Collection of interventions on the status of the moving image in an age of advanced simulation, exploring the contemporary links between power, simulation, and warfare. This collection of wide-ranging interventions and discussions on the status of the moving image in an age of advanced simulation explores the contemporary links between power, simulation, and warfare. Today, technological simulation has become an integral part of military training and operations; and at the same time, media spectacle-often enabled by the same technologies-has become integrated with military power. Trained in virtual environments, army personnel are increasingly enhanced by augmented reality technologies that bring combat into conformity with its simulation. Equally, the seductions of media and entertainment have become crucial weapons for "information dominance." At the same time as the infosphere demands that war takes on the properties of a game, hyper-realistic videogames evolved from military technology become a kind of virtual distributed training camp, as the lines between simulation and action, combatant and civilian, become blurred. Based on a round table discussion prompted by the work of artist John Gerrard, Simulation, Exercise, Operations assembles thinkers from philosophy, media, and military theory to examine the powers of simulation in the contemporary world.

Learn the art of making Android games and turn your game development dreams into reality About This Book * Leverage the latest features of Android N to create real-world 2D games * Architect a 2D game from scratch and level up your Android game development skill * Transition from developing simple 2D games to 3D games using basic Java code Who This Book Is For If you are a mobile developer who has basic Java programming knowledge, then this book is ideal for you. Previous Android development experience is not needed; however, basic mobile development knowledge is essential. What You Will Learn * Understand the nuts and bolts of developing highly interactive and interesting games for Android N * Link the interface to the code used in games through simple methods * Interact with the images on the screen and also learn to animate them * Set and save the game state and save high scores, hit points, and so on for your games * Get a grasp of various collision techniques and implement the bounding box technique * Convert your 2D games to 3D games using Android N * Get an understanding of the process of UI creation using Android Studio In Detail In this book, we'll start with installing Android studio and its components, and setting it up ready for Android N. We teach you how to take inputs from users, create images and interact with them, and work with sprites to create animations. You'll then explore the various collision detection methods and use sprites to create an explosion. Moving on, you'll go through the process of UI creation and see how to create buttons as well as display the score and other parameters on screen. By the end of the book, you will have a working example and an understanding of a 2D platform game like Super Mario and know how to convert your 2D games to 3D games. Style and approach This easy-to-understand guide follows a step-by-step approach to building games, and contains plenty of graphical examples for you to follow and grasp quickly, giving you the chance to implement the concepts practically.

Create enthralling Android games with Unity Faster Than Ever Before About This Book * Develop complex Android games with the help of Unity's advanced features such as artificial intelligence, high-end physics, and GUI transformations. * Create amazing Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) with Unity's new uGUI system * Unravel and deploy exciting games across Android devices Who This Book Is For If you are a Unity 5 developer and want to expand your knowledge of Unity 5 to create high-end complex Android games, then this book is for you. Readers are expected to have a basic understanding of Unity 5, working with its environment, and its basic concepts. What You Will Learn * Develop your own Jetpack Joyride clone game * Explore the advanced features of Unity 5 by building your own Action Fighting game * Develop remarkable Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) with Unity's new uGUI system * Enhance your game by adding stunning particle systems and complex animations * Build pleasing virtual worlds with special effects, lights, sky cube maps, and cameras * Make your game more realistic by providing music and sound effects * Debug and deploy your games on different Android devices In Detail Game engines such as Unity are the power-tools behind the games we know and love. Unity is one of the most widely-used and best loved packages for game development and is used by everyone, from hobbyists to large studios, to create games and interactive experiences for the Web, desktop, mobile, and console. With Unity's intuitive, easy-to-learn toolset and this book, it's never been easier to become a game developer. You will begin with the basic concepts of Android game development, a brief history of Android games, the building blocks of Android games in Unity 5, and the basic flow of games. You will configure an empty project for the Jetpack Joyride Clone Game, add an environment and characters, and control them. Next you will walk through topics such as particle systems, camera management, prefabs, animations, triggers, colliders, and basic GUI systems. You will then cover the basic setup for 3D action fighting games, importing models, textures and controlling them with a virtual on-screen joystick. Later you will set up Scene for 3D Configuration, create basic gameplays, and manage input controls. Next you will learn to create the interface for the main menu, gameplay, game over, achievements, and high score screens. Finally you will polish your game with stats, sounds, and Social Networking, followed by testing the game on Android devices and then publishing it on Google Play, Amazon, and OUYA Stores. Style and approach A step-by-step and detailed guide to developing high-end complex Android games utilizing the advanced concepts of Unity.

Utilize proven solutions to solve common problems in game development About This Book * Untangle your game development workflow, make cleaner code, and create structurally solid games * Implement key programming patterns that will enable you to make efficient AI and remove duplication * Optimize your game using memory management techniques Who This Book Is For If you are a game developer who wants to solve commonly-encountered issues or have some way to communicate to other developers in a standardized format, then this book is for you. Knowledge of basic game programming principles and C++ programming is assumed. What You Will Learn * Learn what design patterns are and why you would want to use them * Reduce the maintenance burden with well-tested, cleaner code * Employ the singleton pattern effectively to reduce your compiler workload * Use the factory pattern to help you create different objects with the same creation logic and reduce coding time * Improve game performance with Object Pools * Allow game play to interact with physics or graphics in an abstract way * Refractor your code to remove common code smells In Detail You've learned how to program, and you've probably created some simple games at some point, but now you want to build larger projects and find out how to resolve your problems. So instead of a coder, you might now want to think like a game developer or software engineer. To organize your code well, you need certain tools to do so, and that's what this book is all about. You will learn techniques to code quickly and correctly, while ensuring your code is modular and easily understandable. To begin, we will start with the core game programming patterns, but not the usual way. We will take the use case strategy with this book. We will take an AAA standard game and show you the hurdles at multiple stages of development. Similarly, various use cases are used to showcase other patterns such as the adapter pattern, prototype pattern, flyweight pattern, and observer pattern. Lastly, we'll go over some tips and tricks on how to refactor your code to remove common code smells and make it easier for others to work with you. By the end of the book you will be proficient in using the most popular and frequently used patterns with the best practices. Style and approach This book takes a step-by-step real-life case studies approach. Every pattern is first explained using a bottleneck. We will show you a problem in your everyday workflow, and then introduce you to the pattern, and show you how the pattern will resolve the situation.

Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python will teach you how to make computer games using the popular Python programming language even if you ve never programmed before! Begin by building classic games like Hangman, Guess the Number, and Tic-Tac-Toe, and then work your way up to more advanced games, like a text-based treasure hunting game and an animated collision-dodging game with sound effects. Along the way, you ll learn key programming and math concepts that will help you take your game programming to the next level. Learn how to: Combine loops, variables, and flow control statements into real working programs Choose the right data structures for the job, such as lists, dictionaries, and tuples Add graphics and animation to your games with the pygame module Handle keyboard and mouse input Program simple artificial intelligence so you can play against the computer Use cryptography to convert text messages into secret code Debug your programs and find common errors As you wo

Master a series of performance-enhancing coding techniques and methods that help them improve the performance of their Unity3D applications About This Book * Discover features and techniques to optimize Unity Engine's CPU cycles, memory usage, and the GPU throughput of any application * Explore multiple techniques to solve performance issues with your VR projects * Learn the best practices for project organization to save time through an improved workflow Who This Book Is For This book is intended for intermediate and advanced Unity developers who have experience with most of Unity's feature-set, and who want to maximize the performance of their game. Familiarity with the C# language will be needed. What You Will Learn * Use the Unity Profiler to find bottlenecks anywhere in your application, and discover how to resolve them * Implement best practices for C# scripting to avoid common pitfalls * Develop a solid understanding of the rendering pipeline, and maximize its performance by reducing draw calls and avoiding fill rate bottlenecks * Enhance shaders in a way that is accessible to most developers, optimizing them through subtle yet effective performance tweaks * Keep your scenes as dynamic as possible by making the most of the Physics engine * Organize, filter, and compress your art assets to maximize performance while maintaining high quality * Discover different kinds of performance problems that are critical for VR projects and how to tackle them * Use the Mono Framework and C# to implement low-level enhancements that maximize memory usage and avoid garbage collection * Get to know the best practices for project organization to save time through an improved workflow In Detail Unity is an awesome game development engine. Through its massive feature-set and ease-of-use, Unity helps put some of the best processing and rendering technology in the hands of hobbyists and professionals alike. This book shows you how to make your games fly with the recent version of Unity 2017, and demonstrates that high performance does not need to be limited to games with the biggest teams and budgets. Since nothing turns gamers away from a game faster than a poor user-experience, the book starts by explaining how to use the Unity Profiler to detect problems. You will learn how to use stopwatches, timers and logging methods to diagnose the problem. You will then explore techniques to improve performance through better programming practices. Moving on, you will then learn about Unity's built-in batching processes; when they can be used to improve performance, and their limitations. Next, you will import your art assets using minimal space, CPU and memory at runtime, and discover some underused features and approaches for managing asset data. You will also improve graphics, particle system and shader performance with a series of tips and tricks to make the most of GPU parallel processing. You will then delve into the fundamental layers of the Unity3D engine to discuss some issues that may be difficult to understand without a strong knowledge of its inner-workings. The book also introduces you to the critical performance problems for VR projects and how to tackle them. By the end of the book, you will have learned to improve the development workflow by properly organizing assets and ways to instantiate assets as quickly and waste-free as possible via object pooling. Style and approach This practical book will help readers understand the essentials of the Unity3D engine and how to build games while improving the performance of their applications.

Learn how to use Unity 2018 by creating your very own 3D game while developing your essential skills Key Features Learn to create immersive 3D games and Virtual Reality experiences with Unity 2018 Build custom scripts to make your game characters interactive Explore and implement AritificiaI Intelligence techniques to bring your game to life Book Description The Unity game engine has revolutionized the gaming industry with its complete set of intuitive tools and rapid workflows, which can be used to create interactive 3D content. With Unity, you can scaffold your way from the basics and make make stunning interactive games. This book will guide you through the entire process of creating a 3D game, from downloading the Unity game engine to publishing your game. It not only gives you a strong foundation, but puts you on the path to game development. Beginning with an overview of the Unity engine and its interface, you will walk through the process of creating a game environment and learn how to use built-in assets, as well as assets created with third-party 3D modeling tools such as Blender. Moving on, you will create custom scripts to control non-player character behaviors and gameplay. You will master exciting concepts such as Heads-Up-Displays, mini-maps, game navigation, sound effects, and lighting effects. Next, you'll learn how to create your first VR experience, right from setting up the project to image effects. You'll be familiarized with all the tools that Unity has to offer to create your own immersive VR experiences. Each section is a stepping stone toward the completion of the final game. By the end of the book, you'll have learned advanced topics such as cross-platform considerations which enable your games to run on multiple platforms. What you will learn Set up your Unity development environment and navigate its tools Import and use custom assets and asset packages to add characters to your game Build a 3D game world with a custom terrain, water, sky, mountains, and trees Animate game characters, using animation controllers, and scripting Apply audio and particle effects to the game Create intuitive game menus and interface elements Customize your game with sound effects, shadows, lighting effects, and rendering options Debug code and provide smooth error handling Who this book is forIf you are an aspiring game developer interested in learning Unity 2018 and becoming familiar with its core features, then this book is for you. No prior knowledge of Unity is required.