14-836 Mobile Game Development
12 units, Carnegie Mellon University
This course teaching iOS development and game development techniques. After learning the fundamentals of Objective-C, the students will build their own game. At the end of the course, the students can participate in a CMU Hackathon showcasing their skills. This course combines online technical instruction to teach students the fundamentals of Objective-C, the open source 2D game engine Cocos2D, and the open-source physics engine Chipmunk. Classes will teach the principles of mobile game and product design. The materials consist of three iOS projects presented through step by step tutorials: a simple app where a spaceship follows the user's tap, an implementation of Conway's Game of Life, and finally a one-level clone of Angry Birds. Students are expected to complete these online tutorials as homework during the first three weeks of the course. Students will then spend the remainder of the course working on an original game of their choosing. The game design lectures cover the process of mobile game development, from prototyping all the way to play-testing. Course content that will be significantly useful outside of the iOS ecosystem: -Cocos2D exists across a variety of platforms and powers games on the web, desktop, and Android mobile devices. We will teach the iPhone/iPad compatible version but the framework is significantly similar across versions. -Chipmunk is used in conjunction with a variety of programming languages and game development frameworks on many platforms including desktop, the web, and mobile. -All the product design lessons are applicable to mobile game and app design on other platforms such as Android and Windows Phone. Good design and development process is useful when developing a product on any platform.
Prerequisites: none listed
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