Course Syllabus

Course Description:

In the lab component of the Game Development course, you will put into practice the theories and concepts you have discussed in the seminar section of the course. The semester begins with a crash course in Unity, an intuitive game development environment produced in Denmark that allows you to immediately tinker with a simple, existing game template and move on to develop simple 2D or 3D game designs of your own making. Simulating the Danish indie game community, which is characterized by small teams of 1-3 people rather than major game production conglomerates, you will work individually or in small groups throughout the semester. The games will be created using existing freely available game assets (graphics and sounds). The hands-on work in the Game Lab is supplemented with a mini game jam with Danish students at Vallekilde Højskole (see Game Development Syllabus)

After successful completion of the lab part of this course, you:

• Use the Unity Editor to create interesting game levels
• Create game scripts using C# and the Unity API
• Understand the fundamentals of using 2D and 3D graphics
• Are acquainted with advanced topics such as shaders, physics, AI, and Network based games.
• Understand the process of game development from idea to beta version
• Can apply theories and develop and test an actual game

Course Schedule (subject to change)

The course schedule is a combined schedule for the two co-requisite courses: ”Game Development: Programming & Practice” and “Game Development Lab”.

Approach to Teaching   

The lab is a continuation of the Game Development course and is a hands-on class with ample opportunities to build your skills as a game developer. Throughout the semester, you will be developing, revising and testing several prototypes and full games. The Game Lab is intended to be a collaborative community and space for discussions. Faculty and peer feedback sessions will be an important part of the learning. Game development fully incorporates modern, state-of-the-art tools and the use of AI.

Faculty

Benno Lüders. M.S (Game Technology, IT University of Copenhagen, 2016). Game enthusiast and Game Development all-rounder with focus on Game Programming. Assistant teacher at the royal academy of fine arts in Copenhagen (2015 - 2016). Tutor and teaching assistant at the IT University of Copenhagen (2015) and Hochschule Fulda (2011 - 2013). Backend Java developer at mobile game company Flaregames in Karlsruhe (2013 - 2014). With DIS since 2016. 

Grading and Evaluation

Participation	10%
2D Game: (Lab Part: Code and project quality, Proficiency during Project Discussion)	40%
Final Project: (Lab Part: Code and project quality, Proficiency during Project Discussion)	50%

Students will develop a 2D Game (Midterm) and Final Project of their choice. Project evaluation includes full source code and executable build, as well as a project discussion where students can explain their choices of design and implementation.

The class and lab sections share evaluation of the same Projects. In the Game Development Lab, evaluation focusses on engineering, coding and project health (incl. naming conventions, code quality, file and folder setup).

Project Discussions

Discussions follow the submission of the Midterm and Final Project. Each team has a 15-20 min conversation with the instructor and one or two censors where they can elaborate their coding and design choices.

Project grading

• Class part
• Executable Build (web, mac, or windows).
• Project Ownership, Knowledge and Proficiency displayed during Project Discussion (Focus on Game Design, Teamwork, Planning, Game Flow, Game Feel, Critical Thinking, Project Reflection).
• Optional Game Design Document with game description and how to play, and game development diary (max ½ a page per week), where all major game design decisions and obstacles are described.
• Lab part
• Full Unity project including source code, assets and project settings.
• Project Ownership, Knowledge and Proficiency displayed during Project Discussion (Focus on Engineering, Code Design, System Design, Implementation Choices).
• Optional Work Schedule and a description of the implementation structure, showing the layout and interaction of the game logic.

Coding and AI use Guidelines

Students have free choice of tools, libraries, frameworks, external code, and AI tools. Using these resources is a normal part of modern game development and is encouraged when they help students learn, explore ideas, debug, or overcome challenges. In this class we will use AI to help solve and understand problems, but not to solve them for us.

Students are responsible for the code they submit. AI-generated code is considered student-owned when students understand how it works and can modify and explain it and know its purpose and implementation choices. This ownership is demonstrated during project discussions, where students may be asked to explain, modify, or debug their code.

All external libraries and code are allowed, including AI-generated code that students do not fully understand. However, all such code must be clearly marked with its source, for example: //Written with help of AI or //Taken from [link to source]. Transparency about external assistance is expected; using external resources or AI is not itself a problem.