Simulated and Immersive Environments 4: Simulation and Play

This course explored the relationships between simulation, immersion and interaction. Digital games were taken as examples of immersive and simulated enviroments. To complement the lectures and their own research into the topics, students designed and implemented three games in small groups.
The first game was a Tron-style game with one special feature of their choice that is not normally found in Tron games, the second a ten-player Tank Wars-style real-time artillery simulation game, and the third a car racing game with a number of simulation features.
To have complete control over the interaction and to have the students’ understanding go beyond modelling objects and using ready-made physics engines, game makers or high-level programming libraries, the first two games were coded from scratch using C++ with the SDL library. The third game was realized using Unity 3D, but the simulation features were scripted, and did not use the PhysX engine.

Daniel Cermak-Sassenrath. Simulated and Immersive Environments 4: Simulation and Play, Course, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, 2010, Semester 2.