This chapter provides details on a course that teaches technical Computer Science aspects of game development, with the focus of the course on low-level programming of computer games. Topics include game engines, resource management, graphics and rendering, player input, collision detection, debugging, performance tuning and AI. In the course, students implement a game engine from scratch using C++ and make a complete game using their own engine. The chapter includes detailed project descriptions, modules with class materials, groupwork and lectures, and best practice advice.

Materials:

• Chapter: pdf
• Book (Chapter 3, p. 73): web page
• Groupwork: web page

See also:

• Links

  • ETC Press blog about the book: Web page

• Book

  • Mark Claypool. Dragonfly - Program a Game Engine from Scratch, Interactive Media and Game Development, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Version 1, 2014. Online at: http://dragonfly.wpi.edu/book/

• Journal articles

  • Mark Claypool. Teaching Network Game Programming with the Dragonfly Game Engine, Syllabus Journal - Special Issue on Teaching with and about Video Games, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2015. Online at: http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~claypool/papers/dragonfly-networking/

  • Mark Claypool. Dragonfly - Strengthening Programming Skills by Building a Game Engine from Scratch, Computer Science Education - Special issue on Games in Computer Science Education, Taylor and Francis, Volume 23, Issue 2, Pages 112-137, June 2013. Online at: http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~claypool/papers/dragonfly-projects/