UML and Object Oriented Analysis and Design for Computer Game Programming

Overview
One of the main values of UML2 comes from its use as both a tool for communicating ideas and intentions and as a tool for "thinking through" various approaches and possibilities to tackling software analysis, design, implementation and testing. In the devlopment of computer games there is a great need for communication between those creating game content to interact with those implementing the software that will realise their "dreams" and "vision". Other values include

• making intentions and wishes more precise
• providing a reference point for game software testing
• creating a framework that will aid project management
• facilitating attempts to understand and work with complex frameworks

Course Benefits
Students completing this course will acquire a whole range of useful skills

• understanding the role of Use Case Analysis in refining the requirements for user - game interaction, exploring and refining "game plots and scenarios"
• using statecharts and sequence diagrams to model complex interactions and behaviours occuring in computer games
• identifying classes, class hierarchies and composite structures to represent computer game entities
• using architectural design techniques to manage complexity in computer game development

Course Contents
Object Oriented Concepts and Thinking

• Classes and class instances (objects)
• Inheritance, polymorphism and interfaces
• Creating more complex objects out of simpler objects
• relationships between classes and relationships between class instances
• communications and interactions between objects
• event driven programming - events and how objects respond to events
• object lifecycles - creation, management and destruction of objects

UML class diagrams - scope, applicability ( in different phases of the development and maintenance lifecycle ) and limitations

• computer games development lifecycle models
• survey of the different UML diagram types
• class diagrams and object diagrams
• use case diagrams
• collaboration diagrams
• sequence diagrams
• activity diagrams
• state diagrams
• deployment diagrams
• component diagrams
• uses of the different UML diagram types in different parts of the lifecycle

Use Case Analysis and Computer Games

• identifying and documenting Scenarios and Use Cases
• brainstrorming
• user - game interaction
• game entity - game entity interaction
• story boarding and use case analysis
• structuring and refining use cases
• the many facets of a computer game
• combining use cases from different facets
• getting to the most effective level of abstraction
• developing and refining use cases
• sequence diagrams
• activity diagrams
• state diagrams
• sequence diagrams
• use of analysis models to bridge the gap between the use case model and the design model
• robustness analysis
• performance analysis
• identifying boundary classes, entity classes and control classes and the associations between them
• moving from the analysis model to the design model
• interaction modeling
• allocating behaviour
• CRC cards approaches
• detailing interactions
Design

• grouping classes using package diagrams
• evolving designs
• subsystems and architecture testing
• refining classes and associations
• developing class properties - visibility, scope, multiplicity, attributes, operations
• extending UML using stereotypes, tagged values and constraints
• design for reuse
• template classes
• generalisation and generalisation hiererchies
• abstract classes
• polymorphism
• frameworks

Design Patterns

rationale underlying design patterns

types of design pattern - creational, structural, behavioural

describing and documenting design patterns

selecting patterns

pattern oriented design

factory patterns - and their uses in computer games

• Abstract factory
• Builder
• Prototype
• Singleton

structural adapter patterns - and their uses in computer games

• Adapter
• Bridge
• Composite
• Decorator
• Facade
• Flyweight
• Proxy

Interpreter and Template Method patterns - and their uses in computer games

• Command
• Iterator
• Mediator
• Observer
• State
• Strategy
• Visitor

From Design to C++ Code ( can be tailored to other languages e.g. C#, Java )

C++ examples corresponding to common design patterns

from Statecharts to threads / tasks and code

complex systems and the co-ordination of large numbers of interacting objects

scheduling and synchronisation