Instructor: Dr. James Glenn
Office: DS 125d
Work Phone: (410)617-5394
Office Hours: M 12:00noon-1:00pm, Tu 10:40am-12:40pm, W 12noon-1:30pm, F 8:30am-9:50am, and by appointment
e-mail:[first initial][last name]@cs.loyola.edu

Course Home Page: http://www.cs.loyola.edu/~jglenn/489/S2009/index.html

Class Meeting: MWF 11:00am-11:50am in SH 102

Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing in computer science or permission of the instructor.

Required Texts: none
Recommended Texts: any C# and/or XNA reference

Other Resources:

• XNA Creators Club with downloads (you need XNA Game Studio and Visual C# Express Edition)
• MSDN Library
• Mono Documentation Library
• GNUstep Base API Documentation
• GNUstep GUI API Documentation

Course Description:
Topics in game theory, artificial intelligence for games, and implementation of games. Necessary foundational topics will be included.

Specific Educational Objectives of the Course:
At the completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• implement a simple computer game on a commercial platform;
• use artificial intelligence to create computer opponents for games;
• use search techniques to solve combinatorial and similar games.

Conduct of the Course:
Foundational topics necessary to understand assigned readings will be explained in lectures. Occasional homework assignments will be given to reinforce those topics. Assigned readings will be discussed in a seminar setting. Students (or groups of students) will make 2-4 15-25 minute presentations during the semester. Students will complete a final programming project that makes interesting use of theory, artificial intelligence, and/or a commercial platform in a game.

Academic Integrity:
Loyola College Honor Code Statement:

"The Honor Code states that all students of the Loyola Community have been equally entrusted by their peers to conduct themselves honestly on all academic assignments.

The students of this College understand that having collective and individual responsibility for the ethical welfare of their peers exemplifies a commitment to the community. Students who submit materials that are the products of their own minds demonstrate respect for themselves and the community in which they study.

All outside resources or information should be clearly acknowledged. If there is any doubt or question regarding the use and documentation of outside sources for academic assignments, your instructor should be consulted. Any violations of the Honor Code will be handled by the Honor Council"

The Honor Code as is pertains to this class:

• Homework: Students may work on homework in groups no larger than seven. All students in a group must include group members' names on their homework. Although problems may be discussed, copying is forbidden. Any students turning in identical copies will split the grade for that assignment.
• Presentations: The content of a presentation must be substantially the work of the student(s) making the presentation. Outside sources must be properly acknowledged.
• Programming Projects: All programs must be substantially the work of the student(s) submitting them. Code obtained from outside sources must be properly acknowldged. The amount of original work will be taken into consideration during grading.

Student Athletes:
If you are a student athlete, please provide me with your travel and competition schedule indicating when you will need to miss class to participate in athletic events. While travel for athletics is an excused absence, you will need to make up any missed work.

Learning Disabilities:
To request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact the Disability Support Services Office at (410)617-2062. If you have a letter from their office indicating that you have a disability which requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to me so we can discuss the accommodations that you might need in this class.

Grading:

• Homework: 20%
• Class Participation: 15%
• Programming Projects: 20%
• Presentations: 15%
• Final Project (including presentation): 30%

Final Grades:
Final letter grades will be no worse than those in the following table.

Topics:

• Game graphs
• Basic search techniques (e.g. DFS, A*)
• Advanced search techniques (e.g. Alpha-Beta, Proof-number search)
• Stochastic games
• Imperfect information games
• Level Design
• XNA
• Android and/or iPhone

Final Project Presentations: Friday, May 1st at 1pm