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CS679: Computer Game Technology

Fall 2003

cs679-1@cs.wisc.edu

Instructor: Stephen Chenney

Email: schenney@cs.wisc.edu
Office: 6387 Computer Sciences and Statistics
Office Hours: Send email to arrange a time.

Announcements

Final project deadline Thurs Dec 11, 12:00 midday.
Project demos Thurs, Dec 11 in class, in rm B240
Final exam, Monday Dec 15, Rm 1221
- One double-sided sheet allowed.
- The final from last time

Calendar

Most recent at the top.

Dec 9 Game Networking in practice CHeating Evaluations Lecture notes.	Dec 11 Final Project Demos, Rm B240
Dec 2 More collision detection Intro to Game Networking Lecture notes.	Dec 4 No class
Nov 25 Still more collision detection Lecture notes.	Nov 27 Thanksgiving
Nov 18 Collision Detection overview Handling player collisions Lecture notes.	Nov 20 Many objects colliding Special cases for Spheres Lecture notes.
Nov 11 Path Planning: Improving A* Lecture notes.	Nov 13 Path Planning: Dynamic environments Flocking Particle Systems Lecture notes.
Nov 4 Path Planning Greedy planning Breadth-first planning A* intro Lecture notes.	Nov 6 MIDTERM
Oct 28 Decision trees Rule-Based systems Lecture notes.	Oct 30 Fuzzy Logic Neural Networks Lecture notes.
Oct 21 Terrain Generation Lecture notes. Reading: The book Game Programming Gems has a lot to say on this topic.	Oct 23 AI Intro State machine AI Lecture notes.
Oct 14 More LOD Lecture notes. Reading: RTR Section 11.5	Oct 16 Terrain LOD Lecture notes.
Oct 7 Visibility Lecture notes. Reading: RTR Section 9.4, 9.5, 9.7	Oct 9 Level of Detail Lecture notes. Reading: RTR Section 9.8, 11.5
Sept 30 Spatial Data Structures Octrees Lecture notes. Reading: RTR Section 9.1	Oct 2 kd-trees BSP-Trees Bounding volume hierarchies Cell-Portal structures Lecture notes. Reading: RTR Section 9.1
Sept 23 Shadows Part 2 Lecture notes. Reading: RTR Section 6.12	Sept 18 Vertex and Fragment Shaders CG Lecture notes. Reading: RTR Section 6.5, 6.6 and 6.7; The Cg Tutorial
Sept 16 Bump Mapping Multi-pass Rendering Lecture notes. Reading: RTR Sect 5.7.5, RTR Chapter 2, RTR Section 6.10	Sept 18 Reflections Shadows Part 1 Lecture notes. Reading: RTR Section 6.10, RTR Section 6.12
Sept 9 Environment Mapping Lecture notes. Reading: RTR Chapter 5.	Sept 11 More environment mapping Light mapping Bump mapping Lecture notes. Reading: RTR Chapter 5.
Sept 2 Introduction to Computer Game Development and CS 679 Lecture notes.	Sept 4 Programming Interactive Systems Understanding Lag Lecture notes.

Software for the Course

You are free to use whatever software you like in this course, although we can only provide assistance with C++, FLTK, OpenGL and CG. The projects must run on machines in B240, and that is where they will be graded. The machines have GeForce3 graphics cards, which limits the shading effects you can create for grading.

People Who Helped

I am indepted to Michael Garland, who provided slides for use in the LOD section of the class, and John Laird, who provided the slides for the AI tutorial he and Mike van Lent gave at the 2001 GDC.

General Course Information

This course is about the technology that goes into creating computer games and other interactive entertainment. The focus is on 3D gaming and the graphics, artificial intelligence and networking technology that is employed in games.

Schedule
1:00 - 2:15 TR in 1221 Computer Sciences and Statistics
Pre-Requisites
CS 559 or equivalent knowledge.
Grading Policy (Subject to change)
- Project (multiple phases): 60%
- Midterm: 20%
- Final: 20%
Syllabus (Tentative)
Textbooks
- Tomas Akenine-Möller and Eric Haines, "Real-Time Rednering, Second Edition", A.K. Peters, 2002. (Required)
- Randima Fernando and Mark J. Kilgard, "The Cg Tutorial", Addison-Wesley, 2003. (Recommended)
- Mark DeLoura (Ed.), "Game Programming Gems", Charles River Media, 2000. (Recommended)
Additional Readings
Assorted additional material will be available off this web site as required.
Lab Resources
The computing lab, B240, contains new machines with NVIDIA GeForce 3 graphics cards. Students in CS679 and CS559 have priority in B240.
Class email alias
cs679-1list@cs.wisc.edu
Class email archive