CSE 190D:
Game Design for Problem Solving with Python

Overview

How can computers help people solve problems? There are courses on programming and courses on creating video games, but this is a course on creating games as tools for understanding and solving problems. Analyzing a problem is part of the job, and coming up with a workable formulation of a problem can sometimes be more difficult than solving the formulated problem. Although the main effort in the course will be on actual game design for interesting challenging problems, we will be covering a variety of concepts and techniques that help us with that main effort. These include some of the theory and history of problem solving, methods for formulating problems, characteristics of so-called "wicked problems," game structures, visualization techniques, psychology of game play and of learning, algorithms for analyzing problem spaces, game evaluation methods, and some of the details of selected tough problems. As a "special topics" course, it's new and has not been offered before, either at UW or anywhere else. It's experimental, and that's one reason the enrollment is limited to 24.

Lecture	MWF 10:30-11:20; Mondays and Wednesdays in OUG 136; Fridays in OUG 141.
Instructor	Steve Tanimoto (tanimoto@cs)
	Tuesdays 10:00-11:00 CSE 624
TA	Emilia Gan
	Office hours: Fridays 11:30-12:30 in CSE 021
Resources	Go Post
	Background Questionnaire (Please answer these questions before Tuesday, March 28.)
	Syllabus
	Academic Integrity
	Calendar
	Catalyst CollectIt Dropbox
	Gradebook

Lectures

For information about lectures in this class, refer to the class calendar.

Reading

The course notes provide the first level of readings for each topic. Additional readings will be indicated on the calendar, with links to the material itself.

Projects

There will be two warm-up projects and a main project in the class. The warm-up projects will be done individually by each student. However, the main project will be done in teams of 2 or 3 students. The main project will have several milestones when particular parts of the project are due. Turn in your project work at the CSE 190D Dropbox.

The projects are supported by the lectures and the references.

Quizzes

Tentative schedule: The plan is to have no midterm or final exam, but to have two quizzes. In addition, the scheduled final-exam period will be used for a possible demonstration and game-play session at which projects may be presented to a wider audience than just the class.

References

Tools

When we are implementing games and problem formulations, our main tools will be the Python language, version 3.x, with 3.6 being the usual subversion. Almost any text editor or IDE that can work with Python code will be acceptable. Particularly encouraged is Sublime or if you are adventurous, Emacs. Windows 10 with IDLE is acceptable, as is Cygwin on Windows. Python with IDLE on the Mac is also fine. The Mac OSX's built-in Unix environment is another way to go. Linux is also fine.

For an introduction to Python use either a standard book or this tutorial.

When we need graphics, our preferred choice is SVG graphics rendered in the browser. We'll be using the Python module svgwrite to help create the graphics, and the games using such graphics will operate in our own client-server framework.

Some of our coding, such as graphics-related SVG work can be done using websites such as www.w3schools.com/graphics.

The use of version control at github.com is recommended for the team project.

Syllabus

Goals: Taking complex problems, analyzing them, pulling out key components and organizing them in ways that can support understanding and solutions is a valuable skill. The combination of abstract thinking about the problem and concrete implementation go hand in hand to achieve realistic and credible problem-solving capability. In addition to this analytical and synthetic knowledge, a goal of the course is to foster the honing of skills in design, collaboration, and coding. Further to that is gaining knowledge relevant to problem formulation, problem solving, Python coding, and game design and implementation. Yet another goal of the course is to gain insight about a set of very challenging "wicked" problems and identify and pursue "handles for understanding" them, through a particular problem-formulation methodology.

Prerequisite: The only formal prerequisite is CSE 143. We will very much rely on a thorough understanding of the concepts from CSE 143 as well as programming skills acquired through experience with Java.

Grading and Exams: Your overall grade will be determined as follows (subject to change as necessary, but substantial changes to the numbers below is unlikely):

• Warmup projects: 20%
• Main project: 50%
• Quizzes: 20%
• Worksheets and Participation: 10%

Late Policy: Deadlines will be given with each assignment. These deadlines are strict. For the entire quarter, you may have four "late days". You are strongly advised to save them for emergencies. You may not use more than two for the same assignment. They must be used in 24-hour (integer) chunks. This policy may not be the same as in your other classes. You are responsible for understanding it if you choose to submit late work.

Academic Integrity: Any attempt to misrepresent the work you submit will be dealt with via the appropriate University mechanisms, and your instructor will make every attempt to ensure the harshest allowable penalty. The guidelines for this course and more information about academic integrity are below. You are responsible for knowing that information.

Texts: There are no required books for the course. Reading will be assigned from a combination of course notes, provided by the instructor, and miscellaneous online resources.

Advice:

• Do not skip class or section to work on homework, not even late in the quarter when you are more tired and busy. This will cost you time (not to mention learning) in the long run. Class will start promptly, and you will find the entire course easier and more educational if you arrive punctually, well-rested, and ready to pay attention for 50 minutes.

Academic Integrity

You are responsible for understanding every word in this document.

• Motivation: A course in which students do not accurately present what they know and the work they have done is worse than having no course at all. Your instructor and your fellow students expect and deserve a basic respect for the integrity of this course and an environment where we can all focus on learning. Therefore, this document establishes a clear understanding of what we all will do with the expectation that it will never be an issue.
  
  
• Bottom Line: If you are ever unclear about how to represent what work you have done, (a) ask and (b) describe clearly what you have done. If you do, the worst that will happen is you will lose some credit on an assignment. This is much better than the alternative.
  
  If you are at all in doubt about whether your collaboration was appropriate, include a description of your collaboration with your homework submission.
  
  If the course staff receives homework submissions that are too similar to have been created independently, or are derived from other sources, we will pursue the maximum penalty allowed by the University.
  
  
• Collaboration: You are encouraged to discuss the material in this course, including homework problems. We all learn better when we trade ideas with others, including course staff and fellow students. But you must produce your own homework solutions and you must not look at other students' solutions or other information that takes away the intellectual challenge of the homework.
  
  Unless specifically told otherwise, you are to complete assignments individually. You may discuss assignments in general terms with other students including a discussion of how to approach a problem, but the code and other work you submit must be your own. The intent is to allow you to get some help when you are stuck, but this help should be limited and should never involve details of how to write a solution. You may not have another person (current student, former student, tutor, friend, anyone) "walk you through" how to solve an assignment.
  
  Copying someone else's homework or receiving unfair help completing your assignment is cheating (see below), as is copying the homework from another source (the web, other classes, previous course offerings, etc.).
  
  
• Cheating: Cheating is a very serious offense. If you are caught cheating, you can expect a failing grade and initiation of a cheating case in the University system. Cheating is an insult to your colleagues, to the instructors, to the department and major program, and most importantly, to you. If you feel that you are having a problem with the material, or do not have time to finish an assignment, or have any number of other reasons to cheat, then talk with the instructor. Copying others' work is not the solution.
  
  To avoid creating situations where copying can arise, never e-mail or post your solution files. When using the class discussion board, do not post code that is an attempt to solve a homework problem. If in doubt about what might constitute cheating, send the instructor email describing the situation.
  
  
• Fine Print: It's not effective for us to try to define a list of all impermissible activities. That approach can tempt people to look for loopholes. Consider: "the code you write must be your own." This includes things like not using any substantive material or solutions from similar assignments this term or previous terms at UW or elsewhere, including anywhere on the Internet, transcribing solutions from any other source, etc. Our policy is intended to convey the spirit of the law, fully understanding that the letter of the law may not cover everything that someone may think of.
  
  
• For additional information and a more detailed discussion, please refer to the CSE Academic Misconduct Policy page.