Computer Games Development (Winter 2016/17)

The course gives a complex overview of computer games development. It covers programming (middleware for games, scripting languages, etc.), game design, project management, game marketing and also briefly touches basics of computer graphics for non-programmers. This is a joint course for students from multiple faculties and universities. In the course, the students create their own small game in small teams of 3-4 students. Every team is given own exclusive mentor who is a professional game developer. Lectures are led by game development professionals and a mini game development conference is organized as part of the course. The lectures will likely be given in English.

Main parts of the course are led by Otakar Nieder (Bohemia Interactive Simulations), Martin Klíma (Warhorse Studios), Milena Koljenšič (DIVR Labs), Jakub Gemrot and Cyril Brom (CUNI).

This year, lectures will be given in blocks. Every block will run at MFF UK (Malostranské nám. 25) in the room S4 every Friday since 2016/10/07 till 2016/11/25 (except holidays). The lectures start typically at 9:00 AM and end typically between 12:00 PM and late evening (see Schedule below). Note that the room can change during September 2016.

ORGANIZATION

1. First of all, be sure to have fun!
2. The Fun starts at 2016/10/07 at 9:00 am, MFF UK (Malostanské nám. 25) room S4. Mark this in your calendar. YOU MUST ATTEND THIS INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. We are going to tell you EXTREMELY IMPORTANT organization information, which WILL NOT BE REPEATED AGAIN.
3. Read about Grading (scoring system), Team rules, Experiment and Mini-grant applications at the second half of this page.
4. Subscribe to the lecture’s mailing conference. (Deadline: 2016/10/15)
5. If you have Facebook, stay connected with our FB page (we really appreciate your like ;-).
6. If you have Twitter, follow our Twitter account.
7. Sign-up for the experiment, see information at the bottom of this page. (Deadline: 2016/10/15)
8. Attend at least one of networking events. (Organized during evenings 2016/10/14 and 2016/10/21)
9. Decide on a game you want to make and as a team give pitch presentation about your idea. (Pitch presentation session is organized 2016/11/02)
10. Join or form a team (Mind the Team rules at the bottom of this page, deadline: 2016/11/04). You can use shared spreadsheet to track who is available (who does not have a team yet) for that.
11. Decide whether your team needs mini-grant money for SW or HW or assets. (Mini-grant application deadline: 2016/11/10)
12. If you received a mini-grant, submit invoices to Cyril Brom. (VERY hard deadline: 2016/11/26)
13. Meet all deadlines, attend to all mandatory events.
14. Create a magnificent game prototype!
15. You will pass the course with A if you manages to collect at least 89 points AND you will participate on the experiment. See bottom of the page for grading details.

SCHEDULE

Note that end-times can vary. Note that the room S4 may change.

Teams

Each team should game 3 – 4 people, 4 is an ideal number, 5 is a bit too many, you will have problem with management. Members of the team must be from at least two different faculties. Ideally, every team should have at least one creative guy/gal and a programmer. There can be at max 1 person from FF UK in each team. (Students from FF UK should not flock together!)

Deadline for forming teams is: 2016/11/04 !

We advise you to write your name into this spreadsheet that can be used to quickly check who still does not have a team…

Deadlines

All deadlines are here to be met!

As in game industry itself, all deadlines are strict. If not stated otherwise, deadline 2016/10/14 means the very day till 23:59:59 GMT+1. If you are unable to deliver, you have to mail us in advance explaining your problems. If you mail us after the deadline, you’re doomed (well not literally, you will not receive points, but that may ultimately lead to failing the course). Piece of advice to teams (and their “managers”), make sure all your team members is committing to deadlines, otherwise they might lose motivation working on the project if they found out they will not be able to receive A…

Project

In this year, your goal will be to develop a small casual game on a given theme (to be announced during introductory lecture 2016/10/07) that can compete with other existing games on an international competition. Creating such game is a question of good game design and 15-20 days of programming and graphics making. You can check on projects from previous year. We will require you to form a team, write a Game Design Document (the link contains a template with instructions) and implement the game according to it. Finally, you will have to present and defend your game during presentation day.

Student teams are interdisciplinary as gamedev teams usually are. We aim at having a distinctive person for roles: programmer, designer, artist at each team. But it is up to you to form teams. Deadline for forming a team is 2016/11/07. We require that all members creatively contribute to the project. No team member should be “hiree-to-do-some-dull-stuff”.

You can use our Facebook page or email conference to promote yourself or propose your projects. We are going to organize two informal networking events in some pub (2016/10/14, 2016/10/21). You should also read “Teams Rules” section down above first (if you haven’t already)!

We are trying to find external mentors who have a lot of experiences with game development and team management. Each team should get one and you will have to report to them regularly; take this opportunity to learn from them!

You will have to pitch your project to mentors first (2016/10/27) as if they are investors (which they truly are, they will be investing their own time to you!).

You are also required to use Git as SCM (namely GitHub); if you do not know that is, ask your MFF colleagues ;-). There will be a lab organized (2016/10/21) to help you get on tracks with GitHub, which is a site where you can create a repository for “sharing stuff between not only programmers” for free… but GitHub provides you with other stuff as well, namely it allows you to have project frontpage, wiki, forum, etc.

As part of the project we will require you to create a webpage that describe your game (example pages from 2015: Swappie, Journey Home).

Experiment

You have to attend an experiment related to educational games development. (Note for non-Czech/Slovak speaking students: This experiment is unfortunately held only in Czech, please, email zc.inuc.ffm.ivsk reverse-it morb for an alternative experiment, deadline 2016/10/15.) The experiment has two parts roughly three weeks apart and you have to attend both. The first one is around 90 min long, the second one up to 60 min long. There will be many dates during the term offered you for participation in the experiment, but no date after the term ends! For the first part you must sign up via Orsee registration system (deadline 2016/10/15). For the second one, you will receive special dates via email. When registering, check “experimenty v laboratoři”. After that you will start receiving weekly invitations via e-mail and you will sign up for a particular date via the link in the invitation.

You will see the dates scheduled in calender (Orsee, via link in e-mail) in more colours. The colours are not relevant for attending the experiment. You can choose any date.

There are two dates that are especially tailored for non-Prague people (2016/11/11 and 2016/11/25) as they run in parallel with consultations. So you do not have to commute to Prague just to attend the experiment’s first part. The second part for the latter date will be probably 2016/16/12 (for the former date, the second part is to be announced). If you have any questions, email zc.inuc.ffm.ivsk reverse-it morb.

Grading

You final grade depends on your team performance throughout the whole semester. Points are collected both by teams and individual members. Every team member can gain up-to 128 points in total. We will be sending a link to the scoring sheet through mailing conference, if you miss it, mail to jakub.gemrot@gmail.com who will resend the link to you.

You can receive points for various meetings / events / consultations / awards, 10 points == grade difference:

Mini-grant Application Instructions

1. Application text must be submitted (that is delivered!) together with design documents till 2016/11/10 midnight (i.e., 11:59.59 PM GMT+1)
2. There must be at least 1 CUNI MFF member within the team applying for a mini-grant.
3. Application must include:
   1. Name of the team (together with names and affiliations of its members) and name of the project
   2. Concrete description what do you apply for.
   3. Concrete description how are you going to obtain it.
   4. Price including VAT (round up to 500 CZK).
   5. Reason, why do you want the “thing” and how are you going to use it within the scope of the project.
   6. How will your situation change, if you do not get the mini-grant.
4. You can apply only for things that can be bought against a receipt (a bill for hardware or an invoice for services). If you cannot comply with this condition (you need real money), you might try to apply nevertheless, but it will lower your chances for getting the money.
5. Everything you buy must “exist” and it will remain the property of Charles University. This applies to hardware as well as sounds, graphics, etc. (but that does not mean you will have to remove the graphics or sounds from your game at the end of the term). You must return the “thing” after you finish the project (subject for discussion, state your reason why you will need to keep the “thing”).
6. Altogether, we can split up to 10.000 CZK. You may ask for any amount up to 10.000 CZK you consider appropriate, but in case of multiple high-quality applications we will split 10.000 CZK among the applicants.
7. Evaluation criteria:
   1. Formal compliance of the application with the rules above
   2. Meaningfulness
   3. Game design document quality and quality of your project in general
8. You have to buy the “thing” no later than 2016/11/25, bills must be handed to Cyril Brom no later than 2016/11/26. We will not refund bills after 2016/11/26. Period.

ČVUT Students

Please note that if you are ČVUT student, you have to write to Cyril Brom (zc.inuc.ffm.ivsk reverse-it morb) that you wish to attend the course. Send the email no later than 2016/09/29.

ZČU Students

Please note that if your of age 15-26 you are eligible for getting a “Žákovské jízdné” discount from ČD on trips between Pilsen and Prague.

Step-by-step guide (kudos to Olga Tesliuk, who has punched this through!):

1. Buy a Žákovské jízdné card for 2 CZK at train station (they should have it available both in ČD and Regiojet desks).
2. Fill in your name, surname, birthdate and towns you going to commute between (Pilsen – Prague); of course write this in Czech 😉
3. Go to your student affairs at ZČU and have it signed (let tem fill “date from-to” for you).
4. Go back to the train station and have it signed by ČD (you will need that card, your identity card – občanka, and 50 CZK).
5. PROFIT!

Another generic step-by-step guide available here (in Czech only).