Lecture 1: Introduction

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# CMPM 121 - Game Development Patterns

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# Instructor and Schedule

* Instructor: Dr. *Markus* Eger (he/him)
 
 * Email: <a href="mailto:meger@ucsc.edu">meger@ucsc.edu</a>
 
 * Office hours: Monday, Wednesday, 3.30-4.30pm
 
 * My office is E2-267, you can also reach out on Discord
  
 * Class: Monday, Wednesday, 7.10-8.45pm, Thimann 1
 
 * Discussion Sections: 
     - Wednesday, 1.20pm-2.25pm, Crown Classroom 208
     - Friday, noon-1.05pm, E2-194
 
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# About Me

* Originally from Austria
 
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# About Me

<img src="/pageassets/personal/graz.jpg" width="100%"/>
 
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# About Me

* Originally from Austria
 
 * BSc and MSc in Computer Science from University of Technology Graz, Austria 
 
 * PhD in Computer Science from NC State University, USA
 
 * Visiting professor at the University of Costa Rica 2019-2020
 
 * Assistant professor at Cal Poly Pomona, 2021-2024
 
 * Games: Hades II, Factorio: Space Age, Balatro, IEH 2
 
 * I also like board games, e.g. Dominion
 
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# About Me

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# About Me

- My dissertation was about games that involve communication, including Hanabi and One Night Ultimate Werewolf
  
  - My research involves games, AI, VR, and interaction with humans 
  
  - I am also interested in procedural content generation (Minecraft, narrative generation, etc.)
  
  - Fun fact: My cats are from Costa Rica
  
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# About Your TA: Ishaan (he/him)

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* 6th year CM PhD student working with Prof. Jim Whitehead

* Have created procedural road generation tools and worked with the CARLA simulator. I have also been the Graduate Student Instructor for the Foundations of Video Game Design (CMPM80K) class for 1 quarter.

* Undergrad from Savitribai Phule Pune University.

* Research Interests: procedural generation, AI and Large Language Models, 3D game engines and animation.

* Current project: Using Large Language Models to generate NPC car behaviors to test autonomous vehicles in simulation.

* Areas of expertise: game design concepts, programming, 3D game engines (Unreal/Unity), and AI

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# About You: Who is here?

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# About You

* Name
 
 * Games
 
 * Fun facts?
  
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# Class Resources

* Canvas
  
  * Discord
  
  * [Unity 6](https://unity.com/)
  
  * It is highly recommended that you use a git repository (github or similar) for development!
 
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# Class contents and structure
  
  * We will talk about recurring patterns in large software projects 
  
  * These include design patterns (how to organize your classes), but we will also talk about other aspects of software engineering
  
  * This class is a prerequisite for the CMPM 170-series, where you will work on a large project from scratch
  
  * In this class you will work on a large project with a lot of guidance
  
  * There will also be some assigned readings + quizzes about them

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# Textbook (free!)

[Robert Nystrom: *Game Programing Patterns*](https://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/)

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# Textbook (accessible online through the library)

[Martin Fowler: *Refactoring Improving the Design of Existing Code*](https://refactoring.com)
  
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# Class schedule (tentative)
  
  * Introduction: Week 1
  
  * Software Architecture: Week 2
  
  * Design Patterns: Weeks 3-5
  
  * Software Engineering Practices: Weeks 6-7
  
  * Refactoring: Weeks 8-10

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# Grading

* Assignment 0 (Unity tutorial): 5%
   
   * Assignment 1 (enemy spawning): 15%
   
   * Assignment 2 (spells): 15%
   
   * Assignment 3 (relics): 15%
   
   * Assignment 4 (pivot): 5% ("getting started") + 25%
      
   * Quizzes (about 6-8): 20%

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# Assignment 0

* The project will be done in Unity

* Some of you may already be familiar with the engine

* Some may have never used it

* Assignment 0 is a Unity tutorial to make sure that everyone has at least a basic overview of the engine

* We won't need much more than that!

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# What this class is not

* This class is not "Intro to Unity"

* We will use it, because it does some things for us that are tedious otherwise

* You will mostly work on "pure" code structure, rather than something Unity-specific

* There may be packages in the asset store that do some of the things we are doing, but learning specific packages is also not the purpose of this class

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# What this class is

* A discussion of many different aspects of software engineering

* Software is often written in teams

* We will therefore also talk about working with teams

* Assignments 1-3 are in teams of 2 (Assignmen 0 is individual)

* Assignment 4 is in teams of 4

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# Next

* Go to discussion section on Wednesday or Friday (depending on which you enrolled in)

* Start assignment 0 (Unity tutorial)

* Look for a partner for assignments 1-3 (there's a #group-search Discord channel)