Computer
science students at Utah State University enrolled in Dean Mathias’ game
development class have begun to work on the final project of the course —
programming a modernized version of the game Asteroids that will take advantage
of today’s 3D rendering capabilities and multi-core processors.
Mathias,
an adjunct professor who has been teaching the class since 2008, said that the
course was designed to give students practice with core computer science topics
like graphics, multi-core utilization, threading, synchronization, data
structures & algorithms, A.I., software engineering, optimization and specific
game development techniques.
“These are all combined using the
vehicle of game development,” Mathias said. “Surprisingly, the purpose of the
course is not ‘to make a game’, but to focus on Computer Science topics through
the vehicle of game development.”
Mathias said he chose Asteroids for
the final project because, while the game is limited enough in scope for
students to finish it in a little over three weeks, it still requires the
students to prove competence with core programming techniques.
“In short, the game offers the
ability to integrate all of the various topics that have been covered during
the semester,” Mathias said.
The game development class is not
the only computer science class offered at USU that teaches skills valuable to
a game programmer. Scott Cannon teaches the new mobile apps class, created this
year. The course, tailored to creating apps for the iPad and iPhone, also helps
students with advanced programming techniques useful in creating games.
“This includes GUI operations,
image display services, file storage, animation, audio capture and playing, camera
services, video capture and playing, GPS maps and location services, gesture
inputs, web browser services, the accelerometer, and network communications,”
Cannon said.
Some of Cannon’s students have
decided to program a game for their final project.
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