The Full Sail Experience: Part II
Game Design and Development Bachelor of Science Degree
fullsail@ayrik.com
Month 8 - February 2005
Advanced Tools Programming
• Instructor: Joe Del Rocco
• Grade: 95% (A)*
• Materials: The Pragmatic Programmer and Complete Maya Programming
There was so much hype about this class being extremely difficult that I came in expecting a challenge, but all I got was a lot of boring application programming making plug-ins with Maya API, MEL scripting, XML Parsing, and file packing. Overall the class was boring and very rushed, but not that difficult. If you can understand how to program using API's and can put up with crappy debugging with MEL, this class isn't that hard.
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DirectX
• Instructor: Joe Del Rocco
• Grade: 98% (A)*
• Materials: Introduction to Game Programming with DirectX 9.0
It was about time we had a break from the Fullsail pace, DirectX helped me with that. Though the class is fast paced, the requirements are not difficult at all, and they're really fun. I actually expected to learn more and wish I was more challenged for the final. For the final we had to write a game in four hours. It may seem hard right now, but the degree of difficulty in the final, at least for my class, was set too low so it was easy.
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Month 9 - March 2005
Structures of Game Design
• Instructor: Dustin Clingman
• Grade: 100% (A)*
• Materials: n/a
Don't let the 100% fool you, this class is actually really tough. To get a grade this high you need to work on your projects as much as you can and just strive to meet the requirements as much as possible. I was able to finish my projects on time (barely) and complete. I got 105% on the Arkanoid project, 95% for milestone 1 and 105% for final on the Asteroids Project, and 100% on the final exam, which was by far the easiest part of the class.
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Media and Society
• Instructor: Gretchen Snyder
• Grade: 88% (B)*
• Materials: n/a
Yet another general education class mixed in with all the other degree programs. This class is really easy, not much to get graded on because most of it is just based on participation, so the final is where it all counts. Pretty much an addition to Behavioral Science.
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Month 10 - April 2005
Structures of Game Programming (Month 1)
• Instructor: Dustin Clingman
• Grade: 79% (C)*
• Materials: n/a
This class sucks. Grading is strict and you are graded on your performance as a team member as well as how much you do on the project. Everyone is assigned to a team of 3 or 4 and you are to design your game to feature complete in one lab, specifying which features you'll have and who will be doing them. Throughout this month you are designing parts of the game and building the tools for it.
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Rules of the Game
• Instructor: Dave Arneson
• Grade: 100% (A)*
• Materials: Game Design Perspectives
Best class ever. All you do is play games during labs and listen to Dave talk during lectures, which are sometimes interesting. You go on a field trip to Sci-Fi City and just play games there. The only assignment is the final, and all we had to do what write 2 reviews on the games presented for Final Project that month, which I did during class the day it was due :)
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Month 11 - May 2005
Structures of Game Programming (Month 2)
• Instructor: Dustin Clingman
• Grade: 79% (C)*
• Materials: n/a
By this time you should have started programming on the actual game code, and hopefully everyone has been doing their part. Scheduling sucks and you won't get it right at all. I only have bad things to say about the way this class is run and how I felt the whole time. This far into the program most people are burnt out and need a long break that will never happen.
Anyway, our game wasn't finished because we got screwed by his wheel of misfortune having to add two new features for the last week that was already booked. Oh well, I passed.
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Month 12 - June 2005
OpenGL
• Instructor: Richard Stephen Wright, Jr
• Grade: 94% (B)*
• Materials: OpenGL Superbible, Third Edition
I liked this class because of the way it was taught, rather than it being all about grades, the class was mainly about learning OpenGL. During this class we relearned a lot of 3D stuff with rendering that we learned in 3DCC and DirectX as well as all new things like multitexturing, environment mapping, and pipeline optimization. There is a research project due at the end of the month, or you can opt out and hand-make a game level in 3D instead.
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Machine Architecture
• Instructor: Gary Miller
• Grade: 76% (C)*
• Materials: Computer Organization and Architecture
This class is extremely hard, and it's difficult to understand where the information actually applies in the real world except in certain job positions. All the information was interesting, but the class focuses so much on getting a good grade it takes the interest completely out of you. His method of grading labs is terrible and he has a hard time portraying the information in a way that people understand.
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Month 13 - July 2005
Optimization
• Instructor: Gary Miller
• Grade: 85% (B)*
• Materials: Fundamentals of Embedded Software and The Software Optimization Cookbook
Optimization was basically an extension onto Machine Architecture only instead of 2 days per week you have the class 3 days per week. Also, you don't have quizes every day either, and the labs are A LOT better and easier. The first part of the class you learn a good amount of intel's assembly language, and the second part you learn how to optimize your code using VTune and assembly. Overall the class is more annoying than difficult.
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Real-Time 3D Programming
• Instructor: Shawn Kendall
• Grade: 97% (A)*
• Materials: Real-Time Collision Detection
Mainly, this is another math class. Think of this as an extension from both 3DCC (same instructor) and Linear Algebra. The class is not extremely hard if you can keep up with the math, Shawn is a really good teacher. You utilize some middleware called Renderware to create "The Tank Program" and manipulate 3D geometry. You also learn to check for collisions and learn a little collision reaction.
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Month 14 - August 2005
Artificial Intelligence
• Instructor: Doug Mecca
• Grade: 93% (B)*
• Materials: AI Game Programming Wisdom
It was such a relief to come into a month with only one class. Luckily this class wasn't that hard, for me at least. We actually had one person fail, which hasn't happened since Advanced Tools Programming. This class is essentially Data Structures 2.0 with lots of path planning. We learned several path planning methods including Breadth First, Best First, Dijkstra, and A*. You are required to work on the side to create a project related to A.I. and I think that's where we lost the one.
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Game Project Jitters in: Part III
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*Grading Scale
Letter Grade is based on Full Sail's more difficult grading scale
Full Sail Grading Scale
A 95 - 100
B 85 - 94
C 75 - 84
D 70 - 74
F 0 - 69
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U of U CS Grading Scale
A 90 - 100
B 80 - 89
C 70 - 79
D 60 - 69
F 0 - 59
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