Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Convenor/Lecturer
Cameron Edmond
Contact via Email
4 Research Park Drive, Office 365
See iLearn
Lecturer
Malcolm Ryan
Contact via Email
4 Research Park Drive, Office 356
By arrangement
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Credit points |
Credit points
10
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
(COMP1150 or COMP111 or MMCC1011 or MAS111) and (COMP1010 or COMP125)
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
This unit covers the production processes involved in the development of videogames. Students will learn how to apply software engineering principles to develop a game in a 3D game engine, focusing on specific programming problems that arise in the context of game development. Practical exercises emphasise agile team-based production process for project management.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Late Assessment Submission Penalty
From 1 July 2022, Students enrolled in Session based units with written assessments will have the following late penalty applied. Please see https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/assessments for more information.
Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of '0' will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern.
For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration.
Assessments where Late Submissions will be accepted
In this unit, late submissions will be accepted as follows:
Weekly Quizes - NO, unless Special Consideration is granted
Weekly Practice Exercises - NO, unless Special Conisderation is granted
Game Development Task 1 - YES, Standard Late Penalty applies
Ethics Essay - YES, Standard Late Penalty applies
Game Development Task 2- YES, Standard Late Penalty applies
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
---|---|---|---|
Ethics Essay | 20% | No | Week 9 |
Weekly Quizzes | 10% | No | Weekly |
Game Development Task 1 | 30% | No | Week 7 |
Game Development Task 2 | 30% | No | Week 13 |
Weekly practical exercises | 10% | No | Weekly in class |
Assessment Type 1: Essay
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: Week 9
Weighting: 20%
A short essay exploring one of the key ethical issues that arise in game development practice.
Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 5 hours
Due: Weekly
Weighting: 10%
Weekly quizzes based on lecture material.
Assessment Type 1: Programming Task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 30 hours
Due: Week 7
Weighting: 30%
You will develop a videogame to meet a specified design, and report on the software architecture employed and the performance of the game in terms of time and memory usage.
Assessment Type 1: Programming Task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 30 hours
Due: Week 13
Weighting: 30%
You will work in pairs to develop a videogame to meet a specified design. Emphasis will be placed on good project management following an agile methodology. You will report of the software architecture employed in the game, and the QA testing you performed.
Assessment Type 1: Participatory task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 0 hours
Due: Weekly in class
Weighting: 10%
Weekly game programming exercises
1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:
2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation
Lectures in this unit will consist of pre-recorded videos as well as live lecture sessions. Students are expected to watch these pre-recorded videos before attending the live sessions.
Each practical class in this unit will be supported by a worksheet. Studentsa re expected to attempt these practical tasks before coming to class, where they will be able to seek help and advice from their demonstrator.
From time to time, this unit will involve additional materials such as book chapter readings and industry interviews. Students will be expected to work through these materials in the weeks they are allocated.
This unit will focus on game development within the Unity Game Engine. Check iLearn for information on which verison of this engine to use. You will have access to the lab computers which have Unity installed on them.
The unit will also require the use of version control software via Github. In regards to Git clients, the lab computers have both GitKraken and Github Desktop. You can use whatever Git client you wish when working on your own device, but it is your responsibility to understand how it works.
In order to complete these assessments and practical tasks, you will be required to work with Unity outside of classtime, often on a personal device. Unity works across Windows, Mac and Linux (Ubuntu) devices.
Provisional time-table. Details may change.
Week | Lecture topics |
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1 |
C# programming, Event-based programming, Behaviour-based programming & modularity |
2 | 2D & 3D geometry: Vectors and Quaternions, The Transform Hierarchy / Scene Graph, Lerping & Tweening, Handling input |
3 | Prefabs, Instantiation & Destruction, Singletons and Factories, Finite state machines |
4 | Code Architecture, Trigger colliders & Kinematic Rigidbodies, Raycasting |
5 | UI implementation, Scene Management |
6 | Quality Assurance, Game Analytics / Game User Research |
7 | Code Review, Ethical issues in the games industry |
8 | Version control for teams |
9 | Artists as game devs, game devs as artists |
10 | Game Physics, Collision handling |
11 | Camera control, Coroutines |
12 | Path planning, NavMeshes |
13 | No lecture |
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.
To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct
Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au
At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.
The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources.
Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:
Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.
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Unit information based on version 2022.02 of the Handbook