A practical assignment (100%) assessed through a written report and demonstration of a game prototype. The report should normally be a minimum of 3000 words (excluding diagrams, pictures, tables, and references)
(Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4)

Project planning: development activities, schedule
Concept development: game genre, sketch of gameplay / story, concept art, project proposal document
Pre-production:
- Game design: gameplay / story, user interface, storyboards, characters, AI, physics
- Tools and processes: selection of game development tools and software development life cycle
- Art design: creation or recording, and storage of visual art and audio
- Technical design: hardware platform specification, software analysis and design (algorithms, techniques)
- Technical prototyping: implementation, testing, and optimisation
- Production: alpha / beta prototype
- Documentation

This module will be delivered as a hands-on game development exercise under the supervision of the module teaching team. You will be expected to read the relevant literature, think critically, discuss / consult with peers and tutors, and also develop and appraise a simple computer game.
You will have individual, scheduled, weekly meetings with an assigned project tutor.

A personal computer or similar, a suitable programming environment, a console game development kit, a 3D modelling application, an API or middleware suitable for game programming. Software analysis and design tool.

Be enrolled on the PgD of the MSc Computer Games Software.

The following texts are recommended as background reading
B. Bates, Game Design, 2nd Ed, Preprier Press, 2004, ISBN: 15920049
A. Watt, F. Policarpo, 3D Games: Animation and Advanced Real-Time Rendering, Volume 2, Addison-Wesley, 2003, ISBN: 0201787067
A. Watt, F. Policarpo, 3D Games: Real-Time Rendering and Software Technology, Volume 1, Addison-Wesley, 2001, ISBN: 0201619210
A. LaMothe, Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus, 2nd Ed., SAMS, 2002, ISBN: 067323699
A. Watt, 3D Computer Graphics, 3rd Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2000, ISBN: 020139855
Selected magazine articles / journal papers will be recommended for reading at appropriate stages in the module.