Game Programming in Python

In our highly-automated modern world computer programming governs the interaction between humans and machines. This course provides a technical introduction to the fundamentals of computer programming, focusing on scientific computing with the specific use case of video game programming, a booming industry now worth more than $150 billion annually.

This course will teach you to produce clear, robust code, and to develop techniques for effective testing and debugging of code. In this course we will cover a significant portion of the Python programming language, including its standard libraries and programming paradigms. Putting these skills to use in game programming projects ensures that fun and creativity are never lost in the process. You will use increasingly advanced animations and graphics as the course progresses so that by the conclusion of the course you will be able to produce fully functioning animated games in the Python programming language.

After studying this subject you will have practical understanding of the Python programming language, including:

• Sequential, conditional, and loop statements.
• Strings, lists, tuples, sets, and dictionaries.
• Object-Oriented Programming.
• Recursive approaches.
• Graphics.

You will be able to use Python Programming for medium complexity problems in scientific computing, including:

• Writing codes for basic games in Python.
• Developing classic games like Snake or Tetris.
• Developing a game of their choice, such as a basic driving game.

This subject would suit STEM students in undergraduate or entry-level postgraduate study. A confident level of computer literacy is required but prior knowledge of computer programming is not required.

Dr Naeemullah Khan is a Research Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall and a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Department of Engineering, University of Oxford.

Applications closed for 2022.

Find out more about the admissions criteria, programme fees, and how to apply.

If you have any questions, or would like to know more, please do get in touch here.