| CODE | LAS3018 | ||||||
| TITLE | Video Game Design and Development with Unity | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | H - Higher Level | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Centre for the Liberal Arts and Sciences | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Digital game development is a broad and multi-faceted field which draws from computer science, mathematics, production, art, creative writing, audio and many others. All are part of the creative process: from conception and storyline to graphic design, programming, and public release. Video game developers are usually a cross between a producer and a programmer. While specialising in a specific role within the development process, they possess the technical skills to oversee and contribute to both game production and game design. Game development has mushroomed over the last few years, from small independent teams to big studios with hundreds of employees. There are more people in game development now than ever. Whether one is looking for a career in the digital games industry, or one has an idea for a game one wants to create, or one is simply curious about games and want to learn how to make them, this Unit will set prospective students on that path. This Unit will start from basic game development principles and will familiarise the students with the tools and practices of game development as you develop your own games using industry standard game development tools such as Unity. Turning a game idea into reality is not just about knowing the tools; numerous elements go into the process of designing meaningful experiences for players. In this Unit the students will learn to develop a game concept, design it, prototype and test it, iterating on your ideas and polishing the game to completion. As students are guided through the primary concepts of games, and shown how these basic concepts affect the way players interact with our games, the Unit will proceed to look at what defines a game and the mechanics and rules behind different types of games. Students will learn what the game design process looks like, starting with ways to describe a game's high concept and then fleshing out its design. Since games are interactive systems that players experience, prototyping is one of the most critical skills a game designer/developer can cultivate. Game prototypes will be created and put in front of players to better understand if the underlying mechanics and aesthetic are something players find engaging. The ability to "find the fun" in gameplay is critical, and students will learn how to design and develop gameplay experiences and explore what it means to balance a game. Throughout the Unit, students will program various game mechanics, develop AI agents, handle collisions and game physics, animate objects and work with different object materials and lighting. By the end of the Unit, students will have completed multiple hands-on projects, from simple classics such as Pong and Asteroids, to your very own original creations. Students will be able to leverage an array of game development techniques to create your own games, building a solid foundation for industry roles such as game programmer, gameplay designer, technical designer, level designer, technical artist, or producer. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the Unit the student will be able to: - Explain the basic principles and concepts of game development; - Use the Unity game engine, specifically: - The Unity interface; - Scenes and game objects; - Importing, updating and managing assets; - Working with prefabs; - The Component Model and scripting with C# for Unity; - Physics and collisions; - Adding audio; - Implementing lighting; - Working with materials, textures and shaders; - Animating objects and 3D models and basic concepts of rigging; - Performance and optimisation; - Building and deploying games on different platforms. 2. Skills: By the end of the Unit the student will be able to: - Proficiently use one of the world-leading game development engines to make production-quality games; - Create their own indie games and deploy them to multiple platforms such as mobile devices and computers; - Work in teams creating production-quality games; - Apply their knowledge to other entertainment sectors (digital media, film, advertising, etc…); - Apply their knowledge to industries using serious games as a key tool, such as simulations (education, medicine, engineering, aviation, etc…). Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, 2nd ed (2015). - Robert Nystrom, Game Programming Patterns (2014). - Further notes will be given by lecturer throughout the semester. Other useful resources include: Official Unity documentation - https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/index.html. |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Pre-Requisite knowledge, skills and competences: Whilst familiarity with game development and the Unity game engine is not a prerequisite, attendees must have strong programming knowledge. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Stephen Caruana |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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