CS 638, Fall 2001 CS 638: Computer Games Technology Fall 2001

CS 638, Fall 2001 The Professor… Stephen Chenney Office: 6387 Comp Sci Office Hours: Tues 1-2, Thurs 4-5 –Might change

CS 638, Fall 2001 The TA… David Gekiere Office: 1347 (Graphics research lab) Office Hours: Mon 1-2, Fri 11-12

CS 638, Fall 2001 The Interactive Entertainment Industry Hardware makers produce gaming hardware –eg Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, … Game Developers create games –eg Maxis, Electronic Arts (EA), Raven, a cast of thousands Publishers publish games –eg Sony, Nintendo, EA, … The model is similar to books or movies –One group creates it, another distributes it, and another supplies the underlying infrastructure

CS 638, Fall 2001 Flavors of Game Developer Artists design models, textures, animations and otherwise are responsible for the look of the game Level Designers create the spaces in which the game takes place Audio Designers are responsible for all the sounds used in the game Programmers write code, to put it all together, and tools, to make everyone else’s job simpler And others: Production, management, marketing, quality assurance

CS 638, Fall 2001 Course Outline Real-time graphics (6 weeks) –Lighting and shading, modeling, data management AI: Game term for behavior (4 weeks) –Creating characters, path planning, generating motion Networking: Playing together (3 weeks) –Protocols for gaming, architectures, managing bandwidth Full syllabus online

CS 638, Fall 2001 Disclaimer Game development requires more than graphics, AI and networking –Design, Art, Software engineering, Production, Audio, … This course won’t formally cover any of that stuff

CS 638, Fall 2001 Books Official textbook: “Game Programming Gems” –Not designed as a textbook, but good coverage for this course Other useful books: –“3D Games:…” by Watt and Policarpo Good graphics coverage, not good on AI and networking –“3D Game Engine Design” by David Eberly Lots of equations, not much exposition Website: –Game developer technical and trade news

CS 638, Fall 2001 What I assume you know C++ sophistication –Class inheritance, sub-classing, etc etc –Macros –Memory management 3D graphics concepts and programming –“Standard” lighting and shading –Modeling techniques –Vectors, matrices, geometric reasoning –All required to understand next week’s lectures

CS 638, Fall 2001 Grading Midterm and final –Approx 40% of the grade, might change Project –Multiple stages staggered through the semester –Work in groups of 2-4, except stages 0.0 and 0.5 –4 students will do 2x the amount that 2 students do

CS 638, Fall 2001 Project You will begin with a skeletal game –User shoots static targets, minimal graphics Each stage will add functionality –Improved visuals –Moving characters –Multi-player –Free expression

CS 638, Fall 2001 If you aren’t already in… me your name and ID num - TODAY –Even if you think I already have it I will accommodate all well-prepared students

CS 638, Fall 2001 LithTech LithTech is the game engine that we will use in this course –A commercial quality product (large and complex but well documented and stable) – Provides functionality useful in games –Eg: Rendering, animation playback, collision detection, particle system, networking Also provides design tools for creating objects and environments

CS 638, Fall 2001 LithTech basics LithTech works with Visual C++, on Windows machines with DirectX 8.0 Stages in game creation (roughly): –Create the objects that will be used in the game –Do the level design –Write code to control the objects –Write code to interface to LithTech’s engine –Play the result

CS 638, Fall 2001 LithTech Tools DEdit is a level design tool –Design the space in which the game takes place –Add objects, define lights, pre-process to improve performance –Some of the technology behind DEdit will be covered in class ModelEdit is a simple UI for manipulating 3D objects –Prepares objects created elsewhere for use in the game The game engine forms the core of a game –You create DLL files that are linked to the engine –The DLLs define all the specific behavior you require in your game –Some of the technology behind the engine will also be discussed in class

CS 638, Fall 2001 Additional Tools Maya is commercial animation software that can export files for LithTech –Use it to model objects and specify the animations that go with the models –LithTech loads and plays the animations as requested 3d Studio Max (or just Max) is another alternative Can also communicate to DEdit through LithTech’s LTA file format

CS 638, Fall 2001 Documentation All the LithTech documentation is available in /p/course/cs638-schenney/public/ –ProgrammingGuide.pdf - a guide to creating game code –LT-API.pdf - describes all the functions available –GameContentCreationGuide.pdf - how to create game content (models, levels, audio, …) –LTASchema.pdf - the LTA file format description –IntelligentMult-Player.pdf - how to do multi-player DO NOT PRINT THEM OUT

CS 638, Fall 2001 Project stage 0 Set up a minimal LithTech environment It is essential that you do this stage, in order to: a)Check that you have an account and enough disk space b)Familiarize yourself with the LithTech environment c)Appreciate the scope of the course ahead of you Web site will be up today

CS 638, Fall 2001 Resources for Stage 0 Local expert: Marcin Szymanski, –Marcin is taking the class but cannot be teamed with for the project –Look for help in the documentation first LithTech is installed only on the machines in room B240 –High performance graphics machines –You have highest priority in using the lab, CS559 students come next –A limited resource (30 computers) so be courteous