GD 4000 Spring 2026: Syllabus

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Course Catalog:
Students will work in teams to create a fully realized video game that addresses a particular challenge and set of conditions. Each project team is responsible for taking a game through the development process: from initial concept design to prototyping, playtesting, refinement, and final delivery. Project constraints will be provided by the instructor.
Prerequisite(s): CS 2370

Course Info

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• Credits: 4
• Instructor: Nat Tuck
• Email: nathaniel.tuck@plymouth.edu
• Office: D&M 305
• Lecture: TBA
• Office Hours: M 11:10am-12:10pm, W 1:30-2:30pm, Th 10:30-11:30am, F 1:30-2:30pm
• Final Exam Period: TBA
• Course Site: https://homework.quest/

Student Learning Outcomes

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Successful students will:

• Experience the roles and structure of a game development team as you create your own games from brainstorming to final delivery.
• Practice the application of game design concepts to generate a new product.
• Practice development processes of rapid prototyping and iterative design.

Texts

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Students are not required to purchase a commercial textbook for this course.

Grading

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Letter grades

≥ 93 → A, ≥ 90 → A-,
≥ 87 → B+, ≥ 83 → B, ≥ 80 → B-,
≥ 77 → C+, ≥ 73 → C, ≥ 70 → C-,
≥ 67 → D+, ≥ 63 → D, ≥ 60 → D-,
else (< 60) → F

Presentations

For each of these presentations, the team will present a summary of the current status and then each team member will highlight their major personal contributions.

• Concept / early prototype. Demonstrates the game concept, including a function tech demo showing the core technology or game mechanic.
• Alpha prototype. Playable version of the game featuring the core mechanic that can be used for playtesting with people outside the design team.
• Progress check-in. Core mechanic is solid. Game art and sound are partially implemented. Game is at least half done.
• Final presentation: Game is done, including full source code and all assets. Team presents a post-mortem assessment.

Production Documents

• Project Charter - Describes what, how, and time commitments.
• Post-mortem
• Team / peer evaluation

Final Game Grade

At the end of the semester your team will submit your completed game, including all the source code and assets necessary to build and run it. Your grade for this will include the following elements:

• Did you submit a complete and working game?
• Did you complete the game you proposed, with appropriate adjustment of scope (larger or smaller) as the semester progressed?
• Did you personally put in serious and effective time and effort on the project?

Attendance

Attendance is required for all class meetings. You must check in to the online attendance tool within 5 minutes of the start of the period to receive credit for attendance. If you miss more than three meetings then each subsequent unexcused absence will reduce your final grade by 4 percentage points.

No makeups for unexcused absences on presentation days.

Inkfish

Work will be submitted through an online web application called Inkfish. A 1% per hour penalty will be assigned for late work, except for the last assignment of the semester which must be submitted on time for credit.

Grade Appeals

If you think you received an incorrect grade, send me an email describing why your grade is wrong and how you think it should be corrected.

If the grade isn’t clearly wrong, I will ask you to stop by my office hours so we can discuss the issue in more detail.

Any grade concerns must be raised within two weeks of the grade being posted.

Fair Grading Policy

All grading in this class is subject to the university Fair Grading Policy.

Excused Absences

Absences will be excused and make-up work allowed only for absences covered by the university Excused Absence Policy.

If you know you will be missing a class meeting in advance you must contact the professor before the meeting. For unforeseen an unavoidable absences, please contact the professor as soon as reasonably possible.

Late Registration

If you register late for the course please contact the professor to discuss completing any missed assignments as soon as possible.

Course Evaluations

Course evaluations can be a valuable tool to determine how the semester went. They’re more useful with a higher response rate. You should do your course evaluations.

Resources

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Accommodations

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Plymouth State University is committed to providing students with documented disabilities equal access to all university programs and facilities. If you think you have a disability requiring accommodations, you should contact Campus Accessibility Services (CAS), located in Speare (603-535-3300) to determine whether you are eligible for such accommodations. Academic accommodations will only be considered for students who have registered with CAS. If you have authorized CAS to electronically deliver a Letter of Accommodations for this course, please communicate with your instructor to review your accommodations.

Academic Integrity

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Please carefully read and be familiar with the university Academic Integrity Policy. Especially don’t do any of the things in the list of examples of academic integrity violations. Make sure to review the penalties for repeated offenses.

Do not:

• Use code or other assets written by someone not on your team unless appropriately licensed and credited.
• Use computer-generated code or other assets without proper credit.

Notes:

• Using a code library through a standard packing tool is sufficient credit unless the license specifically requires more than that.
• Open source code generation tools presumptively allow you to use them unless there’s clear evidence otherwise.

Tentative Schedule

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The initial plan is to have tasks due at our meeting.

• † No class on Monday, Jan 19 (MLK Day)
• ‡ Ski Day on Wednesday, Feb 11 (no day classes; graduate evening classes will be held)