Experiencing aspects of games programming in an introductory computer graphics class

Abstract

Our computer graphics (CG) programming class uses games development as a means to help students understand CG concepts. Many students mistakenly thought this CG class was a games programming class. We present a simple framework for discussing games programming classes. Based on the framework, the paper describes our efforts in integrating competencies associated with games programming into our CG programming class. Our results show that the resulting class maintains the integrity of the original CG class while allowing students to develop projects with more interesting games features.

Mobile game development: improving student engagement and motivation in introductory computing courses

“…Current students, more than at any time before, need a classroom experience that they can relate to, that is creative and challenging, and makes a difference in preparing for their careers. To address this challenge, the design, development, and implementation of computer games has been used in CS classrooms in many ways: as a general engagement tool (Bayliss & Strout, 2006;Clua et al, 2006); as motivators and examples in introductory programming courses (Barnes et al, 2007;Leutenegger & Edgington, 2007;Sweedyk et al, 2005); as capstone courses (Barnes et al, 2007;Parberry, Roden, & Kazemzadeh, 2005;Wallace, Russell, & Markov, 2008); in interdisciplinary programs connecting CS with arts and humanities (Diefenbach, 2011;Murray, Bogost, Mateas, & Nitsche, 2006;Sweedyk et al, 2005, Wolz & Pulimood, 2007; as a well-fitting instrument to teach computer graphics (Sung, Shirley, & Rosenberg, 2007;Sweedyk et al, 2005), artificial intelligence (Wallace et al, 2008), project management (Wolz & Pulimood, 2007), and software engineering (Claypool & Claypool, 2005;Gestwicki, 2007;Lin & Sun, 2011); or as a concentration within existing CS programs (Coleman, Krembs, Labouseur, & Weir, 2005;Zhang and Jones, 2012;Zyda et al, 2008). Successes of several very large projects [including Alice (Cooper, Dann, & Pausch, 2003) and Scratch (Peppler & Kafai, 2007)] aimed at the broad application of computer game development as a learning framework have been widely publicized.…”

Game-themed programming assignments

“…As discussed in [37], recent work in this area can be classified into: game development (e.g., [32]) where students learn about building games; game programming (e.g., [38]) where students study games related algorithms; and game client (e.g., [37]) where students learn about CS concepts via games. Integrating games into CS1/2 classes belongs to the game client category because after these classes students are expected to understand abstract programming concepts and not about building games.…”

“…Encouraged by the recent successes (e.g., [38,42]) in teaching computer science (CS) concepts based on programming computer games, we have experimented with and accomplished modest successes in teaching computer graphics concepts based on building interactive computer games [37]. Inspired by the positive feedback from students and local employers, we started investigating potential approaches for integrating games programming in other CS courses.…”

Rethinking graphics and gaming courses because of fast ray tracing

“…The following discussion is organized based on the framework described in Sung et al [2007], where we discuss the effects of interactive ray tracing in each of the: games programming, games development, and games clients categories.…”

“…These are classes that use gaming as vehicles for delivering specific concepts (e.g., [da Silva 2006b;da Silva 2006a;Sung et al 2007]). These classes are applications of computer gaming, we expect the impact on classes in this category to be indirect and minimal.…”