A comprehensive, practical guide to composing video game music, from acquiring the necessary skills to finding work in the field. Music in video games is often a sophisticated, complex composition that serves to engage the player, set the pace of play, and aid interactivity. Composers of video game music must master an array of specialized skills not taught in the conservatory, including the creation of linear loops, music chunks for horizontal resequencing, and compositional fragments for use within a generative framework. In A Composer's Guide to Game Music, Winifred Phillips-herself an award-winning composer of video game music-provides a comprehensive, practical guide that leads an aspiring video game composer from acquiring the necessary creative skills to understanding the function of music in games to finding work in the field. Musicians and composers may be drawn to game music composition because the game industry is a multibillion-dollar, employment-generating economic powerhouse, but, Phillips writes, the most important qualification for a musician who wants to become a game music composer is a love of video games. Phillips offers detailed coverage of essential topics, including musicianship and composition experience; immersion; musical themes; music and game genres; workflow; working with a development team; linear music; interactive music, both rendered and generative; audio technology, from mixers and preamps to software; and running a business. A Composer's Guide to Game Music offers indispensable guidance for musicians and composers who want to deploy their creativity in a dynamic and growing industry, protect their musical identities while working in a highly technical field, and create great music within the constraints of a new medium.

Although gaming was once primarily used for personal entertainment, video games and other similar technologies are now being utilized across various disciplines such as education and engineering. As digital technologies become more integral to everyday life, it is imperative to explore the underlying effects they have on society and within these fields. Exploring the Cognitive, Social, Cultural, and Psychological Aspects of Gaming and Simulations provides emerging research on the societal and mental aspects of gaming and how video games impact different parts of an individual's life. While highlighting the positive, important results of gaming in various disciplines, readers will learn how video games can be used in areas such as calculus, therapy, and professional development. This book is an important resource for engineers, graduate-level students, psychologists, game designers, educators, sociologists, and academics seeking current information on the effects of gaming and computer simulations across different industries.

Publisher's note: This edition from 2019 is based on Unreal Engine 4 and does not make use of the most recent Unreal Engine features. A new third edition, updated for Unreal Engine 5 blueprints including new topics, such as implementing procedural generation and creating a product configurator, has now been published. Key Features Design a fully functional game in UE4 without writing a single line of code Implement visual scripting to develop gameplay mechanics, UI, visual effects, VR and artificial intelligence Deploy your game on multiple platforms and share it with the world Book DescriptionBlueprints is the visual scripting system in Unreal Engine that enables programmers to create baseline systems and can be extended by designers. This book helps you explore all the features of the Blueprint Editor and guides you through using Variables, Macros, and Functions. You'll also learn about object-oriented programming (OOP) and discover the Gameplay Framework. In addition to this, you'll learn how Blueprint Communication allows one Blueprint to access information from another Blueprint. Later chapters will focus on building a fully functional game using a step-by-step approach. You'll start with a basic first-person shooter (FPS) template, and each chapter will build on the prototype to create an increasingly complex and robust game experience. You'll then progress from creating basic shooting mechanics to more complex systems, such as user interface elements and intelligent enemy behavior. The skills you will develop using Blueprints can also be employed in other gaming genres. In the concluding chapters, the book demonstrates how to use arrays, maps, enums, and vector operations. Finally, you'll learn how to build a basic VR game. By the end of this book, you'll have learned how to build a fully functional game and will have the skills required to develop an entertaining experience for your audience. What you will learn Understand programming concepts in Blueprints Create prototypes and iterate new game mechanics rapidly Build user interface elements and interactive menus Use advanced Blueprint nodes to manage the complexity of a game Explore all the features of the Blueprint editor, such as the Components tab, Viewport, and Event Graph Get to grips with object-oriented programming (OOP) concepts and explore the Gameplay Framework Learn Virtual Reality development with UE Blueprint Who this book is forThis book is for anyone who is interested in developing games or applications with UE4. Although basic knowledge of Windows OS is required, experience in programming or UE4 is not necessary.

Make your WebAssembly journey fun while making a game with it Key Features Create a WebAssembly game that implements sprites, animations, physics, particle systems, and other game development fundamentals Get to grips with advanced game mechanics in WebAssembly Learn to use WebAssembly and WebGL to render to the HTML5 canvas element Book DescriptionWithin the next few years, WebAssembly will change the web as we know it. It promises a world where you can write an application for the web in any language, and compile it for native platforms as well as the web. This book is designed to introduce web developers and game developers to the world of WebAssembly by walking through the development of a retro arcade game. You will learn how to build a WebAssembly application using C++, Emscripten, JavaScript, WebGL, SDL, and HTML5. This book covers a lot of ground in both game development and web application development. When creating a game or application that targets WebAssembly, developers need to learn a plethora of skills and tools. This book is a sample platter of those tools and skills. It covers topics including Emscripten, C/C++, WebGL, OpenGL, JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS. The reader will also learn basic techniques for game development, including 2D sprite animation, particle systems, 2D camera design, sound effects, 2D game physics, user interface design, shaders, debugging, and optimization. By the end of the book, you will be able to create simple web games and web applications targeting WebAssembly. What you will learn Build web applications with near-native performance using WebAssembly Become familiar with how web applications can be used to create games using HTML5 Canvas, WebGL, and SDL Become well versed with game development concepts such as sprites, animation, particle systems, AI, physics, camera design, sound effects, and shaders Deploy C/C++ applications to the browser using WebAssembly and Emscripten Understand how Emscripten HTML shell templates, JavaScript glue code, and a WebAssembly module interact Debug and performance tune your WebAssembly application Who this book is forWeb developers and game developers interested in creating applications for the web using WebAssembly. Game developers interested in deploying their games to the web Web developers interested in creating applications that are potentially orders of magnitude faster than their existing JavaScript web apps C/C++ developers interested in using their existing skills to deploy applications to the web

Learn how to use Unreal Engine 4 by building 3D and multiplayer games using Blueprints Key Features Learn the fundamentals of Unreal Engine such as project templates, Blueprints, and C++ Learn to design games; use UMG to create menus and HUDs, and replication to create multiplayer games Build dynamic game elements using Animation Blueprints and Behavior Trees Book DescriptionUnreal Engine is a popular game engine for developers to build high-end 2D and 3D games. This book is a practical guide, starting off by quickly introducing you to the Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) ecosystem. You will learn how to create Blueprints and C++ code to define your game's functionality. You will be familiarized with the core systems of UE4 such as UMG, Animation Blueprints, and Behavior Trees. You will also learn how to use replication to create multiplayer games. By the end of this book, you will have a broad, solid knowledge base to expand upon on your journey with UE4. What you will learn Use project templates to give your game a head start Create custom Blueprints and C++ classes and extend from Epic's base classes Use UMG to create menus and HUDs for your game Create more dynamic characters using Animation Blueprints Learn how to create complex AI with Behavior Trees Use replication to create multiplayer games Optimize, test, and deploy a UE4 project Who this book is forReaders who already have some game development experience and Unity users who would like to try UE4 will all benefit from this book. Knowledge of basic Object-Oriented Programming topics such as variables, functions, and classes is assumed.