All games are potentially transformative experiences because they engage the player in dynamic action. When repurposed in an educational context, even highly popular casual games played online to pass the time can engage players in a way that deepens learning. Games as Transformative Experiences for Critical Thinking, Cultural Awareness, and Deep Learning: Strategies & Resources examines the learning value of a wide variety of games across multiple disciplines. Organized just like a well-made game, the book is divided into four parts highlighting classroom experiences, community and culture, virtual learning, and interdisciplinary instruction. The author crosses between the high school and college classroom and addresses a range of disciplines, both online and classroom practice, the design of curriculum, and the transformation of assessment practices. In addition to a wealth of practical exercises, resources, and lesson ideas, the book explains how to use a wide and diverse range of games from casual to massively multiplayer online games for self-improvement as well as classroom situations.

Do demons and devils have free will? Does justice exist in Menzoberranzan? What's the morality involved with player characters casting necromancy and summoning spells?

"Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy" probes the rich terrain of philosophically compelling concepts and ideas that underlie "Dungeons & Dragons," the legendary fantasy role-playing game that grew into a world-wide cultural phenomenon. A series of accessible essays reveals what the imaginary worlds of "D&D" can teach us about ethics, morality, metaphysics and more.Illustrates a wide variety of philosophical concepts and ideas that arise in "Dungeons & Dragons" gameplay and presents them in an accessible and entertaining mannerReveals how the strategies, tactics, improvisations, and role-play employed by "D&D" enthusiasts have startling parallels in the real world of philosophyExplores a wide range of philosophical topics, including the nature of free will, the metaphysics of personal identity, the morality of crafting fictions, sex and gender issues in tabletop gameplay, and friendship and collaborative storytellingProvides gamers with deep philosophical insights that can lead to a richer appreciation of "D&D" and any gaming experience

This textbook is about systematic problem solving and systematic reasoning using type-driven design. There are two problem solving techniques that are emphasized throughout the book: divide and conquer and iterative refinement. Divide and conquer is the process by which a large problem is broken into two or more smaller problems that are easier to solve and then the solutions for the smaller pieces are combined to create an answer to the problem. Iterative refinement is the process by which a solution to a problem is gradually made better-like the drafts of an essay. Mastering these techniques are essential to becoming a good problem solver and programmer. The book is divided in five parts. Part I focuses on the basics. It starts with how to write expressions and subsequently leads to decision making and functions as the basis for problem solving. Part II then introduces compound data of finite size, while Part III covers compound data of arbitrary size like e.g. lists, intervals, natural numbers, and binary trees. It also introduces structural recursion, a powerful data-processing strategy that uses divide and conquer to process data whose size is not fixed. Next, Part IV delves into abstraction and shows how to eliminate repetitions in solutions to problems. It also introduces generic programming which is abstraction over the type of data processed. This leads to the realization that functions are data and, perhaps more surprising, that data are functions, which in turn naturally leads to object-oriented programming. Part V introduces distributed programming, i.e., using multiple computers to solve a problem. This book promises that by the end of it readers will have designed and implemented a multiplayer video game that they can play with their friends over the internet. To achieve this, however, there is a lot about problem solving and programming that must be learned first. The game is developed using iterative refinement. The reader learns step-by-step about programming and how to apply new knowledge to develop increasingly better versions of the video game. This way, readers practice modern trends that are likely to be common throughout a professional career and beyond.

Direct3D 11 offers such a wealth of capabilities that users can sometimes get lost in the details of specific APIs and their implementation. While there is a great deal of low-level information available about how each API function should be used, there is little documentation that shows how best to leverage these capabilities. Written by active members of the Direct3D community, Practical Rendering and Computation with Direct3D 11 provides a deep understanding of both the high and low level concepts related to using Direct3D 11. The first part of the book presents a conceptual introduction to Direct3D 11, including an overview of the Direct3D 11 rendering and computation pipelines and how they map to the underlying hardware. It also provides a detailed look at all of the major components of the library, covering resources, pipeline details, and multithreaded rendering. Building upon this material, the second part of the text includes detailed examples of how to use Direct3D 11 in common rendering scenarios. The authors describe sample algorithms in-depth and discuss how the features of Direct3D 11 can be used to your advantage. All of the source code from the book is accessible on an actively maintained open source rendering framework. The sample applications and the framework itself can be downloaded from http://hieroglyph3.codeplex.com By analyzing when to use various tools and the tradeoffs between different implementations, this book helps you understand the best way to accomplish a given task and thereby fully leverage the potential capabilities of Direct3D 11. Key Features Presents the high level concepts used to design algorithms Describes the nuts and bolts of how to implement the algorithms Explains each of the major components of the Direct3D 11 library Shows how Direct3D 11 can be used in a variety of real-world situations Provides source code and sample programs on a supplementary website

In this enthralling original graphic novel, meet the Pandaren, one of the most beloved (and mysterious) races in World of Warcraft! Li Li Stormstout, a precocious young student, lives atop a giant turtle. Li Li comes from a line of adventurers who left their homeland long ago to explore the world... But when Li Li runs away to find her famous uncle Chen, how will she survive Azeroth's perils?

This book looks at the two most popular ways of using Java SE 6 to write 3D games on PCs: Java 3D (a high-level scene graph API) and JOGL (a Java layer over OpenGL).

Written by Java gaming expert, Andrew Davison, this book will be first Java game book to market that uses the new Java (SE) 6 platform and its features including splash screens, scripting, and the desktop tray interface.

This will be first and maybe only book to market that covers Java game development using the Java 3D API and Java for OpenGL, both critical components and libraries to Java-based 3D game application development.

Amid the restless evil of Sanctuary, only the Horadrim-an ancient order of heroes and scholars-wield the knowledge needed to light the way for humanity. In the Book of Lorath, join Lorath Nahr, one of the last of the dwindling Horadrim, on a journey through Sanctuary's most powerful relics and the stories behind them. It is Lorath's hope that this volume will preserve his knowledge for all time . . . and pass it down to those who will inherit the fight against the Prime Evils. Direct from the Diablo (R) development team and award-winning author Matthew J. Kirby, this immersive, must-have compendium with all-new illustrations showcases the artifacts that have often been-and might yet be-the key to tipping the fate of the world.

This book provides an understanding of the impact of delay on cloud gaming Quality of Experience (QoE) and proposes techniques to compensate for this impact, leading to a better gaming experience when there are network delays. The author studies why some games in the cloud are more delay sensitive than others by identifying game characteristics influencing a user's delay perception and predicting the gaming QoE degraded by the delay. The author also investigates the impact of jitter and serial-position effects on gaming QoE and delay. Using the insight gained, the author presents delay compensation techniques that can mitigate the negative influence of delay on gaming QoE that use the game characteristics to adapt the games.

The Art of Game Design guides you through the design process step-by-step, helping you to develop new and innovative games that will be played again and again. It explains the fundamental principles of game design and demonstrates how tactics used in classic board, card and athletic games also work in top-quality video games. Good game design happens when you view your game from as many perspectives as possible, and award-winning author Jesse Schell presents over 100 sets of questions to ask yourself as you build, play and change your game until you finalise your design. This latest third edition includes examples from new VR and AR platforms as well as from modern games such as Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us, Free to Play games, hybrid games, transformational games, and more. Whatever your role in video game development an understanding of the principles of game design will make you better at what you do. For over 10 years this book has provided inspiration and guidance to budding and experienced game designers - helping to make better games faster.

Featuring stunning concept art and visual details, this is the second volume of artwork of Blizzard's Hearthstone game. Something stirs in the dark... The second volume of The Art of Hearthstone dives deep into the depths of the Year of the Kraken, the first year of Hearthstone's standard format. Consisting of hundreds of illustrations from the corruptive cults of Whispers of the Old Gods, the glamourous disco of One Night in Karazhan, and the turf wars of Means Streets of Gadgetzan, this book goes into detail about the Hearthstone team's artistic process for card art, game boards, and other visual designs, while also exploring the challenges and triumphs of creating a game enjoyed by millions upon millions of players around the globe.

This stunning book explores the rich mythology of Assassin's Creed, featuring the art and history of the series from the first groundbreaking game through the graphic novels to the DLCs. Highlighting the lush and vibrant art that has become a hallmark of the series, this luxury coffee-table book brings the game's famous historical locations and figures to life and explores the evolution of each iconic Assassin and Templar.

Master the art of building in Minecraft Minecraft is a sandbox game where anything is possible! With over 600 blocks to choose from, getting started can feel overwhelming. This Creative Handbook will give you all the tools you need to become an expert builder. Whether it's choosing your blocks or decorating your build, this book is packed with expert advice, top tips and advanced tricks to take your construction skills to the next level. Read how to plan builds, create colour palettes, use effective lighting and much more. This book also features advice from pro build teams and YouTubers, and includes step-by-step builds to complete in-game. With so much to explore, there's sure to be something for 'crafters of every level.

The Art of Ni no Kuni (TM)II: REVENANT KINGDOM is a lavish full-color book showcasing the best art from the highly anticipated roleplaying game. Developed by Level-5 and with collaboration from legendary Studio Ghibli animator Yoshiyuki Momose, Ni no Kuni (TM)II: REVENANT KINGDOM is a beautiful, characterful and exciting game. This book is the ultimate fan resource, showcasing the development of the amazing characters, monsters, vehicles and locations from initial concept sketches through to the finished artworks.

Like all other forms of modern media, video games impact society and human behavior in often surprising ways. Understanding the growing effect of digital entertainment on twenty-first century culture is critical to anticipating the future of social interactions. Cases on the Societal Effects of Persuasive Games investigates the connection between multimedia technologies and game-based learning for an improved understanding of the impact and effectiveness of serious games in modern societies. With examples from the fields of education, business, healthcare, and more, this book serves as a crucial reference source for researchers, educators, developers, and students in higher and continuing education.

Game Audio Fundamentals takes the reader on a journey through game audio design: from analog and digital audio basics, to the art and execution of sound effects, soundtracks, and voice production, as well as learning how to make sense of a truly effective soundscape. Presuming no pre-existing knowledge, this accessible guide is accompanied by online resources - including practical examples and incremental DAW exercises - and presents the theory and practice of game audio in detail, and in a format anyone can understand. This is essential reading for any aspiring game audio designer, as well as students and professionals from a range of backgrounds, including music, audio engineering, and game design.

What happens when a group of people see things that others do not and begin acting accordingly? The Augmented Reality of Pokemon GO: Chronotopes, Moral Panic, and Other Complexities explores this question by examining what happened after Pokemon GO, a smartphone augmented reality game, was released in July, 2016. The game overlaid the world of Pokemon onto the "real" physical world, drawing 30 million players in the first two weeks. Pokemon GO has created new ways of sensing the environment, reading things around us, walking the street, and dwelling in certain areas, i.e., inhabiting the world. Through detailed text analyses of the game and auto-ethnographies of the contributing authors' experiences playing the game analyzed from anthropological perspectives, this volume provides nuanced analyses of this new way of relating to the world: the augmented reality world of Pokemon GO. Each chapter focuses on specific aspects of this new experience of the world: the cosmology of the world of Pokemon and the multifaceted ways we relate to our environment through Pokemon GO; the notion of space and time in Pokemon GO and its interface with that of real world as it guides our actions; the phenomenology of Pokemon GO in urban walking with its complex relationships to public space, "nature" as constructed through modernity, cell phone infrastructure, and urban landscapes where insects, animals, birds, human, history, transportation infrastructure, and trash all intermingle to create its ambiance; and the game's link to the wider social issue as it gets appropriated for "friendly authoritarian" goals of civil society, imposing various ideologies and accruing commercial gains. Through "participant observation" -all contributors have been avid Pokemon GO players themselves-this volume offers snapshots of the Pokemon GO effect from its initial stage as a social phenomenon to Spring 2018.

This book presents a comprehensive guide to the design of playing robots and the related play experiences. Play is a natural activity for building and improving abilities, and it reveals important particularly for persons with disabilities. Many social, physical and cultural factors may hinder children with disabilities from fully enjoying play as their peers. Autonomous robots with specific characteristics can enhance the ludic experience, having implications for the character of the play and presenting opportunities related to autonomy and physical movement, the very nature of robots. Their introduction into play thus provides everybody, and in particular persons with disabilities, new possibilities for developing abilities, improving general status, participating in social contexts, as well as supporting professionals in monitoring progress. This book presents a framework for the design of playful activities with robots, developed over 20 years' experience at AIRLab - POLIMI. Part 1 introduces the play concepts and characteristics, and research results about play of children with different kinds of impairments. Part 2 focuses on implementing robots able to play. The design of playful activities is discussed, as well as the necessary characteristics for them to be useful in both general play and activities involving disability-related limitations. In Part 3, the defined framework is used to analyze possibilities involving robots available on the toy market, robots developed at research labs, and robots to be developed in the next future. The aim of the book is to give developers, caregivers, and users a set of methodological tools for selecting, exploring, and designing inclusive play activities where robots play a central role.

"Game Graphics Programming" examines the many different techniques and effects that are used to create cutting-edge graphics in todayas video games and how to implement them. The book takes a detailed look at computer graphics, exploring both the theory and application of each algorithm and effect and how they are structured and executed to generate the rendered result. Detailed C++ source code and pseudocode are used as examples throughout the book to demonstrate the methods being taught, but the techniques presented can be used with any programming language or tool. Youall begin with an introduction to basic 2D and 3D game graphics tools and components including common game mathematics, colors and pixels, and computer memory, as well as ray tracing and rasterization techniques and programmable shaders. Once youave reviewed the foundations of game graphics, youall go more in-depth with shading and surfaces, direct and global illumination, special effects, and rendering nature. After the how and why of each technique is presented, youall also examine optimizations that can be done to improve performance and alternative methods. "Game Graphics Programming" presents you with all of the information you need to efficiently and effectively create eye-catching graphical scenes for video games.

This book presents the development of a gaming quality model to predict the gaming Quality of Experience (QoE) of players that could be used for planning the network service or quality monitoring of cloud gaming services. The author presents a model that is developed following a modular structure approach that keeps the different types of impairments separately. The book shows how such a modular structure allows developing a sustainable model as each component can be updated by advances in that specific research area or technology. The presented gaming quality model takes into account two modules of video quality and input quality. The latter considers the interactivity aspects of gaming. The video quality module offers a series of models that differ depending on the level of access to the video stream information, allowing high flexibility for service providers regarding the positions of measuring points within their system. In summary, the present book focuses on (1) creation of multiple image/video and cloud gaming quality datasets, (2) development of a gaming video classification, and (3) development of a series of gaming QoE models to predict the gaming QoE depending on the level of access to the video stream information.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the bestselling and most influential video games of the past decade. From the return of world-threatening dragons to an ongoing civil war, the province of Skyrim is rich with adventure, lore, magic, history, and stunning vistas. Beyond its visual spectacle alone, Skyrim is an exemplary gameworld that reproduces out-of-game realities, controversies, and histories for its players. Being Dragonborn, then, comes to signify a host of ethical and ideological choices for the player, both inside and outside the gameworld. These essays show how playing Skyrim, in many ways, is akin to "playing" 21st century America with its various crises, conflicts, divisions, and inequalities. Topics covered include racial inequality and white supremacy, gender construction and misogyny, the politics of modding, rhetorics of gameplay, and narrative features.

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.

This book argues that videogames address contemporary, middle-class anxieties about poverty in the United States. The early chapters consider gaming as a modern form of slumming and explore the ways in which titles like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and World of Warcraft thematize poverty. The argument turns to the field of literary studies to identify analytical frameworks for addressing and understanding these themes. Throughout, the book considers how the academic area of inquiry known as game studies has developed over time, and makes use of such scholarship to present, frame, and value its major claims and findings. In its conclusion, the book models how poverty themes might be identified and associated for the purpose of gaining greater insights into how games can shape, and also be shaped by, the player's economic expectations.

Working with Sound is an exploration of the ever-changing working practices of audio development in the era of hybrid collaboration in the games industry. Through learnings from the pre-pandemic remote and isolated worlds of audio work, sound designers, composers and dialogue designers find themselves equipped uniquely to thrive in the hybrid, remote, and studio-based realms of today's fast-evolving working landscapes. With unique insights into navigating the worlds of isolation and collaboration, this book explores ways of thinking and working in this world, equipping the reader with inspiration to sustainably tackle the many stages of the development process. Working with Sound is an essential guide for professionals working in dynamic audio teams of all sizes, as well as the designers, producers, artists, animators and programmers who collaborate closely with their colleagues working on game audio and sound.