This is a module that will tackle many aspects of Virtual Reality and Game Development.

In the first semester, we on Entertainment systems - basically making games. The topics covered are: Introduction to games, Games production, Game design, Game Assets, Programming languages & Game architecture, Collision detection, Game Physics, AI, Audio and Networking, Animation programming and Game Industry Roles.

During the second semester, the focus is on Virtual Reality. The topics covered are: Introduction to VR, VR and the Five senses, Building Virtual Worlds (where issues like immersiveness are covered), Hardware & Software requirements of VR, Humans and VR, Augmented Reality and finally some case studies on using VR.

During the labs, students are introduced to programming games using a game engine - Panda 3D. A small group assignment will have to be built and eventually a big group project where everyone will have a predefined role will be considered.

The course notes are available on Computer Science & Engineering: Courses

Projects:

• Developping a small game using Panda3D
• Creating a Virtual World using VRML or a suitable game engine + level editor (Game Studio is being considered)

Textbooks:

• Virtual Reality Technology - Burdea, Coiffet
• Introduction to Game Development - Steve Rabin

Reference Material:

• Game Development Essentials - Jeannine Novak
• Mobile Game Programming - ...
• Understanding Virtual Reality: Interface, Application, and Design - by William R. Sherman and Alan Craig

Interesting Research:

• SIGGRAPH - All the latest research on Graphics - it also contains a lot of information on Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
• SIGMULTIMEDIA (NetGames) - A proceeding specially about Network and support system for games

SIG stands for Special Interest Groups. Papers published in SIGs are usually of high calibre and are very good sources of information about the latest development in a field