Study Guide

Materials

Lecturer's material and live sessions. Software manufacturer specific online references and materials
Other available online material.
Group chat on Discord. Additional material and reading material shared through Itslearning for each week's theme.

Teaching methods

The course will be delivered through contact sessions and the core learning will take place in a tutorial fashion with laboratory assignments and homework.

Although peer-assisted learning is encouraged, students are expected to produce individual deliverables (in other words, no group work).

The students are expected to give peer feedback on specified laboratory assignments and homework.

The course will be using Itslearning as the learning platform.

Exam schedules

No exams

International connections

This course leans on CDIO principles and takes a project-based learning and learning by doing approach.

Completion alternatives

Competence demonstration. If you have experience from industry or other experience that is compatible with the course content contact the lecturer.

Student workload

This course requires students to work 135 hours and is divided as follows:
- Contact sessions and instructed laboratory work 48 hours
- Individual homework 87 hours
All course work is individual

Content scheduling

This course will focus on how to use Unreal Engine for game development with the main focus on programming. Course starts on calendar week 37 (11.9.) and ends on calendar week 50 (11.12.). The course will be held onsite at the game laboratory. Tasks and guidance are given at the laboratory classroom C3031. The laboratory assignments and homework are related to the topic of the week.

Week 37: Unreal Engine Setup
Week 38: Enhanced Input System in Unreal Engine
Week 39: Player movement and collisions
Week 40: Game modes and managers
Week 41: UI
Week 43: Implementing animations
Week 44: Implementing VFX
Week 45: Implementing SFX
Week 46: AI and behavior trees
Week 47: Polishing
Week 48: Making a playable build
Week 50: Show your game

Assignment changes each week and assignment is recommended to be returned before next week’s live session as the course progresses chronologically relying on skills acquired during previous weeks. Last assignment must be returned before 19.12.2023.


Learning Objectives:
After completing the module, the student is able:
- to understand the development worklfow with Unreal Engine
- to create game mechanics with Unreal Engine
- to understand possibilities of inside engine tools and assets
- to understand the roles and tasks of programmer in Unreal Engine
Content:
After completing the module, the student is able:
- to understand the development worklfow with Unreal Engine
- to create game mechanics with Unreal Engine
- to understand possibilities of inside engine tools and assets
- to understand the roles and tasks of programmer in Unreal Engine
- to create game play mechanics with Unreal engine
- to create game play mechanics with Unreal engine

Further information

All communication through Itslearning.
This course is recommended for Game and Interactive Technology Students. Additional students can join only if there are available seats in the game lab.

Course is suitable for students without previous game development experience but will require more effort from those unfamiliar with the game development process.

Recommended Prerequisites:
Basics of any programming language
Basic understanding of object oriented programming
Solid Computer skills

For homework you will need a personal computer that is capable of running Unreal Engine 5.2.
https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-US/hardware-and-software-specifications-for-unreal-engine/
The laboratory classroom is available Mondays-Fridays from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm for homework.

Evaluation scale

H-5

Assessment methods and criteria

The assessment will be based on the individual assignments submitted in the Itslearning workspace.
The lecturer evaluates each assignment as passed or failed. To pass the course, students are expected to submit at least 5 assignments and give a final presentation of their project. There will be 10 assignments in total.

Final grade will be based on the following:

10 passed assignments == 5
9 passed assignments == 4
8 passed assignments == 3
7 passed assignments == 2
6 passed assignments == 1
5 passed assignments == 1
4 or fewer passed assignments == 0

Missing the final presentation will result -1 grade to the final evaluation.


Assignment changes each week and assignment needs to returned before next weeks live session.No feedback for late assignment submissions. Last assignment must be returned before 20.12.2023

Assessment criteria, fail (0)

Student submits less than 5 of the assignments or submits 6 and does not show up for the final presentation.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1-2)

5-7 passed assignments and did the final presentation or 7-8 passed assignments and no final presentation.

Assessment criteria, good (3-4)

9-8 passed assignments and did the final presentation or 10-9 passed assignments and no final presentation.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

10 passed assignments and did the final presentation.