In the 70's and 80's a "game developer" not only designed the game itself, wrote the code, and made the art, but he or she often designed the hardware as well! This lost art is what this course is all about: learning how to design, build, and modify your own game consoles from scratch.
Most students these days work only with software-based hardware abstraction layers (i.e. DirectX, OpenGL) and have very little idea about what is going on other than knowing they can make a function call and draw a set of nicely shaded triangles onscreen. These abstraction layers hide a lot of detail from the user, which is great for fast development across many different platforms, but they also deprive the student of a whole layer of knowledge that the top game developers used to have, but few nowadays do. To develop a game for a console that you not only designed, but also hand-built with your own soldering iron, is one of the most enriching learning experiences you will ever have as a game developer or software engineer. There is just nothing that can get you closer to the root layer or give you that sense of total ownership and mastery of a subject.
The lessons cover the following topics:
This course will rapidly build your knowledge in the fields of electronics and game development by combining a heavy dose of theoretical discussion with practical hands-on experience, delivered every week in a series of fun and engaging experiments for you to work on.
Aside from the lesson topics covered here is a list of some of the experiments:
Besides the software and course materials that are available on the website, you will also receive a complete hardware kit containing over 100+ components, including items such as: pre-manufactured printed circuit board, microcontrollers, "The Black Art of Video Game Console Design by Andre LaMothe" paperback book, soldering iron, digital multimeter, Nintendo gamepad controller, resistors, capacitors, LEDs, and much more!
Who should take the course?
Anyone who wants to learn more about the fundamentals of game hardware (game consoles, handhelds, video cards, sound cards, input devices, etc.) should definitely take this course. Certainly anyone who has an interest in electronics or robotics would also love a unique course like this one. If you are a developer who has been creating games for the PC, and you'd like to expand your horizons beyond the software realm and get some hardware engineering experience, then this class is definitely for you. Whether you are a high school student or you are just graduating with your Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, you can rest assured that you will take away some newfound knowledge and understanding from this course. What you do with that knowledge is completely up to you. Perhaps you will find a hobby making lots of different video game consoles or perhaps you will discover a new career path. It would be a great benefit to any developer to know how to develop their own embedded systems, particularly those that can run media applications such as games!
What are the prerequisites to understanding the course material?
Previous programming experience is assumed but not absolutely required. There will be some microcontroller assembly language covered in the course, but most students will be able to pick this up fairly quickly with the resources we will provide. Previous electronics knowledge is not required since the course will cover this subject matter from the ground up. Basic high school level algebra (mathematics) skills are required.
What materials are necessary to complete the course?
This course is totally self-contained. All software and hardware required to complete the course are provided as part of the complete course package.