CPSC 091S. Special Topics: Game Systems

This course studies games using the lens of computing systems; exploring the design and implementation of historic and modern computing systems for games, including the hardware, software, and their interface. This course will go beyond only creating games, and will challenge students to critically reflect on how the architectural and programming choices in games can encode inequality and particular worldviews procedurally, as much as other game elements like visuals, audio and narrative. We will cover the low-level aspects of games platforms: graphics programming, networking, and peripherals; mid-level concerns: software engineering, design patterns, concurrency, and interfaces; and higher-level issues related to emulation, ethics, platform studies and media archaeology.
This is a Group 2 course.
Prerequisite: CPSC 031 and CPSC 035.
Natural Science.
1.0 credit.
Eligible for FMST.
Fall 2023. O’Hara.
Fall 2024. O’Hara.
Catalog chapter: Computer Science
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/computer-science

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