XNA at UCCS
The
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) has been using Microsoft XNA
Game Studio since Fall 2007. XNA is one of the core technologies students
pursuing the Bachelor of Innovation™ in Game Design and Development (GDD) use
in their course work. Some students have also used XNA to develop Windows Phone
7 applications and to complete work for a local game company.
Introductory Programming
GDD
students start learning to program in the spring semester of their freshman
year at UCCS. C# is the programming language used in the first two programming
courses (GDD 1200 and GDD 2200), and course examples and assignments use XNA to
easily cast that material in the game domain.
One of
the problems we faced when we started offering the introductory programming
courses was a lack of C# texts aimed at beginning programmers, especially those
that integrated the use of XNA into the text material. To address this problem,
Tim “Dr. T” Chamillard, the Program Director for the BI™ in GDD and one of the
GDD 1200 instructors, wrote a textbook to integrate these topics at the
appropriate levels of difficulty and rigor.
Introduction to Game Design and Development
CS
3350, Introduction to Game Design and Development, is a junior-level course we
originally started offering to support a GDD minor at UCCS; it’s now also a
required course for the GDD majors. The course therefore has both students with
C# and XNA experience from previous courses and other students pursuing the GDD
minor who don’t have that experience. We originally used C++ and DirectX for
the large game project in this course, but in Fall 2007 we moved over to C# and
XNA for that project.
Peak Game Studios Work
Peak
Game Studios is a local game development company formed by Dr. T and his two
sons in 2007. The company has completed significant development efforts for
both entertainment and serious games using XNA. The
company released a commercial entertainment game (Khet) in 2010 and is
currently in the play testing phase of an Xbox LIVE Indie Game (Battle
Paddles). One of the BI™ in GDD students is a company employee on the Battle
Paddles game.
The company has also completed a number of work-for-hire contracts
to develop serious games using XNA. The largest such project was for the
Imagination Stations in the new Science and Engineering (SENG) Building at
UCCS. The team size for the different components of that project ranged from 6
to 7 team members, with BI™ students comprising all but one of the team members.
The opportunity to work with the company on professional XNA
development projects gives the BI™ students exposure to XNA, and general
programming and art, features well beyond those required for class assignments.
Imagination Stations Front End
The Imagination Stations Front End
was developed to provide an interesting user interface for content delivery on
the Imagination Stations located throughout the SENG Building at UCCS. Our
expectation is that K-12 students will tour the building learning about STEM
topics through the Imagination Stations. Although the key component of those
student interactions will be through game play, the front end also provides
access to videos and PowerPoint shows. As shown below, the front end contains
numerous active and engaging elements for the target audience, including the
Jacob’s Ladder on the right, the water animation at the top of the tank, the
bubbles rising through the brain tank, the working clock in the upper left, the
monitor on the lower left, and the EKG message animation in the lower center.
To view a trailer of the front end, go
here.
Physics With Neat Details (PWND)
The PWND game is designed to teach 8th graders about
several physics topics by letting them attempt 4 gravity challenges and 4 laser
challenges. All the challenges are set in a 2D space, though some of the
graphical game components are actually rendered 3D models. Several screen shots
from the challenges are provided below.
To view trailers of the PWND game, go here.
Fantastic Super Robot
The Fantastic Super Robot game is designed to teach 8th
graders about robotics by having them attempt 4 different challenges. For each
challenge, the player configures their robot with both its means of locomotion
and various tool attachments then attempts the challenge using their robot. All
the challenges in this game are in a 3D world.
To view trailers of the FSR game, go here.
Configuration menu and game world screen shots are provided below.
