CLASSES

Each week COMP260 has two hours of lectures, a two-hour tutorial and a two-hour practical. Please see the Timetable at http://www.timetable.mq.edu.au. for details

REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED TEXTS AND/OR MATERIALS

Prescribed Textbooks

The textbooks for this unit are as follows:

• Schell, J., The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, 2nd edition, Morgan Kaufmann
• Goldstone, W., Unity 3.x Game Development Essentials, 2011, 2nd edition, Packt Publishing

Additional References

• Adams, E., 2010: Fundamentals of Game Design, 2nd. ed.,  New Rdiers, ISBN-10: 0321643372 | ISBN-13: 978-0321643377
• Totten, C.W. 2014, An Architectural Approach to Level Design, A K Peters/CRC Press ISBN-10: 1466585412 | ISBN-13: 978-1466585416
• Adams, E., Dormans, J., 2012 Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design, New Riders; ISBN-10: 0321820274 | ISBN-13: 978-0321820273
• Novak, J., Castillo, T. 2008 Game Development Essentials: Game Level Design, Cengage Learning, ISBN-10: 1401878644 | ISBN-13: 978-1401878641

These recommended texts are not compulsory for the subject, however, they do provide reliable and relevant resources to support the course material. These texts may be useful for later subjects that you will study as part of your degree. You are also encouraged to check for other sources, including alternative books and on-line material.

Other Readings

Other reading(s) for this subject will be provided via on-line material on the Web. You should be familiar with accessing through links to on-line sources of information. It is important to realise that there will be additional costs to you which may not be present in traditional presentation of education materials. Such costs include connection, time charges and access to specific information on the Web. Your Internet provider can supply you with more details.

UNIT WEBPAGE AND TECHNOLOGY USED AND REQUIRED

Online Resources

The official location (URL) of unit information once you have loaded your WWW browser is: http://ilearn.mq.edu.au

Once you have enrolled in the unit, you must gain access to comp260 website. We will be using the University’s Online Learning at MQ website (iLearn). Students should check this site for regular updates.

Technology Used and Required

Unity 3D. The free version of this can be downloaded at http://unity3d.com/unity/download/

Various commercial games will be referred to as examples in class.

*Note we hope to have an industry guest lecture. It's currently scheduled for week 13.  However it will depend on availability of an industry guest. It may be that we have to move the guest lecture forward and everything else back to fit their schedule.

The course content has been extensively revised from previous offerings to provide a stronger emphasis on gameplay design.

If assesable work is not submitted by the due date than 10% will be subtracted from the mark awarded fro that work for each working day that the submission is late, upto a maximum of five working days.  Submissions after that date will be awarded a mark of 0.

Extensions of time may be awarded to avoid the above penalty. Students will need to submit a request for special consideration.  They should also contact the unit convenor as soon as possible.

Pass

Some ability to implement simple gameplay mechanics in a commercial game engine.

Able to create a basic level of documentation of game play mechanics and designs.

Produce designs that demonstrate:

• proficiency with basic game design concepts from previous study
• in part, good pacing and flow from appropriate spatial and temporal distribution of game elements
• in part, an ability to integrate characters and story into a game design, where appropriate
• in part, good use of lighting, sound, texture, etc

 Produce limited implementations, in a commercial game engine, of their designs.

Demonstrate a limited ability to plan and carry out playtesting of designs and apply the results of the playtesting to improve designs.

Demonstrate noticeable evidence of being able to discuss and critique game designs and design elements in terms of the design concepts studied in the unit and from previous study.

Credit

Able to implement simple gameplay mechanics in a commercial game engine.

Able to create thorough documentation of game play mechanics and designs.

Produce designs that demonstrate:

• proficiency with basic game design concepts from previous study
• substantial good pacing and flow from appropriate spatial and temporal distribution of game elements
• substantial ability to integrate characters and story into a game design, where appropriate
• substantial good use of lighting, sound, texture, etc
• at least some creativity and innovation

Produce implementations, in a commercial game engine, of their designs.

Demonstrate an ability to effectively plan and carry out playtesting of designs and apply the results of the playtesting to improve designs.

Demonstrate substantial evidence of being able to discuss and critique game designs and design elements in terms of the design concepts studied in the unit and from previous study.

Distinction

Able to implement a range of gameplay mechanics in a commercial game engine.

Able to create thorough documentation of game play mechanics and designs.

Produce designs that demonstrate:

• proficiency with basic game design concepts from previous study
• sustained good pacing and flow from appropriate spatial and temporal distribution of game elements
• sustained ability to integrate characters and story into a game design, where appropriate
• sustained good use of lighting, sound, texture, etc
• significant creativity and innovation

Produce implementations in a commercial game engine of their designs.

Demonstrate a sustained ability to effectively plan and carry out playtesting of designs and apply the results of the playtesting to improve designs.

Demonstrate sustained evidence of being able to discuss and critique game designs and design elements in terms of the design concepts studied in the unit and from previous study, with noticeable originality and insight in evaluation and analysis.

High Distinction

Able to implement a range of gameplay mechanics in a commercial game engine.

Able to create thorough documentation of game play mechanics and designs.

Produce designs that demonstrate

• proficiency with basic game design concepts from previous study
• sustained good pacing and flow from appropriate spatial and temporal distribution of game elements
• sustained ability to integrate characters and story into a game design, where appropriate
• sustained good use of lighting, sound, texture, etc
• sustained, high-level, creativity and innovation

Produce implementations, in a commercial game engine, of their designs.

Demonstrate a sustained ability to effectively plan and carry out playtesting of designs and apply the results of the playtesting to improve designs.

Demonstrate sustained evidence of being able to discuss and critique game designs and design elements in terms of the design concepts studied in the unit and from previous study, with substantial  originality and insight in evaluation and analysis.

Since the last offering of this unit we have

• reordered and revised the lecture content
• reduced teh amount of lectures and extended the tutorials