General Information
A very challenging course in computer game development. Course covers both game/visual design and programming sides of development in lecture, but leans towards programming. For assignments and projects, students are pushed towards choosing either design or programming.
Prerequisites
CS 2110/CS 2112 (for CS 3152) or INFO 2450
Highly recommmended that you have taken 3110 if you plan to focus on programming.
Topics Covered
- Game development process
- Gameplay design
- Visual design
- Game programming
- Game architecture (code)
- Artificial intelligence in games
- Physics in games
- Prototyping and user feedback
Workload
Very intense workload, especially on the programming side. Be prepared to spend over 10hrs a week consistently.
General Advice
This course is very rewarding, but very difficult. Coming out of the semester with a fully-finished game you can send to competitions or upload on indie developer sites is exciting. If you plan to do any coding, please take 3110 before-hand or have experience working on larger coding projects. You need to be able to handle working with (sometimes badly documented) code written by other people and debugging complex programs.
If you want to do both programming and art/design: while it is easier to get into the course as a designer, there is a high chance you’ll end up stuck doing only design work. I would suggest presenting yourself as a programmer, and volunteering to do design work later as the project progresses.
Unnecessary to buy the textbook.
Testimonials
I would not suggest taking this course virtually (at least as long as Prof. White is the instructor). Prof. White’s lectures are one of the highlights of the course, and remotely they are less organized and much less engaging.
Past Offerings
| Semester | Professor | Course Page |
|---|---|---|
| Spring 2020 | Walker White | https://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs3152/2020sp/ |
Past projects (games showcases)
| Semester | Course Page | |Spring 2020 | http://en-ci-gdiac.coecis.cornell.edu/