CS 4730

Such a fun class! If you don't like games don't take this. Sherriff makes sure this isn't a whatever class and students that stay in it learn more about games beyond 'they're fun!'. The group project is also incredibly fun to do and really a learning experience.

However, if Sherriff tries to "gamify" the class, stay vigilant. Grading transparency is poor in this class. Additionally, the gamercard that keeps track of grades told everyone they had an entire letter grade higher than what they actually had and this wasn't corrected until /after/ the final. I'm still not sure how he's going to deal with that, because that's something that's not cool at all. Still, everything else in this class was worth it. Take it if you can.

Definitely the most fun I've had in a class at UVA. Prof. Sherriff covers some really interesting topics in game design, like balancing, AI, game physics, etc. The class doesn't follow the standard grading model: you get experience points for completing quests (assignments) and doing well on bosses (exams), which result in your final level (grade) for the semester. There isn't much coding until you are assigned to your 3-4 person group, where you all design a game on the caliber of a high quality flash game. This semester we all used MonoGame, a game engine in C#. You select the project that interests you the most at the pitch meeting. All of the games seemed to turn out well, but keep in mind that your project selection has a huge effect on your enjoyment of the class. I hear that Floryan is teaching this class in the future, which should be similarly great.

Great class! Tons of fun, and the material is very interesting. There's a little bit of reading, some short papers you'll need to do at some point during the semester, and he occasionally requires you to play a game--not too bad. The bulk of the work is the group project. Think about what project you want to be on at the pitch meeting, because it makes or breaks the class to have a good group and a good game idea. Exams can't be blown off, but they're nothing to worry about. Sherriff is awesome; take this class!