Game Programming (BS)

Learn the fundamentals of game development focusing on the various disciplines and roles involved in professional video game production. You will be exposed to industry-standard tools, workflows, and best practices that drive successful studios.

As a senior, you will organize and enhance your accumulated work to create a portfolio that showcases your skills and accomplishments. Plus, learn professional practices and how to apply for employment.

Learn to think like a programmer. You'll write programs to move a robot, learn numbering systems, problem-solving, API design, and other concepts foundational to programming. Designed to support GAP 125, but topics apply to all forms of programming.

Become proficient in C++. To learn the game industry's most-used language, you'll write text-based games using variables, branching, looping, console input/output, pointers, heap allocation, and more.

Increase your abilities using the most common C++ language features. You'll learn to write preprocessor directives, unit tests, custom operators, file I/O, and templates.

Take the leap from coder to software engineer. You will learn about asymptotic analysis of the various algorithms involved with arrays, linked lists, queues, stacks, strings, hash tables, trees, graphs, and more.

Learn essential techniques for organizing code into classes. Explore common design patterns used throughout game programming to facilitate in writing scalable, maintainable code.

Make a simple 2D game. You'll learn to solve specific game programming challenges using 2D graphics, capturing player input, basic audio programming, simple physics and collision, and more.

Make simple games using the Unreal Engine to learn about AAA game architecture. You'll get a behind-the-scenes look at how Unreal works, and why it was built this way.

Learn the internals of the CPU and memory systems in modern computers and consoles. You'll study optimization theory and gain hands-on experience with concurrency and multi-threaded programming.

Design your own game engine. You'll follow a step-by-step process to build a stable, scalable, reusable engine that will form the foundation for future classes.

Build two games, one using an engine from GAP 301 and another using a tool of your choice. Learning the role of engineer, you'll work in teams using industry-standard tools and methodologies to produce the games.