The Course:
CSC349: Java Games Programming

Computer games are popular with millions of college students, usually played outside the classroom for entertainment and stress relief. But for students with an interest or major in computer science, game playing can also be part of the educational process.

For the second time at Maryville College, CSC349: Java Games Programming, is being taught this semester. It is offered as a “special topics” computer science course, which means it will be offered every other year as a choice for computer science majors’ required 300-level computer science course.

Although popular with computer science majors, the class is also open to anyone who meets the prerequisite minimum, completion of the CSC111-112: Introduction to Computer Science sequence.

“Most students find [the course] to be a lot of fun. Most of them have played plenty of computer games, and it is enlightening to them to be on the other end and find out what goes into the development of the games,” said course instructor, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Barbara Plaut. “It is very challenging, but they seem to enjoy it at lot.”

According to Plaut, the class has no required text because there are very few up-to-date books on the subject that don’t assume the reader already has quite a bit of experience with Java and games programming.

“Most of the course material is compiled by me and provided to the students, and I also make up a lot of labs for them to work through to learn the concepts,” said Plaut.

While computer games have been big sellers for decades, games programming is a particularly “hot” area right now, with colleges and universities now beginning to offer the topic as a course, the professor said.

“Computer game programming is gaining a lot of credibility as a legitimate computer science topic,” she added. “I think that’s because people are realizing that it brings together a lot of different areas of computer science and requires the students to combine data structures, algorithm analysis, artificial intelligence and other advanced concepts.”

When taking CSC349, students are expected to develop skills in the Java programming language and the development of graphical user interfaces. Java is frequently used in games programming, but it has many other applications, so it’s good for the future computer scientists to become familiar the language, the professor said.

Plaut designs the class so that students will gain exposure to advanced computing concepts such as artificial intelligence basics, network sockets programming, multi-threading and simple physics simulation.

Students are also challenged to master the concepts of two-dimensional animation and game programming. Throughout the semester, the professor assigns about six popular game concepts like Minesweeper, Breakout, Tetris and Rock, Paper, Scissors, and students apply their own original ideas and themes to the games. For instance, Plaut recently challenged students to create a memory game and received files of games that had themes ranging from the Arabic alphabet to Finding Nemo to the states in the United States.

 “My favorite aspect of the class is seeing how much fun students have writing their own games.  I’m always amazed at both their technical competence and their creativity,” Plaut said.

A selection from the students’ games can be found on Plaut’s website, http://faculty.maryvillecollege.edu/plaut/javaGames.htm