Working with Video Gamers and Games in Therapy moves beyond stereotypes about video game addiction and violence to consider the role that games play in psychological experiences and mental health. Chapters examine the factors that compel individual gamers to select and identify with particular games and characters, as well as the different play styles, genres, and archetypes common in video games. For clinicians looking to understand their clients' relationships with video games or to use games as a therapeutic resource in their own practice, this is a thoughtful, comprehensive, and timely resource.

Game Devs & Others: Tales from the Margins tell the true stories of life in the industry by people of color, LGBTQIA and other marginalized identities. This collection of essays give people a chance to tell their stories and to let others know what life on the other side of the screen is like when you're not part of the supposed "majority". Key Features This book is perfect for anyone interested in getting into the games industry who feels they have a marginalized identity For those who wish to better diversify their studio or workplace who may or may not have access to individuals that could or would share their stories about the industry Includes initiatives aimed at diversifying the industry that have a positive or negative impact on the ongoing discussions Coverage of ajor news items about diversity, conferences aimed at or having diversity at its core of content and mission are discussed Included essays are written with as little game dev specific jargon as possible, makeing it accessible to people outside the industry as well as those in the scene but that may not have all the insider lingo

The last several years have seen mass uprisings and dynamic social movements across the globe, from the onset of the Arab Spring in 2011, to the Black Lives Matter movement following Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. There is no doubt that social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter accelerated and facilitated these uprisings, providing a way for people to organize and express themselves despite government repression. From Tahrir Square to Ferguson: Social Networks as Facilitators of Social Movements attempts to answer the question of whether these movements could have succeeded before the advent of the Internet age. From political protest to regime change, social movements have become increasingly digital. Taking on the current political climate from an international perspective, From Tahrir Square to Ferguson: Social Networks as Facilitators of Social Movements attempts to address the issues of a growing social media audience facing a wide variety of social and political issues.

Photoshop is not just for photographers anymore. Photoshop 3D for Animators is one of the only titles available that discusses 3D Photoshop techniques specifically for animators. Now with Adobe CS5, 3D Digital artists can integrate 3D models into Photoshop or create 3D models in Photoshop with the high capability to customize, edit and animate. With Photoshop 3D for Animators, explore the new 3D tools and techniques that will enhance your animation pipeline and workflows with the Adobe Suite softwares, including After Effects and Flash. Explore the ins and outs of Adobe Photoshop and expand your 3D expertise with the comprehensive guide to Adobe 3D toolset for animators. Customize Adobe CS5 tools for your specific, animation workflow and integrate your 3D models with Adobe Flash and the entire Adobe Suite platform with ease. Learn to manipulate 3D images as well as import 3D content from the Adobe creative suite. With in-depth, step-by-step tutorials, explore lighting, digital painting, texturing and rendering for 2D and 3D the power of Adobe Photoshop software. Enhance your digital workflow and expand your expertise with this hands-on guide to Photoshop CS5. Includes downloadable resources with source files, working samples and models.

Call of Duty is the most culturally significant video game franchise of the 21st century. Since the first game was released for PC in 2003, the franchise has sold over 250 million copies and been complemented by merchandise ranging from toys and comic books to a special edition Jeep Wrangler. The top players can even compete for millions in prize money in tournaments sanctioned by the Call of Duty World League.While the gaming community has reported on and debated over each development, there has not been much formal scholarship on Call of Duty games. This collection fills that void by examining the ideologically charged campaign mode of major franchise releases, with a special focus on militarism, realism, and gender. After reading this book, you will never just play Call of Duty again.

Game studies has been an understudied area within the emerging field of digital media and religion. Video games can reflect, reject, or reconfigure traditionally held religious ideas and often serve as sources for the production of religious practices and ideas. This collection of essays presents a broad range of influential methodological approaches that illuminate how and why video games shape the construction of religious beliefs and practices, and also situates such research within the wider discourse on how digital media intersect with the religious worlds of the 21st century. Each chapter discusses a particular method and its theoretical background, summarizes existing research, and provides a practical case study that demonstrates how the method specifically contributes to the wider study of video games and religion. Featuring contributions from leading and emerging scholars of religion and digital gaming, this book will be an invaluable resource for scholars in the areas of digital culture, new media, religious studies, and game studies across a wide range of disciplines.

Character rigging is the method with which you create a system for animating a character. A rig is represented by two primary mechanics: the skeleton, consisting of hierarchical rotations to drive the motions, and a skin, or method of deforming the geometry that makes up the character model. Essential Skills in Character Rigging is a beginner's guide to learning and understanding the essential aspects of character setup, evaluation, skeletal construction, and deformation. Borrowing from the author's extensive experience in the field, it presents the primary theories, constructs, and objectives for constructing a basic rig from the ground up, just as it would be done in a professional studio. The book explains the basic elements of hierarchies, skeletons, kinematics, deformation, skinning, and creating relationships between nodes. It gives hands-on experience with taking a completed character model and setting it up with a skeleton with kinematics and soft-skin deformation. It also gives specific instructions on using inverse kinematics systems, and how to set up the essential mechanics of a human rig with these systems. All of these lessons are conducted using a simplistic, conversational style that keeps technical and mathematical jargon to a minimum. The book also includes video tutorials corresponding to specific modules. Essential Skills in Character Rigging takes aspiring character artists through the vital components in the process of taking a 3D character model and turning it into an animatable rig that is ready for production in film or games. It identifies the universal fundamentals at work behind character rigging, and the practical complexities of the process are broken down into simple steps that are easy to comprehend and execute.

Scholars and professionals from all over the world, across experience levels and the gender and sexuality spectrum, share experiences and analysis of romance and sexuality in video games. Whether discussing casual sex in the Star Wars universe; analyzing various Otome games; examining "the gaze" in various games; player romance behavior in games; or exploring the ethical ramifications of sexuality in virtual reality and other emerging technologies, this book discusses what players want in video game romance, and how developers can best deliver it. Key Features: Examines the past, present, and future of romance in single-player, role-playing games Discusses common presentations of romance in single-player, role-playing games- both in the category and game mechanics that drive romance Discusses research on how players define a satisfying game romance and what specific steps narrative designers can take to design satisfying games Explains the notion of the empathic game and explores its importance in relation to romance in game design

Game Programming for Artists provides a foundation for artists and creatives to jumpstart learning to program their own games. It is an accessible and conversational guide focused on three areas: basic programming, understanding game engines, and practical code for commonly employed game systems. The best way to get into games is to make one, and this book will help artists do that!

Written for the new generation of hobbyists and aspiring game developers, HTML5 Game Development from the Ground Up with Construct 2 shows you how to use the sophisticated yet user-friendly HTML5-based game engine Construct 2 to develop and release polished, two-dimensional games on a multitude of different platforms. The book also covers the foundational knowledge of game analysis and design based on the author's research and teaching experiences at DigiPen Institute of Technology, James Cook University, and other institutions. The author first helps you understand what really matters in games. He guides you in becoming a better game designer from the ground up, being able to play any game critically, and expressing your ideas in a clear and concise format. The book then presents step-by-step tutorials on designing games. It explains how to build an arcade-style game as well as a platformer integrating some physics elements. It also shows you how to create a more complex puzzle game the author's own published game, Turky on the Run. Lastly, the book discusses different ways to deploy and monetize games across several platforms, including Facebook, iOS, Android, and web-based marketplaces. Sample Construct 2 project files for the games designed in the book are available on the author's website. Integrating hands-on guidance with theoretical game design concepts, this book gives you a solid foundation in game development. It will help you advance in your journey as an indie game developer.

Game Programming for Artists provides a foundation for artists and creatives to jumpstart learning to program their own games. It is an accessible and conversational guide focused on three areas: basic programming, understanding game engines, and practical code for commonly employed game systems. The best way to get into games is to make one, and this book will help artists do that!

Digital technology plays an important role in the everyday lives of people. New types of 'digital sports', (sport) gaming, exergaming, cybersport and eSports increase in popularity all over the world and are even challenging the modern and hegemonic concept of sport. Modern games can hardly be compared with the first generation of electronic games, as the diversity of games has increased dramatically. Philosophers (of sport) have much to say about these new forms of digital play. This book bridges the gap between 'game studies' and current topics within the philosophy of sport literature. It does so by dealing with a variety of topics in which the virtual or the electronic takes over, contradicts or melts with current sports as we know it. This book deals with a variety of conceptual and moral questions, such as: Can video games and eSports be considered as sports activities or not? Are motor skills a defining characteristic of eSports? Can the personal identity be explored within the virtual world? What is happening in a virtual (game) world? How playful is a virtual environment? How do moral standards change in a digital game and how does the game-person and role-playing relate to the real person? This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport, Ethics and Philosophy.

Design and Implementation of 3D Graphics Systems covers the computational aspects of geometric modeling and rendering 3D scenes. Special emphasis is given to the architectural aspects of interactive graphics, geometric modeling, rendering techniques, the graphics pipeline, and the architecture of 3D graphics systems. The text describes basic 3D computer graphics algorithms and their implementation in the C language. The material is complemented by library routines for constructing graphics systems, which are available for download from the book's website. This book, along with its companion Computer Graphics: Theory and Practice, gives readers a full understanding of the principles and practices of implementing 3D graphics systems.

Fictional war narratives often employ haunted battlefields, super-soldiers, time travel, the undead and other imaginative elements of science fiction and fantasy. This encyclopedia catalogs appearances of the strange and the supernatural found in the war stories of film, television, novels, short stories, pulp fiction, comic books and video and role-playing games. Categories explore themes of mythology, science fiction, alternative history, superheroes and ""Weird War.

Fluid simulation is a computer graphic used to develop realistic animation of liquids in modern games. The Art of Fluid Animation describes visually rich techniques for creating fluid-like animations that do not require advanced physics or mathematical skills. It explains how to create fluid animations like water, smoke, fire, and explosions through computer code in a fun manner. The book presents concepts that drive fluid animation and gives a historical background of the computation of fluids. It covers many research areas that include stable fluid simulation, flows on surfaces, and control of flows. It also gives one-paragraph summaries of the material after each section for reinforcement. This book includes computer code that readers can download and run on several platforms so they can extend their work beyond what is described in the book. The material provided here is designed to serve as a starting point for aspiring programmers to begin creating their own programs using fluid animation.

The indie game developer's complete guide to running a studio. The climate for the games industry has never been hotter, and this is only set to continue as the marketplace for tablets, consoles and phones grow. Seemingly every day there is a story of how a successful app or game has earned thousands of downloads and revenue. As the market size increases, so does the number of people developing and looking to develop their own app or game to publish. The Indie Game Developer Handbook covers every aspect of running a game development studio from the initial creation of the game through to completion, release and beyond. Accessible and complete guide to many aspects of running a game development studio from funding and development through QA, publishing, marketing, and more. Provides a useful knowledge base and help to support the learning process of running an indie development studio in an honest, approachable and easy to understand way. Case studies, interviews from other studies and industry professionals grant an first-hand look into the world of indie game development

Demystifies the Processes of Game DevelopmentGame Development for iOS with Unity3D takes you through the complete process of Unity iOS game development. A game developer for over 12 years, the author presents production-proven techniques and valuable tips and tricks needed to plan, build, test, and launch games for the iPhone, iPod, and iPad. He walks you through all the necessary procedures, including how to publish your game to the App Store. Encompasses the Whole Range of iOS Game DevelopmentThis practical book begins with advice on writing a game design document and getting Apple developer certification. It then covers the build processes of the Unity Remote application and explains how to use the Unity editor. After focusing on debugging and optimization, the author describes tips for designing and marketing a successful App Store page. The book also features two iOS-ready games to explore, adapt, and play. Source files for the game examples are available at www.crcpress.com. Guides You in Creating a Functional iOS Game Accessible to indie game developers and small- to medium-sized studios, this hands-on guide gives you the tools and knowledge needed to start building and launching iOS games. It helps you create games using Unity3D and publish them to the App Store.

Physics is really important to game programmers who need to know how to add physical realism to their games. They need to take into account the laws of physics when creating a simulation or game engine, particularly in 3D computer graphics, for the purpose of making the effects appear more real to the observer or player.The game engine needs to recognize the physical properties of objects that artists create, and combine them with realistic motion. The physics ENGINE is a computer program that you work into your game that simulates Newtonian physics and predict effects under different conditions. In video games, the physics engine uses real-time physics to improve realism. This is the only book in its category to take readersandnbsp;throughandnbsp;the process ofandnbsp;building a complete game-ready physics engine from scratch.andnbsp;The Cyclone game engine featured in the book was written specifically for this book and has beenandnbsp;utilized in iPhone application development and Adobe Flash projects.andnbsp; There is a good deal of master-class level information available, but almost nothing in any format that teaches the basics in a practical way. The second edition includes NEW and/orandnbsp;revised material on collision detection, 2D physics, casual game physics for Flash games, more references, a glossary, and end-of-chapter exercises. The companion website will include the full source code of the Cyclone physics engine, along with example applications that show the physics system in operation.andnbsp;

Corona SDK is one of the most powerful tools used to create games and apps for mobile devices. The market requires speed; new developers need to operate quickly and efficiently. Create 2D Mobile Games with Corona SDK gives you the tools needed to master Corona - even within the framework of professional constraints. A must-read guide, this book gives you fast, accurate tips to learn the programming language necessary to create games. Read it sequentially or as an FAQ and you will have the tools you need to create any base game before moving on to advanced topics. The tutorial-based format: Contains step-by-step directions complete with coding and screenshots Is filled with tutorials, tips, and links to useful online resources Includes a comprehensive companion website featuring online exercise files to practice coding, full build samples from the text, additional book details, and more!

At the edge of one of America's most defining eras in its history, salvation comes from the most unlikely source: video games. Playin' To Win: A Surgeon, Scientist and Parent Examines the Upside of Video Games, is inspired, in part, by many edgy titles that have previously probed the expanse of what could be. It is a Freakanomics with a more grassroots subject matter that elicits an instantaneous visceral response from citizens of every walk of life. It is an Everything Bad Is Good For You with grittier details on how the unexpected can be incorporated into raising our society to the next level. Ultimately, it makes a case that video games can promote a Tipping Point with a focus on contributing to real world solutions. It is direct, thought-provoking and consistently challenges perceptions of the boundaries of reality. It has to be! Because the readers will be the first to bear witness: this is a call for the start of a second American Revolution!

Successfully Navigate the Evolving World of Mobile and Social Game Design and Monetization Completely updated, Mobile and Social Game Design: Monetization Methods and Mechanics, Second Edition explains how to use the interconnectedness of social networks to make "stickier," more compelling games on all types of devices. Through the book's many design and marketing techniques, strategies, and examples, you will acquire a better understanding of the design and monetization mechanics of mobile and social games as well as working knowledge of industry practices and terminology. Learn How to Attract and Retain Gamers and Make Money The book explores how the gaming sector has changed, including the evolution of free-to-play games on mobile and tablet devices, sophisticated subscription model-based products, and games for social media websites, such as Facebook. It also demystifies the alphabet soup of industry terms that have sprouted up around mobile and social game design and monetization. A major focus of the book is on popular mechanisms for acquiring users and methods of monetizing users. The author explains how to put the right kinds of hooks in your games, gather the appropriate metrics, and evaluate that information to increase the game's overall stickiness and revenue per user. He also discusses the sale of virtual goods and the types of currency used in games, including single and dual currency models. Each chapter includes an interview with industry leaders who share their insight on designing and producing games, analyzing metrics, and much more.

Coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture (CGRA) has emerged as a solution for flexible, application-specific optimization of embedded systems. Helping you understand the issues involved in designing and constructing embedded systems, Design of Low-Power Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Architectures offers new frameworks for optimizing the architecture of components in embedded systems in order to decrease area and save power. Real application benchmarks and gate-level simulations substantiate these frameworks. The first half of the book explains how to reduce power in the configuration cache. The authors present a low-power reconfiguration technique based on reusable context pipelining that merges the concept of context reuse into context pipelining. They also propose dynamic context compression capable of supporting required bits of the context words set to enable and the redundant bits set to disable. In addition, they discuss dynamic context management for reducing power consumption in the configuration cache by controlling a read/write operation of the redundant context words. Focusing on the design of a cost-effective processing element array to reduce area and power consumption, the second half of the text presents a cost-effective array fabric that uniquely rearranges processing elements and their interconnection designs. The book also describes hierarchical reconfigurable computing arrays consisting of two reconfigurable computing blocks with two types of communication structure. The two computing blocks share critical resources, offering an efficient communication interface between them and reducing the overall area. The final chapter takes an integrated approach to optimization that draws on the design schemes presented in earlier chapters. Using a case study, the authors demonstrate the synergy effect of combining multiple design schemes.

The Post-9/11 Video Game: A Critical Examination demonstrates that a new genre of video games arises from the American experience of 9/11. The representations reflect reshaped notions of the (sub)urban spaces, identity and the role of the citizen as a consumer and as a producer of culture. Ouellette and Thompson combine semiotic and rhetorical analysis to bridge the gap between the narratology and ludology strands of game studies in an original interpretation of dominant game franchises Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Grand Theft Auto and Syphon Filter in both pre- and post- 9/11 game titles. The comparisons reveal striking changes in the iconography of cultural narratives that mainstream audiences were interested in seeing and playing in this period. New York transforms into a symbol of America itself, the mall becomes a symbol of American values, and zombies offer a symbol of foreign invasion. Since these narrative elements can serve differing political purposes and social ends, the focus is not on any particular game, character or narrative aspects but on what those elements come to figure through the genre and what it means to be able to manipulate and to participate in the conflict, at least within the structures, conventions and algorithms of video games. Indeed, these elements transcend traditional genre and platform categories so that post-9/11 representation shapes video games and is shaped by them. Taken together, post-9/11 video games offer a new genre that, in revisiting a national trauma, offers a therapeutic, apolitical solution to the geopolitical upheavals occasioned by 9/11 so that mainstream games become the successor to film and television in the ongoing redefinition American identity, especially masculinity, in times of war and conflict.

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