International Game Developers Association

---

Cal Poly Pomona: Programming Game Engines

Games Education
Course

Contents 1 Teachers 1.1 Instructors 1.2 Guest speakers 2 Course Background Information 2.1 Location 2.2 Classification 2.3 Student background needed 2.4 Course Prerequisites 2.5 Time periods 3 Course Structure 3.1 Course description 3.2 Course learning objectives 3.3 Week by week topics 4 Course Materials & Facilities Used 4.1 Books 4.2 Other materials 4.3 Software (engines, tools) 4.4 Syllabus 4.5 Slides 4.6 Assessment materials 4.7 Digital media used in class 4.8 Case studies 4.9 Tutorial files 4.10 Other materials 5 Analysis of learning methods 5.1 What worked 5.2 What didn't work

Teachers

Instructors

• Robert Kerbs

Guest speakers

• TBD

Course Background Information

Location

• Department of Computer Science, Cal Poly Pomona

Classification

See: Areas for classifing for your course.

Primary Classification:

• Game Programming

Secondary Classification:

• System architecture for real time game environments and simulations

Student background needed

Undergraduate and Graduate Computer Science Students

Course Prerequisites

• 2D/3D computer graphics (theory and programming in OpenGL)
• C/C++ programming languages
• Operating systems

Time periods

10 week quarter - meets for 4 hours per week (two or three times depending on time-slot given course)

Course Structure

Course description

2D/3D game engine architectures, constant rate game engines, message-driven game engines, loading and unloading data, memory management, designing for test and for release, handling user input, managing sound, parsing animation files.

Course learning objectives

• Understand the software architectures used in building 2D/3D game engines
• Understand how to handle user input and events
• Learn how building for test and debug is different than build for release
• Learn the differences between constant-rate and message-driven game engines
• Gain experience loading and parsing basic animation files
• Gain competency in building a 2D and a 3D game engine
• Design and build a game engine memory manager
• Use multiple threads in a game engine for audio and sound effects

Week by week topics

(precise breakdown by week TBD)

• Data Structures used in Game Programming
• Computer Graphics Pipeline
• Handling Input
• Memory Manager Architecture
• Audio System Programming
• Animation System Programming and File Handling
• Event Handling
• 2D Game Engine Architecture
• 3D Game Engine Architecture
• Building Software for Test/Debug and for Release
• Message-Driven Game Engines
• Constant-Rate Game Engines

Course Materials & Facilities Used

Here you can link to and/or describe books and other materials you used for this course. Feel free to create new pages for each item here if a page for it does not yet exist.

Books

• 3D Game Engine Architecture, David Eberly, ISBN 012229064X, December 17, 2004.

Other materials

• OpenGL.org
• OpenAL.org

Software (engines, tools)

This could me a mix of external links to software on other servers and links to other wiki pages outlining those tools, which could be useful.

Syllabus

(link to an uploaded syllabus file or external storage location)

Slides

(link to each file's storage location)

Assessment materials

e.g. tests, quizzes, assignment requirements, project requirements

Digital media used in class

e.g. Video, Multimedia sources, Audio

(link to each file's storage location)

Case studies

(link to each file's storage location) or each respective wiki page

Tutorial files

(link to each file's storage location)

Other materials

(link to an uploaded resources -- e.g. research papers -- or external storage location)

Analysis of learning methods

What worked

Please discuss what worked

What didn't work

Please discuss what didn’t work