Computer Science 486 Mobile and Internet Game Development

Course Orientation

Course Overview

This course teaches the skills of game development for both mobile devices and browsers. In the first half of the course, students will learn how to develop interactive games with Android and mobile-device emulators. In the second half, students will learn how to develop browser-based games with the use of HTML5 and JavaScript.

There are three assignments in this course. For the first two, students will implement simple games with Android (Assignment 1) and HTML5 and JavaScript (Assignment 2), respectively. The last assignment (Assignment 3) asks students to design and develop a role-play game, adventure game, or a turn-based strategy game using the skills they have learned in this course. After completing this course, students will have good examples of their experience and abilities in game development to include in their portfolios.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to

• develop high-quality interactive games for mobile devices.
• apply fundamental game design and principles to create realistic animations.
• use Android’s rich feature set in mobile game development.
• use OpenGL ES 2, a rich graphics library, with Android for mobile game development.
• describe all necessary concepts and knowledge on HTML, JavaScript, PHP for browser-based games and their backbone service development.
• use Ajax and JSON for data exchanging between a game and its backbone services.
• implement a secure data-transferring method with RSA keys.
• recognize existing JavaScript game libraries.
• develop a browser-based game.

Course Outline

COMP 486 consists of the following units:

Part I: Mobile Game Development

Unit 1: Getting Started with Android Development
Unit 2: First Android Game Development—Tappy Defender
Unit 3: Second Android Game Development—Platformer
Unit 4: Third Android Game Development—Asteroids

Part II: Internet Game Development

Unit 5: Introduction of HTML5 and Java Script
Unit 6: Data Storage and Exchange Behind the Game
Unit 7: Graphics, Canvas, and Game
Unit 8: Create and Animate 2D Graphics
Unit 9: 3D and Game

Course Materials

Android Game Programming by Example by John Horton. Published by PACKT in June 2015. This eBook is available through the following link: https://0-ebookcentral-proquest-com.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/lib/athabasca-ebooks/detail.action?docID=2081473.

Your login credentials are the same as those you use to access MyAU. If you have questions or problems, please contact the Library Information Desk for assistance (http://library.athabascau.ca/AskAULibrary.html).

You can access this book in many ways. You can choose to read the book online, download the full book for 21 days, or do PDF chapter downloads. If you download the book for 21 days, after that period is up, you will need to return to the online version and read the book there, download individual PDF chapters, or download the full book again for another 21 days.

Other materials

The remaining learning materials for COMP 486 are distributed in electronic format. At this time, those materials include:

• The course Study Guide
• Detailed descriptions of the requirements for the individual assignments
• A course evaluation form

Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.

Assessment

To receive credit for COMP 486, you must achieve a course composite grade of at least C− (60%), with an average grade of at least 65% on the assignments and an average grade of at least 50% on the presentation and discussion. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:

In Assignment 1, you will implement a mobile game with Android. In Assignment 2, you will implement a browser-based game using HTML-5 and JavaScript. In Assignment 3, you will design and develop a role-play game, adventure game, or a turn-based strategy game, by extending either Assignment 1 or Assignment 2. Thus, it is strongly suggested that you decide at an earlier stage (preferably before starting Assignment 1) whether to develop a mobile game or a browser-based game as your final project (Assignment 3). Once you have made your decision, either Assignment 1 or Assignment 2 can form part of your final game project (Assignment 3). For full details of the requirements for all assignments (Assignment 1, Assignment 2, and Assignment 3) and their marking scheme, see Assignment Requirements document and Assignment 3—Project Package Explanation on the course home page.

In the online presentation of your project (Assignment 3 presentation) you need to include slides to talk about the idea of the game, the game design, and the improvements and adds that your project has, compared to its base (i.e., the game you developed for earlier assignments, Assignment 1 and Assignment 2). Also, it is important for your presentation to have live demonstration for playing the game via desktop sharing. In the question-and-answer session, you need to have your game’s source code ready since some questions may ask you the details of the codes.

To fulfill the requirements of the discussion, you need to post your answer for at least one review question and exercise per unit, share the approved game design of each assignment with your peers, and share your experience in terms of developing game features or your thoughts and solutions for the difficulties or questions encountered and proposed by your peers.

Suggested Study Schedule

A 16- and 24-week schedule is set up for this course to guide the sequence and timing of your course activities. You are not expected to follow the schedule exactly and may complete the course in less or more time than suggested, as long as you stay within your course contract. Your contract with Athabasca University allows you a total of 24 weeks to complete this course. However, we urge you to set yourself the goal of completing the course in 16 weeks. The additional weeks can be held in reserve if you need more time to study a particular topic or work on an assessment activity.

Note that if you are receiving financial aid, you are expected to complete the course within 16 weeks.

Discussion Forums

The COMP 486 General Discussion Forum, Discussion Forums for Units 1–9 and Assignments 1–3, and a News and Announcements forum are on the course home page.

You are encouraged to use the General Discussion forum often and respond to other students’ postings if you have advice or resources to share.

To post your answers for the review questions and exercises of each unit, use the respective discussion forum assigned for Units 1–9. You should also discuss your assignments in Assignment forums 1–3.

The Course General News and Announcements forum is used for any news or announcements from your instructor. Note that only the instructor is able to post to this forum.