGE is a scriptable 3D engine
• C source available
• At least two approaches
• Scripting Focused
• C Focused

14
Script Focused

• Focus is on using available resources
• Easier to spend time on game design and/or game
  studies
• Quicker turn around time on changes
• Can hide how hard game development is

15
C Focused

• Study of the engine
• Changes are harder to make
• Means game designs must be more modest
• Student frustration is a major concern
• Modifying a mature engine can be difficult
• What useful modifications are left to make?
• Much more time spent in the mechanics

16
Lab Time

• Looking at the Torque Game Engine Codebase
• What got installed?
• Where?
• How do I start a new game?

17
Learning by Scripting

• Adding a new in-game object
• Game resource folder hierarchy
• Getting resources
• The client/server architecture
• Starting a game
• Using the console

18
Extending the Engine

• Lab Activity

19
Practical Advice

• Outcomes and Grading
• Group Projects
• Sample Assignments
• Sample Syllabi

20
References

1. Adams, E. The Designer's Notebook Defining the
   Physical Dimension of a Game Setting. Gamasutra.
   April, 2003. http//www.gamasutra.com/view/feature
   /2864/the_designers_notebook_defining_.php
2. Barnes, T., Powell, E., Chaffin, A., Godwin, A.,
   and Richter, H. Game2Learn Building CS1
   Learning Games for Retention. Proceedings of
   the 12th Annual SIGCSE Conference on Innovation
   and Technology in Computer Science Education
   (ITiCSE 2007), June 23-27, 2007, Dundee,
   Scotland.
3. Blow, J. 2004. Game Development Harder Than You
   Think. Queue, 1(10), (Feb. 2004), 28-37.
4. Cliburn, D. The Effectiveness of Games as
   Assignments in an Introductory Programming
   Course. Proceedings of the Thirty-Sixth
   ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE
   2006), October 28-31, 2006, San Diego,
   California.
5. Cliburn, D. and Miller, S., Games, Stories, or
   Something More Traditional The Types of
   Assignments College Students Prefer. Proceedings
   of the 39th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer
   Science Education (SIGCSE 2008), March 12-15,
   2008, Portland, Oregon.

21
References

• 6. deLaet, M., Kuffner, J., Slattery, M., and
  Sweedyk, E. Panel Session Computer Games and CS
  Education Why and How. Proceedings of the
  Thirty-Sixth SIGCSE Technical Symposium on
  Computer Science Education (SIGCSE 2005),
  February 23-27, 2005, St. Louis, Missouri.
• 7. Kerr, A. The Business and Culture of Digital
  Games Gamework and Gameplay. London Sage
  Publications, 2006.
• 8. Ladd, B. The Curse of Monkey Island Holding
  the Attention of Students Weaned on Computer
  Games. Journal of Computing Sciences in
  Colleges, 21(6), 2006, 162-174.
• 9. Rucker, R. Software Engineering and Computer
  Games. Harlow, England Addison-Wesley, 2003.
• 10. Wolz, U., Barnes, T., Bayliss, J., and
  Cromack, J. Panel Session Girls Do Like Playing
  and Creating Games. Proceedings of the Fortieth
  SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science
  Education (SIGCSE 2009), March 3-7, 2009,
  Chattanooga, Tennessee.