Learn animation programming from first principles and implement modern animation techniques that can be integrated into any game development workflow Key Features Build a functional and production-ready modern animation system with complete features using C++ Learn basic, advanced, and skinned animation programming with this step-by-step guide Discover the math required to implement cutting edge animation techniques such as inverse kinematics and dual quaternions Book DescriptionAnimation is one of the most important parts of any game. Modern animation systems work directly with track-driven animation and provide support for advanced techniques such as inverse kinematics (IK), blend trees, and dual quaternion skinning. This book will walk you through everything you need to get an optimized, production-ready animation system up and running, and contains all the code required to build the animation system. You'll start by learning the basic principles, and then delve into the core topics of animation programming by building a curve-based skinned animation system. You'll implement different skinning techniques and explore advanced animation topics such as IK, animation blending, dual quaternion skinning, and crowd rendering. The animation system you will build following this book can be easily integrated into your next game development project. The book is intended to be read from start to finish, although each chapter is self-contained and can be read independently as well. By the end of this book, you'll have implemented a modern animation system and got to grips with optimization concepts and advanced animation techniques. What you will learn Get the hang of 3D vectors, matrices, and transforms, and their use in game development Discover various techniques to smoothly blend animations Get to grips with GLTF file format and its design decisions and data structures Design an animation system by using animation tracks and implementing skinning Optimize various aspects of animation systems such as skinned meshes, clip sampling, and pose palettes Implement the IK technique for your game characters using CCD and FABRIK solvers Understand dual quaternion skinning and how to render large instanced crowds Who this book is forThis book is for professional, independent, and hobbyist developers interested in building a robust animation system from the ground up. Some knowledge of the C++ programming language will be helpful.

Digital Playgrounds explores the key developments, trends, debates, and controversies that have shaped children's commercial digital play spaces over the past two decades. It argues that children's online playgrounds, virtual worlds, and connected games are much more than mere sources of fun and diversion - they serve as the sites of complex negotiations of power between children, parents, developers, politicians, and other actors with a stake in determining what, how, and where children's play unfolds. Through an innovative, transdisciplinary framework combining science and technology studies, critical communication studies, and children's cultural studies, Digital Playgrounds focuses on the contents and contexts of actual technological artefacts as a necessary entry point for understanding the meanings and politics of children's digital play. The discussion draws on several research studies on a wide range of digital playgrounds designed and marketed to children aged six to twelve years, revealing how various problematic tendencies prevent most digital play spaces from effectively supporting children's culture, rights, and - ironically - play. Digital Playgrounds lays the groundwork for a critical reconsideration of how existing approaches might be used in the development of new regulation, as well as best practices for the industries involved in making children's digital play spaces. In so doing, it argues that children's online play spaces be reimagined as a crucial new form of public sphere in which children's rights and digital citizenship must be prioritized.

Solve your programming woes in Unity with practical design propositions Key Features Gain a comprehensive overview of Unity engine architecture and coding model Build a complete racing game using software design patterns and understand how to implement them in Unity Download the source code of the complete prototype demonstrating each of the software patterns used Book DescriptionThis book is written for every game developer ready to tackle the bigger picture and start working with advanced programming techniques and design patterns in Unity. Game Development Patterns with Unity 2021 is an introduction to the core principles of reusable software patterns and how to employ them to build components efficiently. In this second edition, you'll tackle design patterns with the help of a practical example; a playable racing game prototype where you'll get to apply all your newfound knowledge. Notable updates also include a game design document (GDD), a Unity programming primer, and the downloadable source code of a complete prototype. Your journey will start by learning about overall design of the core game mechanics and systems. You'll discover tried-and-tested software patterns to code essential components of a game in a structured manner, and start using classic design patterns to utilize Unity's unique API features. As you progress, you'll also identify the negative impacts of bad architectural decisions and understand how to overcome them with simple but effective practices. By the end of this Unity book, the way you develop Unity games will change - you'll adapt a more structured, scalable, and optimized process that will help you take the next step in your career. What you will learn Structure professional Unity code using industry-standard development patterns Identify the right patterns for implementing specific game mechanics or features Develop configurable core game mechanics and ingredients that can be modified without writing a single line of code Review practical object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques and learn how they're used in the context of a Unity project Build unique game development systems such as a level editor Explore ways to adapt traditional design patterns for use with the Unity API Who this book is forThis book is for Unity game developers who want to learn industry standards for building Unity games. Knowledge of the Unity game engine and programming in the C# language is a must, so if you're a beginner, try our Learning C# by Developing Games with Unity 2021 handbook instead.