| CODE | ICS2211 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Game AI | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Artificial Intelligence | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The Game AI (GAI) unit is aimed at giving students a comprehensive introduction towards the use of Artificial Intelligence in game creation. The unit will be divided into three main parts. The first part is the theoretical part which focuses on the elements which make a good game, how to come up with a good theme, user experience, game mechanics and story boarding. We will also discuss the use of various AI techniques used in different games ranging from A* to Reinforcement Learning. The second part will focus on actual game creation using Unity 3D. We will also have a look at the major gaming platforms such as (Mobile, Consoles, etc) and learn how to develop games for at least one of them. If the student is interested, the different elements covered will also be sufficient to attempt official Unity Certification. Such a certification is very sought after in the gaming industry. The third and final part is the actual creation of a real game through a game jam which is organized towards the last part of the semester. Study-unit Aims: The study-unit aims to: • Introduce the designing of a good game and taking into considerations things such as social interaction etc.; • Give an overview of the whole process and understand how it works; • Make use of a real game development tools in order to integrate the Artificial Intelligence techniques covered during the course. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: • Describe how to design a good game; • Apply such a technology to other application areas; • Explain the implications and trade-offs of constructing a complex AI System for games; • Explain how to implement advanced AI techniques in games. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: • Transfer the newly acquired knowledge to other situations; • Give practical examples of how advanced AI techniques can be used in game development; • Design a good game which can be implemented on different platforms. Textbooks: • J Schell, The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses (2008), Morgan Kaufmann, ISBN 0123694965 • R Koster, A Theory of Fun for Game Design (2004), Paraglyph Press, ISBN 1932111972 • A Reed, Learning XNA 4.0: Game Development for the PC, Xbox 360, and Windows Phone 7 (2010), O'Reilly Media, ISBN 1449394620 • P Zirkle and J Hogue, iPhone Game Development: Developing 2D & 3D games in Objective-C (2009), O'Reilly Media, ISBN 0596159854 • V Silva, Pro Android Games (2009), Apress, ISBN 1430226471 • M Buckland, Programming Game AI by Example (2004), Jones & Bartlett Publishers, ISBN 1556220782 • Various online resources |
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| RULES/CONDITIONS | Before TAKING THIS UNIT YOU ARE ADVISED TO TAKE ICS1017 OR TAKE ICS1020 | ||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Blended Learning | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Luca Bondin Alexiei Dingli (Co-ord.) Konstantinos Makantasis Benjamin Joseph Spiteri |
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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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