In this book, veteran game developers, academics, journalists, and others provide their processes and experiences with level design. Each provides a unique perspective representing multiple steps of the process for interacting with and creating game levels - experiencing levels, designing levels, constructing levels, and testing levels. These diverse perspectives offer readers a window into the thought processes that result in memorable open game worlds, chilling horror environments, computer-generated levels, evocative soundscapes, and many other types of gamespaces. This collection invites readers into the minds of professional designers as they work and provides evergreen topics on level design and game criticism to inspire both new and veteran designers. Key Features: Learn about the processes of experienced developers and level designers in their own words Discover best-practices for creating levels for persuasive play and designing collaboratively Offers analysis methods for better understanding game worlds and how they function in response to gameplay Find your own preferred method of level design by learning the processes of multiple industry veterans

Design Computing will help you understand the rapidly evolving relationship between computing, designers, and the many different environments they create or work in. The book introduces the topic of design computing, and covers the basics of hardware and software, so you don't need to be an expert. Topics include the fundamentals of digital representation, programming and interfaces for design; the shifting landscape of opportunity and expectation in practice and pedagogy; placing sensors in buildings to measure performance; and the challenge of applying information effectively in design. The book also includes additional reading for those who wish to dig deeper into the subject. Design Computing will provide you with a greater awareness of the issues that permeate the field, opportunities for you to investigate, and perhaps motivation to push the boundaries.

Accompanying an exhibition at the Wallace Collection, Inspiring Walt Disney explores the influences of the art and architecture of France on Walt Disney and his studio artists, highlighting in particular the Disney classics of hand-drawn animation, Cinderella (1950) and Beauty and the Beast (1991). Pairing preparatory material from these films - including concept art for talking furniture and fairy-tale castles - with masterpieces from the eighteenth century reveals hidden sources of inspiration and allows us to appreciate the extraordinary talents behind Disney animated films and French decorative arts. Just as the dynamic, twisting movements of the Rococo sought to breathe life into what was essentially inanimate - silver, porcelain, furniture - so too did Disney animators seek to create the illusion of movement, action and emotion. Illustrated with innovative works by artists such as Mary Blair, Hans Bacher and Peter J. Hall, and the animated and anthropomorphic furniture, Sevres porcelain and gilt bronze of rococo designers, the catalogue explores the shared creative roots of these two seemingly disparate artistic realms and looks to revitalise the feelings of excitement, awe and marvel, which both eighteenth-century craftsmen and Disney animators sought to spark in their audiences.

If Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs represented the Animation industry's infancy, Ed Hooks thinks that the current production line of big-budget features is its artistically awkward adolescence. While a well-funded marketing machine can conceal structural flaws, uneven performances and superfluous characters, the importance of crafted storytelling will only grow in importance as animation becomes a broader, more accessible art form. Craft Notes for Animators analyses specific films - including Frozen and Despicable Me - to explain the secrets of creating truthful stories and believable characters. It is an essential primer for the for tomorrow's industry leaders and animation artists.

This book provides a deep understanding of state-of-art methods for simulation of heterogeneous crowds in computer graphics. It will cover different aspects that are necessary to achieve plausible crowd behaviors. The book will be a review of the most recent literature in this field that can help professionals and graduate students interested in this field to get up to date with the latest contributions, and open problems for their possible future research. The chapter contributors are well known researchers and practitioners in the field and they include their latest contributions in the different topics required to achieve believable heterogeneous crowd simulation. Provides crowd simulation methodology to populate virtual environments, for video games or any kind of applications that requires believable multi-agent behavior Presents the latest contributions on crowd simulation, animation, planning, rendering and evaluation with detailed algorithms for implementation purposes Includes perspectives of both academic researchers and industrial practitioners with reference to open source solutions and commercial applications, where appropriate

While formal training and communication are a foundational approach to developing employees in the workplace, alternate reality games (ARGs) provide a framework for increased and sustained engagement within business organizations. ARGs are transmedia experiences designed to generate engagement and immersive learning beyond what is achieved in formal and conventional training and communication approaches. Alternate Reality Games: Gamification for Performance leads you through the fundamentals of ARGs. It includes a discussion of what is and is not an ARG, citing examples and identifying business challenges that can be addressed through ARGs. It presents case studies that illustrate the variety of forms that ARGs take and the issues to which they can be applied, such as improving performance and critical communication situations. It also gives guidelines for creating your own ARGs, reviewing the process and technological tools and considerations relevant to their creation. Presenting a thorough examination of the beneficial roles ARGs can play in the business environment as well as methods for creating effective ARGs, Alternate Reality Games: Gamification for Performance is an ideal reference for those approaching or considering ARGs for the first time as well as the training professional or professional game designer. It presents a comprehensive overview of the advantages of applying ARGs to the workplace as well as methods for designing and using them.

Achieving believable motion in animation requires an understanding of physics that most of us missed out on in art school. Although animators often break the laws of physics for comedic or dramatic effect, you need to know which laws you're breaking in order to make it work. And while large studios might be able to spend a lot of time and money testing different approaches or hiring a physics consultant, smaller studios and independent animators have no such luxury. This book takes the mystery out of physics tasks like character motion, light and shadow placement, explosions, ocean movement, and outer space scenes, making it easy to apply realistic physics to your work. Physics concepts are explained in animator's terms, relating concepts specifically to animation movement and appearance. Complex mathematical concepts are broken down into clear steps you can follow to solve animation problems quickly and effectively. Bonus companion website at www.physicsforanimators.com offers additional resources, including examples in movies and games, links to resources, and tips on using physics in your work. Uniting theory and practice, author Michele Bousquet teaches animators how to swiftly and efficiently create scientifically accurate scenes and fix problem spots, and how and when to break the laws of physics. Ideal for everything from classical 2D animation to advanced CG special effects, this book provides animators with solutions that are simple, quick, and powerful.

Gambling is both a multi-billion dollar international industry and a ubiquitous social and cultural phenomenon. It is also undergoing significant change, with new products and technologies, regulatory models, changing public attitudes and the sheer scale of the gambling enterprise necessitating innovative and mixed methodologies that are flexible, responsive and 'agile'. This book seeks to demonstrate that researchers should look beyond the existing disciplinary territory and the dominant paradigm of 'problem gambling' in order to follow those changes across territorial, political, technical, regulatory and conceptual boundaries. The book draws on cutting-edge qualitative work in disciplines including anthropology, history and media studies to explore the production and consumption of risk, risky places, risk technology, the gambling industry, and connections between gambling and other kinds of speculation such as financial derivatives. In doing so it addresses some of the most important issues in contemporary social science, including the challenges of studying deterritorialised social phenomena; globalizing technologies and local markets; regulation as it operates across local, regional and international scales; globalization, and the rise of games, virtual worlds, and social media.

The Architectural Imagination at the Digital Turn asks what it means to speak of a "digital turn" in architecture. It examines how architects at the time engaged with the digital and imagined future modes of practice, and looks at the technological, conceptual and economic phenomena behind this engagement. It argues that the adoption of digital technology in architecture was far from linear but depended on complex factors, from the operative logic of the technology itself to the context in which it was used and the people who interacted with it. Creating a mosaic-like account, the book presents debates, projects and publications that changed how architecture was visualized, fabricated and experienced using digital technology. Spanning the university, new media art institutes, ecologies, architectural bodies, fabrication and the city, it re-evaluates familiar narratives that emphasized formal explorations; instead, the book aims to complicate the "myth" of the digital by presenting a nuanced analysis of the material and social context behind each case study. During the 1990s, architects repurposed software and technological concepts from other disciplines and tested them in a design environment. Some architects were fascinated by its effects, others were more critical. Through its discussion on case studies, places and themes that fundamentally influenced discourse formation in the era, this book offers scholars, researchers and students fresh insights into how architecture can engage with the digital realm today.

Introduces the reader to the technical aspects of real-time visual effects. Built upon a career of over twenty years in the feature film visual effects and the real-time video game industries and tested on graduate and undergraduate students. Explores all real-time visual effects in four categories: in-camera effects, in-material effects, simulations and particles.

This book introduces the basics in game usability and overall game UX mindset and techniques, as well as looking at current industry best practices and trends. Fully updated for its second edition, it includes practical advice on how to include usability in already tight development timelines, and how to advocate for UX and communicate results to higher-ups effectively. The book begins with an introduction to UX strategy considerations for games, and to UX design, before moving on to cover core user research and usability techniques as well as how to fit UX practices into the business process. It provides considerations of player differences and offers strategies for inclusion as well as chapters that give platform and context specific advice. With a wealth of new interviews with industry leaders and contributions from the very best in game UX, the book also includes brand new chapters on: Accessibility Mobile Game Usability Data Science Virtual and Augmented Reality Esports This book will be vital reading for all professional game developers and game UX advocates, as well as those students aspiring to work in game development and game UX.

The Key to Fully Understanding the Basics of a 3D World Prominently used in games, movies, and on television, 3D graphics are tools of creation used to enhance how material and light come together to manipulate objects in 3D space. A game-changer written for the non-technical mind, Essential Skills for 3D Modeling, Rendering, and Animation examines the complexities of 3D computer-generated art, and outlines the basics of how things work and are used in 3D. This text describes the three cornerstones of 3D-modeling, rendering, and animation; focuses on common elements; and provides a full understanding of the foundational concepts involved. Detailing the skills and knowledge needed to become an accomplished 3D artist, it includes step-by-step instruction with ample examples, and allows absolute beginners to move at their own pace. Master Anything You Are Tasked to Model The author incorporates historical information-presenting a contextual understanding of the various techniques and methodologies in their historical place. Each chapter builds on the fundamentals of 3D computer graphics and augments skills based on the concepts, enabling the student to learn both theory and application simultaneously. The book highlights two basic geometry types, polygons and NURBS surfaces, showing the student basic modeling techniques with both. While more techniques are available, an artist can cover any model by grasping these basic techniques. Supplies examples that are specifically taken from Autodesk Maya Contains exercises that are meant to be used in conjunction with the training videos on the website Includes a documented history of computer graphics Essential Skills for 3D Modeling, Rendering, and Animation offers a fundamental understanding of the mechanics of 3D graphics to modelers, animators, texture artists, render artists, game developers, and production artists, as well as educators teaching an undergrad or tech course in 3D animation.

"The King of Independent Animation" has returned with this 10th anniversary edition of Make Toons That Sell Without Selling Out. Delve into the secrets behind creating poignant indie animation without compromising or sacrificing your own ideals and visions. World-renowned animator, author, and Academy Award-nominated Bill Plympton will help guide you in how to make a career in animation. With time-saving techniques, secrets on crafting a good narrative, and more, Plympton will teach you how to breathe life into your own animated films. By studying and deconstructing his lessons from his own works and styles, you too will be able to carve out a career in animation without betraying yourself.

A stunning book exploring the art of Sergio Pablos' animated Christmas original, Klaus. A young, lowly Scandinavian postman named Jesper gets the chance to make his mark when he's tasked with bringing the postal service to a contentious village in the cold north, where he meets a mysterious, white-bearded toymaker named Klaus.

About this book * Gives the reader hands on example-base experience for simulating dynamical models in MATLAB (R)/Simulink (R) and animating them in VRML * More than 150 images describe each step in the model realizations helping readers to understand them visually * Diverse examples and profound problem treatment enable the reader to animate complex dynamical problems m-files, Simulink models, VRML files and jpegs available for download provide full solutions for the end-of-chapter problems Virtual Reality and Animation for MATLAB (R) and Simulink (R) Users demonstrates the simulation and animation of physical systems using the MATLAB (R) Virtual Reality Toolbox (virtual models are created in V-Realm Builder). The book is divided into two parts; the first addresses MATLAB (R) and the second Simulink (R). The presentation is problem-based with each chapter teaching the reader a group of essential principles in the context of a step-by-step solution to a particular issue. Examples of the systems covered include mass-spring-dampers, a crank-slider mechanism and a moving vehicle. The examples are given in ascending level of difficulty and contain MATLAB (R)/Simulink (R) codes deliberately simplified so that readers can focus on: * understanding how to link a 3-d virtual scene to MATLAB (R)/Simulink (R); and * manipulating the 3-d virtual scene in MATLAB (R)/Simulink (R). When studied in sequence, the chapters of this text form a coherent whole enabling the reader to gain a thorough expertise in virtual simulation and animation of dynamical models using MATLAB (R)/Simulink (R). Individual chapters stand on their own, however, so that readers interested in a particular system can concentrate on it easily. Problems are provided in each chapter to give practice in the techniques demonstrated and to extend the range of the systems studied, for example, into the control sphere. Solution code for these problems can be downloaded from insert URL. Whether modeling the dynamics of a simple pendulum, a robot arm or a moving car, animation of a dynamical model can enliven and encourage understanding of mechanical systems and thus contribute to control design. Virtual Reality and Animation for MATLAB (R) and Simulink (R) Users will be instructive and interesting to anyone, researcher or student, working with the dynamics of physical systems. Readers are assumed to have some familiarity with MATLAB (R).

Timing for Animation has been one of the pillars of animation since it was first published in 1981. Now this 40th anniversary edition captures the focus of the original and enhances this new edition with fresh images, techniques, and advice from world-renowned animators. Not only does the text explore timing in traditional animation, but also timing in digital works. Vibrant illustrations and clear directions line the pages to help depict the various methods and procedures to bring your animation to life. Examples include timing for digital production, digital storyboarding in 2D, digital storyboarding in 3D, and the use of After Effects, as well as interactive games, television, animals, and more. Learn how animated scenes should be arranged in relation to each other, how much space should be used, and how long each drawing should be shown for maximum dramatic effect. All you need to breathe life into your animation is at your fingertips with Timing for Animation. Key Features: Fully revised and updated with modern examples and techniques Explores the fundamentals of timing, physics, and animation Perfect for the animation novice and the expert Get straight to the good stuff with simple, no-nonsense instruction on the key techniques like stretch and squash, animated cycles, overlapping, and anticipation. Trying to time weight, mood, and power can make or break an animation-get it right the first time with these tried and tested techniques. Authors Harold Whitaker was a BAFTA-nominated professional animator and educator for 40 years; many of his students number among today's most outstanding animation artists. John Halas, known as "The father of British animation" and formerly of Halas & Batchelor Animation Studio, produced more than 2,000 animation films, including the legendary Animal Farm (1954) and the award-winning Dilemma (1981). He was also the founder and president of the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) and former Chairman of the British Federation of Film Societies. Tom Sito is Professor of Animation at the University of Southern California and has written numerous books and articles on animation. Tom's screen credits include Shrek (2001) and the Disney classics Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994). In 1998, Tom was named by Animation Magazine as one of the 100 Most Important People in Animation.

In this new era of computing, where the iPhone, iPad, Xbox Kinect, and similar devices have changed the way to interact with computers, many questions have risen about how modern input devices can be used for a more intuitive user interaction. Interaction Design for 3D User Interfaces: The World of Modern Input Devices for Research, Applications, and Game Development addresses this paradigm shift by looking at user interfaces from an input perspective. The book is divided into four parts: Theory of input devices and user interfaces, with an emphasis on multi-touch interaction Advanced topics on reducing noise on input devices using Kalman Filters A collection of hands-on approaches that allows the reader to gain experience with some devices A case study examining speech as input Most of the chapters contain exercises that provide practical experience to enhance knowledge of the material in the related chapter. With its hands-on approach and the affordability of the required hardware, this book is an excellent flexible resource for both the novice and the expert in 3D user input device development. Researchers and practitioners will gain a much deeper understanding about user input devices and user interfaces. Game developers and software designers will find new techniques to improve their products by adding intuitive user interaction mechanisms to their games and applications. In addition to the resources provided in the book, its companion website, http://3DInputBook.com, provides additional resources, which include: additional exercises and project ideas, additional chapters, source code, and class instructors' resources. The additional resources are provided to keep helping you with new research and new technology as it becomes available to help you stay up to date.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. Gambling is both a multi-billion-dollar international industry and a ubiquitous social and cultural phenomenon. It is also undergoing significant change, with new products and technologies, regulatory models, changing public attitudes and the sheer scale of the gambling enterprise necessitating innovative and mixed methodologies that are flexible, responsive and 'agile'. This book seeks to demonstrate that researchers should look beyond the existing disciplinary territory and the dominant paradigm of 'problem gambling' in order to follow those changes across territorial, political, technical, regulatory and conceptual boundaries. The book draws on cutting-edge qualitative work in disciplines including geography, organisational studies, sociology, East Asian studies and anthropology to explore the production and consumption of risk, risky places, risk technologies, the gambling industry and connections between gambling and other kinds of speculation such as financial derivatives. In doing so it addresses some of the most important issues in contemporary social science, including: the challenges of studying deterritorialised social phenomena; globalising technologies and local markets; regulation as it operates across local, regional and international scales; and the rise of games, virtual worlds and social media.

Understanding Game Scoring explores the unique collaboration between gameplay and composition that defines musical scoring for video games. Using an array of case studies reaching back into the canon of classic video games, this book illuminates the musical flexibility, user interactivity and sound programming that make game scoring so different from traditional modes of composition. Mack Enns explores the collaboration between game scorers and players to produce the final score for a game, through case studies of the Nintendo Entertainment System sound hardware configuration, and game scores, including the canonic scores for Super Mario Bros. (1985) and The Legend of Zelda (1986). This book is recommended reading for students and researchers interested in the composition and production of video game scores, as well as those interested in ludo-musicology.

1. Provides a toolkit of templates for common VR interactions, as well as practical advice on when to use them and how to tailor them for specific use cases; 2. Includes case studies detailing the practical application of interaction theory discussed in each chapter; 3. Presents tables of guidelines for practicing VR developers, for reference during software development; 4. Covers procedures for Interface Evaluation - formulas and testing methodologies to ensure that VR interfaces are effective, efficient, engaging, error-tolerant, and easy to learn; 5. Non-linear organisation - chapters of the book on different concepts can be read to gain knowledge on a single topic, without requiring other chapters to be read beforehand; 6. Includes ancillaries - PowerPoint slides, 3D models, videos, and a teacher's guide

This book offers a comprehensive and detailed guide to accomplishing and perfecting a photorealistic look in digital content across visual effects, architectural and product visualization, and games. Emmy award-winning VFX supervisor Eran Dinur offers readers a deeper understanding of the complex interplay of light, surfaces, atmospherics, and optical effects, and then discusses techniques to achieve this complexity in the digital realm, covering both 3D and 2D methodologies. In addition, the book features artwork, case studies, and interviews with leading artists in the fields of VFX, visualization, and games. Exploring color, integration, light and surface behaviour, atmospherics, shading, texturing, physically-based rendering, procedural modelling, compositing, matte painting, lens/camera effects, and much more, Dinur offers a compelling, elegant guide to achieving photorealism in digital media and creating imagery that is seamless from real footage. Its broad perspective makes this detailed guide suitable for VFX, visualization and game artists and students, as well as directors, architects, designers, and anyone who strives to achieve convincing, believable visuals in digital media.

This book explores the effects of the Instagram platform on the making and viewing of art. Authors Lachlan MacDowall and Kylie Budge critically analyse the ways Instagram has influenced artists, art spaces, art institutions and art audiences, and ultimately contemporary aesthetic experience. The book argues that more than simply being a container for digital photography, the architecture of Instagram represents a new relationship to the image and to visual experience, a way of shaping ocular habits and social relations. Following a detailed analysis of the structure of Instagram - the tactile world of affiliation ('follows'), aesthetics ('likes') and attention ('comments') - the book examines how art spaces, audiences and aesthetics are key to understanding its rise. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, design, digital culture, cultural studies, sociology, education, business, media and communication studies.

o Continuing the a series of books that focus entirely on a singular game design system or mechanic o A perfect read for anyone interested in understanding game design, or just curious from a historical standpoint o The series has potential to keep growing looking at a multitude of topics

Game Dev Stories: Interviews About Game Development and Culture Volumes 1 and 2 are a collection of interviews from renowned author David L. Craddock as he explores all corners of the video game industry. Collected from the author's archives, Game Dev Stories gathers conversations with individuals from all corners of the industry: Who they are, the paths they paved, and their contributions to this multibillion-dollar industry. This text offers viewpoints from well-known individuals like John Romero, Tom Hall, and Matt Householder. From artists and writers to programmers and designers, Game Dev Stories offers amazing insights and understanding to what occurs behind the screens of your favorite games and may help inspire future game developers in pursuing their dreams.