1. Software Engineering for Computer Games
Chris Ballinger
04/08/13
CS 791

2. Outline Architecture Considerations Unique Problems Common Issues
Interesting Resources
Questions
How many of you have played or are familiar with any kind of video game?
From a software engineering point of view, what components of a video game can be strongly separated from each other?

3. Architecture Considerations
Several separate components
Sound, Graphics, Physics, Input, Networking, AI
May not all be developed in-house (COTS)
Middleware
Many possible platforms
Only recently has multithreading become a consideration
Rarely considers academic research concerns
Middleware example: Punkbuster
COTS (Commercial off the shelf) examples: Torque GFX engine, FMod Sound engine, Bullet Physics
ORTs, Strategus

4. Architecture Considerations
Type of game
Regardless of the type of game, developers have the same nonfunctional requirement that always provides a challenge. Any guesses? Hint: It’s the entire purpose of the game

5. Unique Problems Unique nonfunctional requirement “Fun”
Games present a challenging nonfunctional requirement: fun.
Hard to define, and may vary depending on the type of game (shooter, strategy, etc), and subjective(maybe I like mini-maxing my stats, you do not)

6. Common Issues “Feature Creep” Team Communication
Major source of delays
A necessary evil
Team Communication
Teams are formed by members from many different disciplines
Poorly defined domain terms
“Game engine”

7. Interesting Resources
Information
Gamasutra
Game Developers Conference (GDC)
USC Game Innovation Lab
Gamasutra
Website for news on all areas of game development, such as programming, design patterns, art asset creation and marketing
GDC
The primary industry conference for all things related to game development. Gives the cutting edge in gaming technology and techniques
USC Game Innovation Lab
Research into game design, aesthetics, emergent worlds. Some professors in charge of the lab have industry experience
Unity
Already know everyone is familiar with this tool, since I presented on it earlier
UDK
Similar tool to Unity, providing a game engine with a complete programming environment and content pipeline. Engine been used for blockbuster games such as Batman: Arkham Asylum
Doxygen
Not strictly related to game development, but still useful, thought I’d mention it since no one else has. A tool to automatically generate well organized documentations, simply by following their comment format/convention. Similar to Javadocs. Can use graph-viz to produce additional chart such as collaboration diagram (which classes use other classes), inheritance diagram, call graph, etc, even if you havent commented your code.

8. Interesting Resources
Tools
Unity

9. Interesting Resources
Tools
Unity
Unreal Development Kit (UDK)

10. Interesting Resources
Tools
Unity
Unreal Development Kit (UDK)
Doxygen

12. Questions

13. Test Questions What are the common issues in game development?
What are the differences between software engineering for games and software engineering for other types of projects?