Program Overview

Introduction to the University Program

The Australian Catholic University (ACU) offers a wide range of programs for students. One of the programs is the ITEC328 - Developing Game-Simulated Environments unit.

Unit Overview

The ITEC328 unit aims to develop knowledge and skills in using a game framework for developing AI-driven applications. It integrates the knowledge and skills gained in the 'Game Fundamentals and Augmented Reality' unit and other programming units to develop advanced game applications.

Unit Rationale, Description, and Aim

Simulation models and environments are important for training and decision making, such as in medicine, emergency response, manufacturing, and defense. This unit extends the essential concepts, techniques, software tools, and modern frameworks required for designing, creating, and testing interactive game-simulated environments introduced in the prerequisite unit.

Learning Outcomes

To successfully complete this unit, students will be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes:

• Demonstrate working knowledge and understanding of how a game-simulated environment can be used to process data, including the associated technologies and concepts, application development frameworks, and toolkits.
• Apply the current architectures, frameworks, and toolkits to develop game-simulated environments suitable for real-world deployment.
• Critically evaluate design choices and investigate the consequences of key design decisions.
• Communicate effectively in writing, using technical language, with other IT professionals, reflecting on the technical issues of game-simulated environments and their impact on human dignity.

Unit Content

The unit covers the following topics:

• A* Search Algorithm using PAC-MAN game (Python)
• Synthetic Data Processing and Object Recognition in Unity3D for ML (C#, Python)
• Robotic Navigation Simulation (C#, C++, Python)
• Impact of game-simulated environments on human dignity

Assessment Strategy and Rationale

A range of assessment procedures will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. The assessment strategy for this unit allows students to demonstrate a critical mindset in evaluating the impact of 2D and 3D simulated environments using game engine development and apply this knowledge to a variety of work situations.

Assessments

The unit has four assessments:

1. Assessment Task 1: 2D/3D Simulated Pathfinding Environment - This assessment consists of a series of weekly lab exercises in the development of some basic 2D graphics elements in C# and a final 3D simulated environment based on the 2D pracs.
2. Assessment Task 2: Synthetic Data Generation - This assessment task consists of building a simulated 3D synthetic data environment for generating images suitable for ML training for object detection.
3. Assessment Task 3: Robotic Navigation using Object Detection - This assessment task consists of building a simulated 3D environment for navigating objects using object detection.

Learning and Teaching Strategy and Rationale

This unit is offered in different modes, including attendance, multi-mode, and online mode. The unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops, and students will have face-to-face interactions with lecturers to further their achievement of the learning outcomes.

Representative Texts and References

The unit has several recommended texts and references, including:

• Borromeo, N. Alejandro. (2020). Hands-On Unity 2020 Game Development: Build, customize, and optimize professional games using Unity 2020 and C#.
• Hocking, Joe. (2018). Unity in Action: Multiplatform game development in C#.
• Borshchev, Andrei. (2013). The Big Book of Simulation Modeling: Multimethod Modeling with AnyLogic.
• Jiang, Rui. (2018). Game A.I. Made Easy: Designing Agents: With Unity3D Examples.
• Okita, Alex. (2019). Learning C# Programming with Unity 3D.

Credit Points and Year

The unit is worth 10 credit points and is offered in the year 2026.