CSCI499: Free to Play Game Development
Spring 2013
Basic Information
Place and time: Gamepipe LabRTH 321, Wednesdays7 pm- 9 pm
Credit Units: 2
Instructors:
Scott Easley / Chris Swain / Anshul Dhawan/ /
(310) 351-7509 / (310) 403-0798 / (323) 708-9502
Office hours: By appointment
Course homepage: TBA
Prerequisites:Basic web technologies (Flash, PHP, AJAX, HTML)
Course Objective and Description
Objective
There are two objectives in this course: 1) to develop games using the free-to-play paradigm such as those found on social networks such as Facebook and websites such as Nexon.net and 2) get hands-on practice with the business methods that make free to play games the cutting edge of the game industry. For purposes of focus technical emphasis is placed web technologies such as Flash, PHP, Javascript, and HTML. However the knowledge gained can also be applied to mobile free to play games and networks.
Course Description
Free to play games are fastest growing segment of the games industry and currently generate over $3 billion per year. The name “free to play” comes from the fact that players can play the games for free online and have the option of purchasing virtual goods. This model has proven to be highly engaging to players and an avenue that nearly all aspects of the game industry is embracing including subscription games, pay-to-download games, and console games. For the purposes of focus students in this course will work in small teams and each team will build a game on a social network using technologies such as Flash, PHP, Javascript, and HTML. The initial half of the course will focus on learning the APIs for various social networks and how those can be integrated with games. During the course, students will collaborate with each other through the use of programming, art, design, and production skills. Students will be taught about the communication between a webserver and a client using AJAX and various debugging tools for the web. Students will be exposed to the methodology for pricing virtual goods, calculating virality, user acquistion costs, lifetime value of a player and the other key metrics involved in operating free to play games successfully.
A Note Regarding Diversity of Talent
This class is an engineering course first but will require quality game design and quality visual art. To boost the CSCI students’ ability to produce quality game design and visual art students from other USC schools and other colleges (such as the Laguna College of Art and Design) may be recruited to work on the games in this course. The instructors will assist with the recruiting methods similar to the practices followed in CSCI 491 Advanced Game Project.
Textbooks and Course Materials
Course Notes and technical documentation.
Grading
Each student is expected to join and collaborate with a team. Eachteam is expected to develop a social game as a class project. Sample code and/or links will be provided for most functionality. The students will have access to development computers in the RTH 321 the GamePipe Laboratory. The projects run continuously all semester, the code testing the student’s knowledge of the in-class lectures and reading material.
Grades will be calculated based on a student's performance on a weekly basis as well as the game delivered at the end of the course.
Students will be evaluated as follows:
Participation / 10Weekly Deliverables / 40
Mid-term Deliverable / 15
Final Project / 20
Final Presentation / 15
Total: / 100
Course Outline
Week 1
●Introduction and Course Overview
●Social networking possibilities
●Survey of free to play games business and metrics-driven design
●Play selected free to play games
Week 2
●Design Wiki Overview
○Premise
○Pitch
○Game Mechanics Breakdown
○Critical Functions of play
○Level walkthrough
○Resources
○Asset List
●Organize into teams of 2-4. Assignment: each team must draft 5 game ideas.
Week 3
●Development Environment Setup
●Code Management Tools
●Game Application creation
●Assignment: each team sets up an online repository for project management, asset management, and code management. Each team chooses one game idea to pursue.
Week 4
●Guest speaker from Zynga, Inc.
●Playing with Facebook/Google + APIs
●Learning key metrics: virality and related mechanics
●Monetization of free to play games
Week 5
●Design Presentation - each team must present their team’s proposed game design.
●Project planning/Design finalization
Week 6
●Guest speaker from Nexon of America
●Learning key metrics: ARPDAU and related mechanics
●Learning webserver client interactions
●Exploring Firebug and server side debugging tools
Week 7
●Building the game in the client of your choice
●Demonstration of client server interactions
Week 8
●FTUE ( First time User Experience)
●Metrics tools – Kontagent and other
●Studio Sessions
In studio sessions, student game development teams will develop and implement their game designs.
Week 9
●Learning key metrics: user acquisition and related methods
●Studio Sessions
In studio sessions, student game development teams will develop and implement their game designs.
Week 10
●Mid-term demo of developed games - all students in all teams must be present for the in-class demonstration
●Studio Sessions
In studio sessions, student game development teams will develop and implement their game designs.
Week 11
●Learning key metrics: Lifetime Value and related methods
●Studio Sessions
In studio sessions, student game development teams will develop and implement their game designs.
Week 12
●Studio Sessions
In studio sessions, student game development teams will develop and implement their game designs.
Week 13
●Studio Sessions
In studio sessions, student game development teams will develop and implement their game designs.
Week 14
●Final Game Evaluation
●Bug Fixes
Week 15
●Final In-Class Game demo
●Video demo turned in for semester DVD
●Source code & art assets placed into GamePipe SVN
Statement for Students with Disabilities
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.
Statement on Academic Integrity
USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A:
Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at:
Emergency Preparedness/Course Continuity in a Crisis
In case of a declared emergency if travel to campus is not feasible, USC executive leadership will announce an electronic way for instructors to teach students in their residence halls or homes using a combination of Blackboard, teleconferencing, and other technologies.