Entry requirements

1. The equivalent of English 6 in Swedish secondary school.
2. At least 60 credits in the main field of Computer Science including at least 15 credits of programming.
3. Either a completed course of at least 7.5 credits in Data Structures and Algorithms, or a completed course of at least 7.5 credits in Artificial Intelligence.

Progression level in relation to degree requirements

This course is included in the main field of Computer Science.

Course contents

• Introduction to Procedual Content Generation (PCG) and its role
• Search-based PCG
• Player-driven PCG
• L-systems and vegetation
• Terrain, landscapes and fractals
• Levels and their structures
• Content evaluation and expressive range
• Interactive narrative and mix-initiative design tools

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

On completion of the course the student shall:

• have good knowledge of common PCG methods
• analyse different types of game content and suggest suitable methods for its generation

Skills and Abilities

On completion of the course the student shall:

• analyse the PCG requirements for a specific game or the intended target group
• analyse PCG methods in order to fulfil requirements for a specific game or the intended target group
• implement selected PCG algorithms
• evaluate the expressive range of content generators and compare them to each others

Judgement and approach

On completion of the course the student shall:

• reflect over the role of PCG within game design and game content
• reflect over the quality of PCG artefacts
• reflect over different methods in PCG in relation to a specific game, its content or its design

Learning activities

Lectures, laboratory work and individual studies.

Assessment

Requirement for Pass (G): Passed written examination 3 credits and passed assignments 4,5 credits.

Requirement for Pass with distinction (VG): In addition to the requirement for Pass, all VG-moments must be assessed with VG.

Course literature

Recommended litterature:

• Shaker, Togelius, and Nelson (2015).Procedural Content Generation in Games: A Textbook and an Overview of Current Research, PCG Book.com (tillgänglig som PDF)
• Current research literature (10 papers) och internet sources (ref.)

Course evaluation

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).

Interim rules

If a course is no longer offered, or has undergone significant changes, the students must be offered two opportunities for re-examination based on the syllabus that applied at the time of registration, for a period of one year after the changes have been implemented.

Additional information

If a student has a Learning support decision, the examiner has the right to provide the student with an adapted test, or to allow the student to take the exam in a different format. The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text.