Rapid prototyping of gameplay mechanics
- Class 15
- Practice 30
- Independent work 75
Course title
Rapid prototyping of gameplay mechanics
Lecture type
Elective
Course code
23-11-530
Semester
5
ECTS
4
Lecturers and associates
Course overview
The aim of this module is to teach students how to quickly create a simple prototype of a certain gameplay mechanic of a computer game. Game prototyping plays a very important role in the initial stages of computer game development when designing the basic mechanics of a computer game, therefore it is important to know how to quickly and efficiently create prototypes and test them. In this module, a number of small prototypes of different game mechanics will be created in a practical way for the purpose of testing the quality of the created mechanics and their improvement.
This module is important for computer game programmers because in the initial stages of computer game development, the programmer collaborates with the designer, and it is necessary to create a playable prototype as soon as possible so that computer game mechanics can be improved through iterative design. A computer game developer needs to know how to quickly and efficiently create a functional prototype of basic game mechanics.
Content
Students will learn:
• what is rapid prototyping
• what is the role of prototyping and testing in the process of developing computer games
• prototyping of control mechanics through input units
• prototyping the basic mechanics of different genres of computer games
• artificial intelligence prototyping in computer games
• prototyping 2D computer games
• prototyping 3D computer games
• good practices for prototyping gameplay mechanics
Literature
1. Wells, R. (2020) Unity 2020 By Example: A project-based guide to building 2D, 3D, augmented reality, and virtual reality games from scratch. 3rd edn. Packt Publishing.
2. Bond, J. G. (2017) Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development: From Concept to Playable Game with Unity and C#. 2nd edn. Addison-Wesley Professional.
Additional reading
1. Macklin, C. (2016) Games, Design and Play: A detailed approach to iterative game design. Addison-Wesley Professional.
Professional title obtained: Bachelor in Game Development
Minimal learning outcomes
- Design and implement simple gameplay mechanics and create a prototype based on the designed gameplay mechanics.
- Design and implement a simple computer game prototype for different genres of computer games.
- Design and implement a simple prototype of different types of character behavior in computer games.
- Develop a simple prototype of a 2D or 3D computer game.
Preferred learning outcomes
- Critically judge the quality of the implementation of the created prototype.
- Choose suitable algorithms for the implementation of typical game mechanics and based on these algorithms create a prototype of a computer game for different genres of computer games.
- Valorize different algorithms of character behavior through the created prototype and improve them.
- Develop a simple prototype of a 2D or 3D computer game based on best practices for implementing game mechanics.