This course is oriented at gameplay programming. Something that is usually masked as mere “game programming”, which is a wrong term (coding a game engine is also a part of game programming). We will be visiting tips and tricks how to make better games by implementing various game mechanics. Done in the game engine Godot 4 using GDScript. The course is taught at MFF UK as NCGD003.
News
Follow the appropriate channel at Gamedev Discord!
https://discord.gg/wxAykVNynG
Dates
Lectures: Wednesdays, 17:20, S6.
Labs: Tuesdays, 17:20, SW2.
Course Exam
The course exam will be both theoretical & practical!
Theoretical Part
A written test. In general, you be knowledgeable about the topics in this document.
Practical Part
You will be given a Godot implementation task, with a (somewhat) generous time limit. This task will be loosely based around stuff from the lectures / labs.
Lab Credit
There will be (approximately) 4 homeworks over the course of the labs. The points will be given out as such:
3 points – submitted solution within deadline
Each week of delay will incur a 1 point deduction. Don’t leave the solutions until the last possible moment. If you had a serious reason why you couldn’t submit in time, let us know.
You need to submit all of the homeworks successfully and get at least maximum_possible - 3 points to successfully pass the labs. Additionally, each point missing will give you requirement on passing the final exam. Depending on the points, you will need to:
max : At the practical part of the exam, you need your solution to “basically work”, but it can have flaws.
max – 1 : At the practical part of the exam, your solution can have minor flaws.
max – 2 : At the practical part of the exam, your solution can only have small “cosmetic” flaws.
max – 3 : At the practical part of the exam, your solution needs to work flawlessly.
Lectures
| No. | Date | Topic | Content | Slides |
| 1. | 7.10.2026 | What is Gameplay Programming? | Introduction to the field… if a bit confusing. | GSlides |
| 2. | 14.10.2026 | Game Objects and Scene | How to design a game object and a scene tree | GSlides |
| 3. | 21.10.2026 | Tweening – Part I | Game Juice and its relation to Playability expressed through Tweenings | GSlides |
| 4 | 3.11.2026 | Tweening – Part II | Beziers and Splines | GSlides |
| 5 | ||||
| 6 | ||||
| 7 | ||||
Homeworks
You are expected to work at home on the following stuff; some of homeworks must be formally delivered, some just serve as guidelines for you what you should try out or prepare.
Labs Schedule
| No. | Date | Topic | Content |
| 1. | 29.9.2026 | Godot Intro | Godot Engine
Compared Godot to Unity and Unreal, discussed its strengths and weaknesses. Created a rudimentary Pong game structure: repository |
| 2. | 6.10.2026 | GDscript intro | Focused on scripting in GDScript. Explained basic syntax, features, and integration with other editors. Materials for recap/help: linkImproved gameplay for Pong game: repository |
| 3. | 13.10.2026 | Topdown RPG intro | After creating a ping-pong game, we are ready to jump into RPG. Let’s get our hands dirty as gameplay programmers!
Instructions are here. Homework 1: Assignment&Submission |
| 4. | 20.10.2026 | Topdown RPG deepdive | Now that we have acquainted ourselves with the RPG project we can move on to implementing proper gameplay mechanics.
Continuing on the first RPG project! Instructions are here. |
| 5. | 27.10.2026 | Topdown RPG finale | Time to juice it up. We will use tweens to juice up our RPG project.
Instruction are here HW2: Finish the RPG (more info in the materials). Deadline: 24.11. |
| 6. | 3.11.2026 | Tweens deepdive | Instructions here |
| 7. | 10.11.2026 | Homework 1 deadline | |
| 8. | 24.11.2026 | Homework 2 deadline | |
| 9. | 1.12.2026 | ||
| 10. | 8.12.2026 | ||
| 11. | 15.12.2026 | ||
| 12. |
Extra links