I joined TUT for the sole purpose of learning games programming. Back in 2006 this was taught by Dr. James Jordaan.

The content of the module has evolved over the years but at its core, it was always AI.

The end of this semester (2022_01) marks the last batch of students who will ever pass or fail GPM20AT. The course has been phased out and is being replaced with a new shiny course that combines Intelligent Industrial Systems (IIS) with Computer Systems Engineering (CSE). This is a good thing BTW as now all graduates will be ECSA-accredited engineers, not only the CSE graduates as was the case in the past.

“That’s the beauty of Unity – it’s a skill that can unlock many doors”

– Abraham Lincoln

Unity in GPM20AT

I managed to convince the powers that be around 5 years ago that we should switch to using Unity as a tool for teaching AI and we have never looked back. It has enabled students to get into various careers using Unity and not just in AI or even games programming. That’s the beauty of Unity. It’s a skill that can unlock many doors.

Don’t be too sad about the end of GPM20AT, though. I was part of the team designing the new curriculum, so Unity will still be around in ARI216D (Artificial Intelligence). Here we are learning great things through Unity’s Machine Learning Agents (Reinforcement learning is AMAZING if you haven’t had a look at it yet) as well as general “data-sciency” content.

Celebrating with NFTs

To commemorate the occasion, I will be giving each student an NFT that has different characteristics based on their performance.

The idea is—the better the performance the “shinier” the NFT.

Details in next post which will hopefully be soon.