Overview
COMP 486 teaches the skills of game development for both mobile devices and browsers. In the first half of the course, students will learn how to develop interactive games with Android and mobile device emulators. In the second half, students will learn how to develop browser-based games with the use of HTML5 and JavaScript.
This course has three assignments. In the first two, students will implement simple games with Android (Assignment 1) and HTML5 and JavaScript (Assignment 2). In the final assignment (Assignment 3), students will design and develop a role-play game, adventure game, or turn-based strategy game using the skills learned in this course. After completing COMP 486, students will have good examples of their experience and abilities in game development to include in their portfolios.
Outline
Part I: Mobile Game Development
- Unit 1: Getting Started with Android Development
- Unit 2: First Android Game Development—Tappy Defender
- Unit 3: Second Android Game Development—Platformer
- Unit 4: Third Android Game Development—Asteroids
Part II: Browser Game Development
- Unit 5: Introduction of HTML5 and JavaScript
- Unit 6: Data Storage and Exchange Behind the Game
- Unit 7: Graphics, Canvas, and Game
- Unit 8: Create and Animate 2D Graphics
- Unit 9: 3D and Game
Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to
- develop high-quality interactive games for mobile devices.
- apply fundamental game design and principles to create realistic animations.
- use Android’s rich feature set in mobile game development.
- use OpenGL ES 2.0, a rich graphics library, with Android for mobile game development.
- describe all necessary concepts and knowledge of HTML, JavaScript, PHP for browser-based games and their backbone service development.
- use Ajax and JSON for data exchanging between a game and its backbone services.
- implement a secure data-transferring method with RSA keys.
- recognize existing JavaScript game libraries.
- develop a browser-based game.
Evaluation
To receive credit for COMP 486, you must achieve a course composite grade of at least C− (60%), with an average grade of at least 65% on the assignments and an average grade of at least 50% on the presentation and discussion. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:
| Activity | Weight |
| Assignment 1 | 15% |
| Assignment 2 | 15% |
| Assignment 3 | 40% |
| Online Presentation | 10% |
| Discussion | 20% |
| Total | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
This course either does not have a course package or the textbooks are open-source material and available to students at no cost. This course has a Course Administration and Technology Fee, but students are not charged the Course Materials Fee.
Digital course materials
Links to the following course materials will be made available in the course:
Horton, J. (2015). Android game programming by example: Harness the power of the Android SDK by building three immersive and captivating games. Packt Publishing.
Other materials
All other materials are available online.