Games Developer Course Plan

Introduction

  • Intro 1 – An Introduction to Game Creation
  • Your First Game – A Tutorial
  • Space Blaster – A Tutorial
  • A Scrolling Shooter Tutorial
  •  
  • Intro 2 – More Advanced Gaming
  • A Maze Game Tutorial
  • A Platform Game Tutorial
  • Intro 3 – Preparing For Your Own Game Designs
  • A Brief History of Time
  • What is C++
  • What is Object Orientated Programming?
  • Introduction to Visual Studio Express Edition
  • Your First Program

Section 1 Part A

  • Lesson 1 – C++ Language Introduction
  • Exploring the Language Syntax
  • Variables
  • Initialisation
  • Numeric & String Types
  • Arrays
  • Lesson 2 – Structures & Unions
  • Typedef & Enum
  • Notation & Casting
  • Variable lifecycle & scope
  •  
  • Lesson 3 – Program Flow
  • Loops
  • Decision-Making
  • Operator Precedence

Section 1 Part B

  • Lesson 4 – Functions
  • Passing Arguments by Value
  • The Reference Operator
  • Passing Arguments by Reference
  • Default Parameters
  •  
  • Lesson 5 – Overloading Rules
  • Operator Overloading
  • Prototypes
  • Headers
  • Recursion
  • Lesson 6 – Introduction to Classes
  • Designing a Class
  • Methods, Members & Membership
  • Friends

Section 1 Part C

  • Lesson 7 – Static and Const
  • Static Member Functions & Variables
  • Destructors
  • Overloading default constructors
  • Operator overloading in classes
  • Inheritance
  •  
  • Lesson 8 – Memory
  • New and Delete
  • Pointers
  • Dereferencing
  • References
  • Lesson 9 – Style
  • Common Conventions
  • KISS Principle
  • Comments
  • Compiler Directives
  • Verbosity

Section 2 Part A

  • Lesson 10 – Games Programming
  • Introduction to 2D maths
  • Coordinate Systems
  • 2D Limitations
  •  
  • Lesson 11 – Libraries
  • Standard Libraries Overview (CRT)
  • String Library Functions
  • File IO Library Functions
  • Making Our Own Library
  • Lesson 12 – Building a 2D Platform Game
  • Goals of the Game
  • Game Flow Diagram
  •  
  • Lesson 13 – Windows Programming
  • Creating Windows
  • Responding to Window Messages
  • Terminating the Window
  • Performance Counters
  • Creating Timers

Section 2 Part B

  • Lesson 14 – DirectX
  • Hardware Abstraction Layer (H.A.L.)
  • Render Surface
  • Full Screen
  •  
  • Lesson 15 – Graphics
  • Graphics Compression
  • Sprites
  • Sprite Animation
  • Lesson 16 – A Scrolling Scene
  • Tile Maps
  • Parallax Scrolling
  • Transparency
  • Double Buffering
  • Hardware Assistance
  •  
  • Lesson 17 – Managing Objects
  • Scene Graphs
  • Clipping
  • Collision Detection

Section 2 Part C

  • Lesson 18 – Linked Lists
  • Hash Tables
  • Sorting
  • Sorting Methods
  •  
  • Lesson 19 – State Machines
  • Identifying States for our Game
  • Building a State Machine
  • Applying the State Machine to our Game
  • Creating a UI
  • Responding to UI Events
  • Lesson 20 – Adding the Player
  • Responding to Player Input
  • Playing Sound
  • Positional Audio Part 1
  •  
  • Lesson 21 – Simple AI
  • AI Types
  • Adding Enemies
  • Conclusion

Section 3 Part A

  • Lesson 22 – 3D Games Programming
  • Introduction to 3D Maths
  • Vectors
  • Matrices
  • Quaternions
  •  
  • Lesson 23 – Building a 3D Platform Game
  • Goals of the Game
  • Game Flow Diagram
  • Creating a Base Object Class
  • Lesson 24 – Storing the Scene
  • Vertex Buffers
  • Index Buffers
  • Primitives
  • Skeleton
  •  
  • Lesson 25 – Putting It All Together
  • Transformations
  • Cameras
  • Lighting
  • Normals
  • Materials

Section 3 Part B

  • Lesson 26 – Collision Detection
  • Path Finding
  • Adding the Player
  • Adding Player Abilities
  •  
  • Lesson 27 – Picking & Ray-Casting
  • 3D Scene Graphs
  • Skeletal Animation Layer Abilities
  • Lesson 28 – DirectX Part 2 & OpenGL
  • Vertex Shaders
  • Pixel Shaders
  •  
  • Lesson 29 – Mixing 2D & 3D
  • Particle Systems
  • Post process & Other Visual F/X
  • Skinning
  • Shadows

Section 3 Part C

  • Lesson 30 – Dynamic Environments
  • Background Interaction
  • Triggers and Regions
  • Non-Player Characters (NPC)
  •  
  • Lesson 31 – AI Revisited
  • Adding Behaviours to NPCs
  • Even More Route-Finding
  • Spawning Enemies
  • Positional Audio Part 2
  • Adding Audio Triggers
  •  
  • Lesson 32 – Keeping Track of Players
  • Selecting and Switching Profiles
  • Localisation
  • Saving Player Profiles
  • Loading player profiles
  • Lesson 33 – Debugging, Optimisation and Consoles
  • Debugging Problem Code
  • Optimising Code
  • Programming for Consoles
  •  
  • Lesson 34 – Enhancing the Game
  • Power-Ups
  • Scene Switching
  • Depth Buffers
  • Other Programming Languages
  • Next Steps

 

 

 

 

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