Videogame design and programming is one of the most exciting and challenging disciplines in Computer Science as it attempts to combine, in real-time, concepts in computer graphics, human computer interaction, networking, artificial intelligence, computer aided instruction, computer architecture, etc. In this course students will learn the basics of videogame design and the basics of videogame programming, attend specific seminars from field experts, and form project groups to design, build and demonstrate a simple video game. The course is structured as a series of lecture by the instructors and a series of invited seminars.

The goal of the course is to develop games. For this purpose, each student is require to submit a game proposal at the beginning of the course. All the proposals are collected and all the students can cast 5 votes for the proposals they like most. The game receiving the highest number of votes are the one that will be developed during the course. 

The students who proposed the selected games are nominated as team leaders and have have around one week to build their development team which can consist at most of 5 students/programmers from the course and 1/2 external graphic designers.

There are two three main deadlines: (1) the prototype presentation, in mid December, when each team must demo the skeleton of their game; (2) the beta presentation, in mid January, when each team must demo an almost final version of the game; (3) the final presentation at the end of January.

Video Presentation of the Course

• https://youtu.be/h2oUvlF1XrE

Video Games Developed During the Last Three Editions of the Course

• http://polimi-game-collective.itch.io

Commercial Games from the Course Students

• In Verbis Virtus http://store.steampowered.com/app/242840/?snr=1_5_9__205
• Volvox http://store.steampowered.com/app/392600/?snr=1_5_9__205
• Shape Gurus, ABC Gurus, Eli Explorer, Art Gurus, Star Gurus (https://itunes.apple.com/us/developer/colto/id956538612)
• A Pixel Escale http://www.desura.com/games/a-pixel-escape
• Milanoir http://www.milanoirgame.com/
• ArThieves http://www.stupidipixel.com/qel/
• The Way of Life https://www.cybercoconut.com/
• 5 Minutes Rage http://store.steampowered.com/app/416700/5_Minutes_Rage/
• Laika 2.0 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=860967605
• ...

Videos

The videos of the invited presentations of the previous editions are available at 

• https://youtu.be/TivdgCPqPjA?list=PL4QF7lP4PZkA20z5GUsFryyzK0_zFiGFF

The trailers of the games developed during the previous editions available at

• https://youtu.be/MukCehJ_Hjc?list=PL6624CA9C566CEA0A

Course Structure 

• Course syllabus: Objectives, Final project and deadlines, Team building
• A brief history of videogames and current trends
• The structure of games (the designer view): Elements of Design, Story, flow, and interaction, Game play and player satisfaction
• The structure of games (the developer view): Defining games, Game elements, Engaging the player, Design methodologies
• Introduction to videogame development
• Game development tools
• Unity
• Game Intelligence
• Advanced Game Development: User interfaces, Audio and sound, Computer graphics, Networking

Computer engineering students should have an intermediate knowledge of programming. Knowledge of Java or C# might be useful but not mandatory.

Design students should know how to work either with 2D or 3D artist tools.

The final evaluation is based on the game developed during the course. Each student is required to submit a game proposal at the beginning of the course. All the proposals are collected and all the students can cast 5 votes for the proposals they like most. The game receiving the highest number of votes are the one that will be developed during the course. The students who proposed the selected games are nominated as team leaders and have have around one week to build their development team which can consist at most of 5 students/programmers from the course and 1/2 external graphic designers. There are two three main deadlines: (1) the prototype presentation, in mid December, when each team must demo the skeleton of their game; (2) the beta presentation, in mid January, when each team must demo an almost final version of the game; (3) the official public presentation, at the end of January, when the students have to show their game to invited guests during a presentation open to the public; (4) a demo of the game will be published on the course itch.io page.