International Game Developers Association

Programming for Games 1 - a module on BSc Computer Games Software Engineering at Northumbria University, in Newcastle, England

Games Education
Course

Contents 1 Teachers 1.1 Instructors 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 5 Analysis of learning methods 5.1 What worked 5.2 What didn't work

Teachers

Instructors

• Dan Hodgson
• Chris Rook

Course Background Information

Location

Northumbria University City Campus, Newcastle, England

Classification

See: Areas for classifing for your course.

Games Programming

Student background needed

Students are not expected to have any previous programming experience, but should have reasonable computer literacy and a competence in Maths. This module is only offered on BSc Computer Games Software Engineering, year 1.

Course prerequisites

None

Time periods

The module is delivered over 12 weeks (one semester) with the following contact time each week

• Two 1-hour lectures
• One 2-hour lab session

Course Structure

Course description

This is an introductory module of C++ programming, teaching the very basics, using games examples.

Course learning objectives

By the end of the module, students will be able to :

• Formulate solutions to a number of basic programming problems, using standard algorithms.
• Make effective use of fundamental data types, arrays and structured programming control constructs.
• Write a program that can take user input and display text output.
• Write a program that can perform mathematical calculations.

Week by week topics

Week	Topic
1	Programming and compiling.
2	Instructions. Input and output.
3	Variables.
4	Data types and casting.
5	Loops.
6	Functions
7	Arrays
8	Strings
9	Reference types.
10	Algorithms.
11	Style + stepwise refinement
12	Consolidation

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

Programming and Problem Solving with C++ (Dale, Weems & Heddington)

Software (engines, tools)

Microsoft Developer Studio .NET as a C++ development environment.

Syllabus

20% The use of a programming environment to write, compile and execute a simple program and to locate programming errors. 40% Features of the programming language: variables, data types, control structures, arrays, user input and screen output, simple file input and output. 40% Algorithms for common situations (such as searching and sorting of arrays, insertion and deletion from sorted lists, searching for largest values in list, read-ahead loops, random number generation) and their implementation in the programming language used.

Assessment strategy

Assessment is by 3 individual programming assignments.

Case studies

A case study ("Lost Island": a text adventure) is used throughout the module.

Analysis of learning methods

What worked

Teaching programming fundamentals in a rigorous fashion gives a good foundation for the future. In general we expect a lot of students and this tends to motivate them to do well.

What didn't work

Nothing we can put our finger on right now

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