Course syllabus

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DAT380 / DIT468 Current Trends in Gaming LP2 HT22 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Contact details

Discord server

We have a Discord server for the Masters programme in Game Design and Technology (N2GDT) and "friends of the show". As we have a separate channel for each course on the programme, that includes all of you who are taking this course, either as a mandatory course or an elective. If you have not joined the Discord yet, please pop over to this link and sign up, making sure to check the current-trends-in-gaming course channel. https://discord.gg/NxQVrQch

Course purpose

There are many technological and societal trends that impact on the design of games. Gaming is a discipline in which the state of the art changes regularly and with great speed. This course is focused on identifying currently important trends in the industry and exploring new and novel technologies with the aim of enabling students to develop familiarity with important concepts. This course is intended to be responsive and aligned with external trends in the industry, and so its content will vary on a year-by-year basis in line with that aim.

Schedule

See the course calendar or TimeEdit for rooms and times, but the general pattern is:

  • Tuesday 9:15 to 12:00 - Lecture
  • Wednesday 8:15 to 10:00 - Some Lectures at Lindholmen, sometimes a drop-in class via Zoom. 
  • Friday 9:15 to 12:00 - One or two Lectures, one group presentation slot, otherwise supervised group work

The rooms change week to week, so keep an eye out for that. Most of the time we have a room in either Jupiter or SVEA. Titles of sessions (Lecture / Group Work / etc) are provisional and may change.  Times and places shouldn't change from what's in the Canvas calendar, but transcription errors can creep in. The Calendar should be fully populated for the course. TimeEdit can be used to double check the room numbers, but go by what the Canvas Calendar says in terms of times.

Also note that some Wednesday sessions are virtual (via Zoom) unless otherwise stated in the Calendar. The room booking in TimeEdit means that the room is available if you want to use it to join the Zoom call, but the room will not be staffed.

 

Course literature

Each module has its own course literature, see each respective module. Please note that literature from module 1 is expected to be used as appropriate for assignments in the later modules, and such appropriate use is part of the grading on the assignments in all modules.

Course design

The course is divided into three separate modules:

The first module introduces theories and methods regarding creativity and provides a foundation for the work in the later modules. Module 2 focuses on using physics systems in Unity to create interesting experimental game assets.  Module 3 is a mix of investigation and experimentation with regards to current and potential uses of generative AI in designing and developing computer games. Module 4 looks at how those assets created in Module 2 or 3 might be incorporated into an augmented reality world.

Student Representatives and Course Evaluation

Information regarding the course evaluation process at Chalmers.

Information about being a student representative.

These are the Chalmers student representatives for this course:

Hussein Mansour hossenm@chalmers.se

Hong Tang hongta@student.chalmers.se

Rasti Tengman Mhealden rasti@student.chalmers.se

Yihui Zhu yihui@chalmers.se

 

These are the GU student representatives for this course:

TBA - Please email me if you are a GU student and would like to be a course representative

 

Learning objectives and syllabus

The course has the following learning objectives divided into three categories. More specific learning objectives for each module are listed in the respective pages.

  • Examine current technological and social trends in gaming.
  • Apply creativity techniques with the intention of exploring innovative new gameplay concepts
  • Analyse the potential opportunities and threats associated with contemporary gaming trends
  • Implement game designs to explore novel, emerging techniques
  • Assess the ethical and societal impact of contemporary trends in gaming

The syllabus for DAT380 can be found here. The course plan for DIT468 can be found here.

Examination form

GU and Chalmers
The course has the following grades: U, 3, 4, & 5. These grades are also given for each assignment in the course. In order to receive a passing grade on the entire course, a student needs to receive at least a 3 on all assignments. The course grade given will be a weighted average of the grades on the modules.

Course summary:

Date Details Due