Teaching Undergraduate Computer Graphics: Game Design and Implementation Utilizing the OpenGL Library and the Windows API

The purpose of this study was to explore computer graphics rendering and drawing techniques involved in teaching undergraduate programming of a simple windows-based video game application. The project included the creation of windows; use of a graphical library to draw, display, animate, texture, transform, and rotate graphical primitives; collision detection algorithms; and various other elements of commercial video game design and creation, which included menus, scoring algorithms, and input from the keyboard. The design was an object-oriented/procedural hybrid, utilizing C++, the OpenGL graphical library, and Microsoft's Visual C++ standard for coding and debugging.