Game Programming

This course introduces core game programming techniques. In particular, we will consider the following topics:

• Game Physics
  • Particle systems
  • Deformable objects (e.g. cloth simulation)
  • Rigid bodies
  • Fluid simulation
• Animation / Geometry
  • Collision detection
  • Character animation
  • Facial animation
• Rendering
  • Natural phenomena (sky, clouds, water, fire, etc.)
  • Advanced material rendering (texture tricks, subsurface scattering, procedural techniques, etc.)
  • Screen space techniques (deferred shading, ambient occlusion, etc.)

Organisation:

The course is split into three parts, a lecture period, a seminar and a practical lab:

• In the lectures (approx. 6 weeks), the theoretical background of game programming will be discussed.
• In a subsequent seminar (approx. 2 weeks), the participating students will give short presentations about the organization and the techniques they are going to implement in the practical part.
• In the practical part of the course (approx. 4 weeks) at the end of the semester, students will implement techniques of their choice in teams of 2-3 members.

The topics of the seminar will be distributed at the beginning of the course. Each topic is supposed to consider a specific technique from an up-to-date game. We will make suggestions for possible topics, however you are welcome to propose a technique from the game you like most. The same holds for the practical part of the course where you have the chance to implement state-of-the-art game features (in C++ and OpenGL).

Exam:

The examination consists of:

• A presentation (approx. 20 minutes) of the results of the practical phase
• An oral exam (organized as colloquium, approx. 15 minutes) right after the presentation of the practical phase