Mobile Game Development

Course description

This course is an overview of how to develop interactive games for a variety of mobile devices including cell phones, PDAs and Pocket PCs. Each student will complete their own interactive game on the chosen platform. 

Logistics

Instructor

Dr. Stan Kurkovsky, Associate Professor of Computer Science

Office

MS 303-08

Phone

(860) 832-2720

Fax

(860) 832-2712

E-mail

kurkovskysta@ccsu.edu

Office hours

TBA or by appointment

Class meetings

MTWR 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm @ MS 314

Textbook and other reference materials

• Beginning Mobile Phone Game Programming by Morrison. SAMS 2005, ISBN 0672326655
• Sun Java Wireless Toolkit available at http://java.sun.com/products/sjwtoolkit/
• Mappy software available at http://www.tilemap.co.uk/mappy.php
• In-class handouts
• Instructor's web site available at http://www.cs.ccsu.edu/~stan/ and other web sites recommended by the instructor

Course objectives

Upon a successful completion of this course the students should be able to:

• Understand the properties and architectural specifics of modern mobile devices;
• Have hands-on knowledge of the basic principles of software development for mobile devices;
• Have hands-on knowledge of the basic principles of game programming for mobile devices.

Tentative schedule

Week 1: May 29 - June 1

• Tuesday: Introduction; J2ME; Java Wireless Toolkit
• Wednesday: Mobile game skeleton
• Thursday: Mobile game graphics; Lab 1

Week 2: June 4 - June 8

• Monday: Sprite animation (resources); Lab 2
• Tuesday: Handling user input (resources); Lab 3
• Wednesday: Complete game 1 (resources); Lab 4
• Thursday:  Work on the course project

Week 3: June 11 - June 15

• Monday: Sound in mobile games (resources); Lab 5
• Tuesday: Tiled game layers (resources); Lab 6
• Wednesday: Midterm
• Thursday:  Work on the course project

Week 4: June 18 - June 22

• Monday: Multiple game layers (resources); Lab 7
• Tuesday: Complete game 2 (resources); Lab 8
• Wednesday: Basic AI in games (resources); Lab 9
• Thursday:  Work on the course project

Week 5: June 25 - June 28

• Monday:  Work on the course project
• Tuesday:  Work on the course project
• Wednesday:  Project demo
• Thursday: Final exam

Midterm

Midterm is designed as an elemental evaluation device and to prompt the student to stay abreast of assigned topics.  Make-up tests may only be given if a student can provide a written proof of a serious reason for missing a test (such as illness or accident).

 Questions on a test may include:

• True/false questions,
• Multiple choice questions,
• Fill in the blank questions,
• Short answer questions.

Final exam

Final exam is a cumulative objective test of representative content of the entire semester's course offerings.

Lab assignments

During the labs students will work on hands-on problems focusing on the material covered in class lectures and reading assignments. Students must work on each lab assignment individually. 

Course project

Working individually, students will design and implement a mobile game using knowledge and skills acquired in this course.

Honesty policy

It is expected that all students will conduct themselves in an honest manner (see the CCSU Student Handbook), and never turn in any work which is not their own. Violating this policy will result in a substantial grade penalty, and could result in expulsion from the University. However, students are allowed to discuss assignments with others and receive debugging help from others.

Attendance

All students are expected to attend class sessions regularly. However, recognizing individual differences, each student is responsible for his/her own attendance and for making-up any missed study or work. Limited assistance will be offered to those with plausible reasons for absences; unexcused absences will result in the student being totally responsible for the make-up process.

Help with computers

The University offers some student assistants who may be of value in helping students with basic computer functionality only, not with program writing.

Students with disabilities

Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. I will need a copy of the accommodation letter from Student Disability Services in order to arrange your class accommodations. Contact Student Disability Services, Room 241, Copernicus Hall, if you are not already registered with them. Student Disability Services maintains the confidential documentation of your disability and assists you in coordinating reasonable accommodations with your faculty.

Grades and evaluation

Students will be evaluated regularly during the semester and should be aware of their progress continuously during the semester. The final course grade will be reported according to the stated University policy.

The final course grade will be calculated according to the following distribution of points:

Course letter grade will be determined as follows:

A	A-	B+	B	B-	C+	C	C-	D+	D	D-	F
95-100	90-94	87-89	84-86	80-83	77-79	74-76	70-73	67-69	64-66	60-63	0-59