CPSC 411/511 Building Game Engines
Pragmatic and technical game development -- Your Instructor
Schedule/Road Map
The following is our tentative syllabus for the course, changes should be expected throughout the semester. I will announce in class, piazza, or through e-mail any major changes.
| Week | Date | Lecture and Readings | Problem Sets | Note(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2025-Jan-14 | Module 1 - Administrivia | Games and Game Engines
| Welcome back to class! Note: 1st assignment has extra time to accomodate students who add late. | |
| 1 | 2025-Jan-16 | Module 2 - Game Genres, Game Applications, and Game Loops
| ||
| 2 | 2025-Jan-21 | Module 3 - (Tentative) D Language Review with Game Patterns | ||
| 2 | 2025-Jan-23 | Module 4 - Modules, Packages, Libraries, Linking, and Introducing SDL | Add/Drop Period closes Jan. 22 at 5:00pm ET | |
| 3 | 2025-Jan-28 | Module 5 - SDL Basics 1: 2D Graphics Programming | ||
| 3 | 2025-Jan-30 | Module 6 - SDL Basics 2: Frame rate and Basic Collisions | ||
| 4 | 2025-Feb-04 | Module 7 - SDL Basics 3: Handling Data | ||
| 4 | 2025-Feb-06 | Module 8 - Tiles: Sprite Animation, Fonts, and Tilemaps | ||
| 5 | 2025-Feb-11 | Module 9 - 2D Game Math 1 | ||
| 5 | 2025-Feb-13 | Module 10 - Game Math 2 - Coordinate Systems, Trigonometry, and Vectors | ||
| 6 | 2025-Feb-18 | Module 11 - Collision, Game Object, Component System, and Entity Component Systems | ||
| 6 | 2025-Feb-20 | Module 12 - Hierarchical Transformations (Game Math 3) | ||
| 7 | 2025-Feb-25 | Module 13 - Scene Management | Online exam released on canvas Feb. 25 at 6:00pm EST PSET07(Due Mar. 6 Anywhere on Earth) (Late Deadline Mar. 13 for up to 90%)' | Brief Study Guide. Exam otherwise includes any other materials from lecture, slides, and homeworks. You must finish the exam in one sitting (i.e. when you open the exam, your time starts) |
| 7 | 2025-Feb-27 | Module 14 - Engine Support Systems 1 - Serialization and D Language Templates | Online exam due on canvas (Exam due Mar. 7 Anywhere on Earth which is precisely Mar. 8 at 8AM EST) | |
| 8 | 2025-Mar-04 | Module 15 - Engine Support Systems 2 - Resource Managers and File Systems | ||
| 8 | 2025-Mar-06 | Module 16 - Engine Support Systems 3 - Gameplay Systems & Scripting | Mid-semester date (October 25) | |
| 9 | 2025-Mar-11 | Module 17 - No Class | Spring Recess | |
| 9 | 2025-Mar-13 | Module 18 - No Class | Spring Recess | |
| 10 | 2025-Mar-18 | Module 19 - No Class | Spring Recess - Mike at GDC, may be slow to respond to e-mail | |
| 10 | 2025-Mar-20 | Module 20 - No Class | Spring Recess | |
| 11 | 2025-Mar-25 | Module 21 - Final Project Team Formation and Engine Study | ||
| 11 | 2025-Mar-27 | Module 22 - Game Audio | ||
| 12 | 2025-Apr-01 | Module 23 - Reserved for Tentative Industry Guest Speakers / or work day | Mike Tentatively traveling to ACCU Conference; class will be pre-recorded or asynchronous remote | |
| 12 | 2025-Apr-03 | Module 24 - Physics, Spatial Partitioning, and Culling | Mike Tentatively traveling to ACCU Conference; class will be pre-recorded or asynchronous remote | |
| 13 | 2025-Apr-08 | Module 25 - Gameplay Systems and Object Pools | ||
| 13 | 2025-Apr-10 | Module 26 - Devices, GUI, and Command Pattern | ||
| 14 | 2025-Apr-15 | Module 27 - 2D Rendering Techniques | ||
| 14 | 2025-Apr-17 | Module 28 - Systems programming - Parallelism/Concurrency | ||
| 15 | 2025-Apr-22 | Module 29 - Work day/Flex day and brief intro to SIMD | ||
| 15 | 2025-Apr-24 | Module 30 - Course Wrap up and work day | 'Final project due May. 1 at noon ET. (Note: No extensions for final project; 10% late penalty every day project is late) | Last official day of class :( Final Project presentations will tentatively be Thr. May. 1 from 4-6pm in ??? |