Corona SDK is one of the most popular app and game mobile development platforms in the world, and Learn Corona SDK Game Development walks you through creating a full-featured Corona game from scratch to the App Store. You'll learn Lua basics (the foundation of Corona), how to add and manipulate graphics, and how to use controls like multitouch, accelerometer, and gyroscope. You'll also learn how to use Box2D (Corona physics under the hood), and how to add sound effects and music. As you're polishing your game, you'll also learn about ads, in-app purchases, and OpenFeint and Game Center integration. Finally, you'll learn the ins and outs of getting a game into the App Store or other app marketplaces. Whether you're developing exclusively for iOS, or whether you're developing for Android or other platforms, Learn Corona SDK Game Development explains just what you need to launch your career as a mobile game developer. What you'll learn Just enough Lua to get started with Corona How to put your Corona code together How to work with images and effects Adding music and sound Game physics and AI Working with app stores and marketplaces Who this book is for Beginning mobile game developers, with a grasp of the basics of programming, who want a complete walkthrough of the Corona app and game development tool, or iOS or Android developers who want to learn about Corona SDK.

Argues for the queer potential of video games While popular discussions about queerness in video games often focus on big-name, mainstream games that feature LGBTQ characters, like Mass Effect or Dragon Age, Bonnie Ruberg pushes the concept of queerness in games beyond a matter of representation, exploring how video games can be played, interpreted, and designed queerly, whether or not they include overtly LGBTQ content. Video Games Have Always Been Queer argues that the medium of video games itself can-and should-be read queerly. In the first book dedicated to bridging game studies and queer theory, Ruberg resists the common, reductive narrative that games are only now becoming more diverse. Revealing what reading D. A. Miller can bring to the popular 2007 video game Portal, or what Eve Sedgwick offers Pong, Ruberg models the ways game worlds offer players the opportunity to explore queer experience, affect, and desire. As players attempt to 'pass' in Octodad or explore the pleasure of failure in Burnout: Revenge, Ruberg asserts that, even within a dominant gaming culture that has proved to be openly hostile to those perceived as different, queer people have always belonged in video games-because video games have, in fact, always been queer.

Foundation Game Design with HTML5 and JavaScript teaches you everything you need to know about how to make video games. If you've never done any programming before and don't know where to start, this book will show you how to make games from start to finish. You'll learn all the latest programming technologies (HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript) to create your games. All written in a fun and friendly style with open-ended projects that encourage you to build your own original games. Foundation Game Design with HTML5 and JavaScript starts by showing you how you can use basic programing to create logic games, adventure games, and create interactive game graphics. Design a game character, learn to control it with the keyboard, mouse, or touch screen interface, and then learn how to use collision detection to build an interactive game world. You'll learn to make maze games, platform jumping games, and fast paced action games that cover all the popular genres of 2D gaming. Create intelligent enemies, use realistic physics, sound effects and music, and learn how to animate game characters.Whether you're creating games for the web or mobile devices, everything you need to get started on a career as a game designer is right here. * Focused and friendly introduction to making games with HTML5. * Essential programming and graphic design techniques for building games, with each chapter gently building on the skills of preceding chapters. * Detailed case studies demonstrating techniques that can be used for making games in a wide variety of genres. What you'll learn * Get a thorough grounding in HTML5 and good programming practices, with minimal prior programming experience required. * Discover how to build logic, adventure, and 2D action games in a wide range of genres. * Master collision detection, Enemy AI systems, player control, basic physics and easy trigonometry. * Make use of modern JavaScript programming techniques to build robust games that are quick to make, easy to maintain, and simple to extend. * Understand the strategies for making games fun to play and easy to build.Who this book is for Foundation Game Design with HTML5 and JavaScript is for a non-technical creative person who wants to learn the art of video game design, but has no idea where to start or where to look for help. It is a lucid, friendly and step-by-step guide though all the technical and creative issues involved in game design. This book treats programming as a creative artistic tool, and will help anyone who may be afraid of programming to love the subject as much as the author does. The techniques in the book are comprehensive enough to form the basis of a career as a game designer, and form a solid foundation for continued study of programming and graphic design for games. This book is the missing link that will guide and inspire any curious and creative person to turn a good game idea into a reality.

Dive into game development and create great multiplayer online games with Pro Android Web Game Apps. This hands-on guide covers both the theory and practice of browser game development for the Android platform. You'll use cutting-edge technologies to make game engines in your browser, establish real-time server communication, and create amazing gaming experiences with artificial intelligence and rich media. Bring your knowledge of HTML and JavaScript to the next level with Pro Android Web Game Apps. You are guided through exciting projects that give you firsthand experience with core game app development concepts. You'll start with a blank HTML page, and by the end of the book, have the skills needed to create a multiplayer online game with rich graphics, sound, animation, and more-even if you have no previous games development or server-side experience.

Beginning Android Games, Second Edition offers everything you need to join the ranks of successful Android game developers, including Android tablet game app development considerations. You'll start with game design fundamentals and programming basics, and then progress toward creating your own basic game engine and playable game apps that work on Android and earlier version compliant smartphones and now tablets. This will give you everything you need to branch out and write your own Android games. The potential user base and the wide array of available high-performance devices makes Android an attractive target for aspiring game developers. Do you have an awesome idea for the next break-through mobile gaming title? Beginning Android Games will help you kick-start your project.This book will guide you through the process of making several example game apps using APIs available in new Android SDK and earlier SDK releases for Android smartphones and tablets: * The fundamentals of game development and design suitable for Android smartphones and tablets * The Android platform basics to apply those fundamentals in the context of making a game, including new File Manager system and better battery life management * The design of 2D and 3D games and their successful implementation on the Android platform This book lets developers see and use some Android SDK Jelly Bean; however, this book is structured so that app developers can use earlier Android SDK releases. This book is backward compatible like the Android SDK. What you'll learn * How to set up/use the development tools for creating your first Android game app * The fundamentals of game programming in the context of the Android platform * How to use the Android's APIs for graphics (Canvas, OpenGL ES 1.0/1.1), audio, and user input to reflect those fundamentals * How to develop two 2D games from scratch, based on Canvas API and OpenGL ES * How to create a full-featured 3D game * How to publish your games, get crash reports, and support your users * How to complete your own playable 2D OpenGL games Who this book is for This book is for people with a basic knowledge of Java who want to write games on the Android platform. It also offers information for experienced game developers about the pitfalls and peculiarities of the platform.

Create compelling 2D games with Learn cocos2d 2: Game Development with iOS. This book shows you how to use the powerful new cocos2d, version 2 game engine to develop games for iPhone and iPad with tilemaps, virtual joypads, Game Center, and more. It teaches you: The process and best practices of mobile game development, including sprite batching, texture atlases, parallax scrolling, touch and accelerometer input. How to enhance your games using the Box2D and Chipmunk physics engines and other cocos2d-related tools and libraries. How to add UIKit views to cocos2d and how to add cocos2d to UIKit apps. The ins and outs of the Kobold2D development environment for cocos2d and its pre-configured libraries, including cocos3d and Lua. Best of all, this book will have you making games right from the very start. It guides you step-by-step through the creation of sample games. These fun examples are modeled after popular App Store games and teach you key concepts of the new cocos2d 2 game engine and relevant tools like TexturePacker (texture atlas), PhysicsEditor (physics collision shapes), Particle Designer (particle effects), Glyph Designer (bitmap fonts), and others. This book offers a rock-solid introduction to creating games made entirely with cocos2d and little or no iOS SDK and OpenGL code. It also details alternative implementations, identifies the best free and commercial tools for cocos2d game development, features coverage of the author's improved cocos2d game engine (Kobold2D), and even helps you enhance your game's marketability on the App Store.

From the text adventures of Zork, to the arcade game of Pac-Man, to the corridors of Doom, and on to the city streets of Grand Theft Auto IV, the maze has often been used as a space to trap and confuse players in their navigation of gameworlds. However, the maze as a construction on the landscape has a long history before the invention of the videogame. By examining the change in the maze from the landscapes of open spaces and closed gardens through to the screen of the videogame, both mazes and labyrinths are discussed in terms of historical reference, alongside the author's personal experiences of walking and playing these structures. This book shows how our cultural experiences of real world maze landscapes may have changed, and how we negotiate videogame worlds along the various paths and meanings they so often create for us.

Build and create your own Roblox world with this updated, easy-to-use guide. Roblox, the largest user-generated online gaming platform that allows users to create and share their own game worlds and gaming creations, has taken the digital world by storm! With updated screenshots and instructions, The Ultimate Roblox Book, Updated Edition provides brand-new information on game changes and the latest features so you can make the most out of your Roblox game. With everything from instructions for playing the games to tips on creating your own worlds to the basics of coding, this updated guide gives you all the tools you need to get started.

The media vampire has roots throughout the world, far beyond the shores of the usual Dracula-inspired Anglo-American archetypes. Depending on text and context, the vampire is a figure of anxiety and comfort, humor and fear, desire and revulsion. These dichotomies gesture the enduring prevalence of the vampire in mass culture; it can no longer articulate a single feeling or response, bound by time and geography, but is many things to many people. With a global perspective, this collection of essays offers something new and different: a much needed counter-narrative of the vampire's evolution in popular culture. Divided by geography, this text emphasizes the vampiric as a globetrotting citizen du monde rather than an isolated monster.

Professor Odile Limpach gives independent developers everything they need to succeed in the world of video game publishing. The Publishing Challenge for Independent Video Game Developers: A Practical Guide defines what game publishing means for the indie developer and offers a concise framework to tackle the decision of whether to self-publish or not. Furthermore, the text establishes a catalogue of current known publishers with some salient characteristics and offers a list of useful publishing tools. Along with showcasing testimonials from several young and seasoned developers on their experiences with publishing and partners and recommendations from renown experts of the industry, this book offers tools, platforms, and guides to game publishing. Key features: Provides a broad overview of the game publishing market Explores criteria for choosing between a publishing partner or self-publishing Offers case studies and testimonials from indie game developers and publishers about the process. Professor Odile Limpach teaches economics and entrepreneurship at the Cologne Game Lab, TH Koeln (Technical University of Cologne). She is also co-founder of the Acceleration Program SpielFabrique 360 Degrees and works as a Strategic Consultant for games and serious game projects. Between 2007 and 2014, she was the managing director of the German entertainment software studio Ubisoft Blue Byte. Before, she was the managing director of Ubisoft GmbH. She graduated from business school Institut Commercial de Nancy in France and completed her MBA in the United States. Odile Limpach is also involved as a volunteer in the areas of vocational training and acts as a German partner for Games for Change Europe. Furthermore, she acts as an advisor (Conseiller du Commerce Exterieur) for the French Ministry for International Business Development.

"Gamers at Work is a critical resource for new and experienced business leadersfor anyone who feels unprepared for the demanding and seemingly insurmountable trials ahead of them." Peter Molyneux OBE, founder, Lionhead Studios

"Gamers at Work explores every imaginable subtlety of the video-game industry through the fascinating stories of those who took the risks and reaped the rewards." Hal Halpin, president, Entertainment Consumers Association "This is the sort of book that can tear the most hardcore gamers away from their PCs, Macs, or consoles for a few hours of rewarding reading." North County Times "Gamers at Work is truly an invaluable resource that's well worth adding to your personal library." Wii Love It

There are few companies in the video-game industry that have withstood the test of time; most startups exit as quickly as they enter. In Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People Play, the countless challenges of building successful video-game developers and publishers in this unstable industry are explored through interviews containing entertaining stories, humorous anecdotes, and lessons learned the hard way.

Gamers at Work presents an inside look at how 18 industry leaders play the odds, seize opportunities, and transform small businesses into great businesses. Here, in Gamers at Work, you will find their stories replete with their personal struggles, corporate intrigue, and insights into strategy, leadership, and management.

Gamers at Work: Explores the formation of entertainment software companies from the perspectives of successful founders who played the odds Provides insight into why experienced professionals sacrifice the comfort of gainful employment for the uncertainty and risk of the startup Shares the experiences and lessons that shape the lives, decisions, and struggles of entrepreneurs in this volatile business

Featured Entrepreneurs: Trip Hawkins, Electronic Arts (Madden NFL) Nolan Bushnell, Atari (Pong) Wild Bill Stealey, MicroProse Software (Sid Meier's Civilization) Tony Goodman, Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires) Feargus Urquhart, Obsidian Entertainment (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II) Tim Cain, Troika Games (Arcanum, Vampire: the MasqueradeBloodlines) Warren Spector, Junction Point Studios (Disney Epic Mickey) Doug & Gary Carlston, Broderbund Software (Prince of Persia, Carmen Sandiego) Don Daglow, Stormfront Studios (Neverwinter Nights, Tony La Russa Baseball) John Smedley, Verant Interactive (EverQuest, PlanetSide) Ken Williams, Sierra On-Line (King's Quest, Leisure Suit Larry) Lorne Lanning, Oddworld Inhabitants (Oddworld) Chris Ulm, Appy Entertainment (FaceFighter, Trucks & Skulls) Tobi Saulnier, 1st Playable (Kung Zhu, Yogi Bear) Christopher Weaver, Bethesda Softworks (The Elder Scrolls) Jason Rubin, Naughty Dog (Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted) Ted Price, Insomniac Games (Spyro, Resistance)

Other books in the Apress At Work Series: Coders at Work, Seibel, 978-1-4302-1948-4 Venture Capitalists at Work, Shah & Shah, 978-1-4302-3837-9 CIOs at Work, Yourdon, 978-1-4302-3554-5 CTOs at Work, Donaldson, Seigel, & Donaldson, 978-1-4302-3593-4 Founders at Work, Livingston, 978-1-4302-1078-8 European Founders at Work, Santos, 978-1-4302-3906-2 Women Leaders at Work, Ghaffari, 978-1-4302-3729-7 Advertisers at Work, Tuten, 978-1-4302-3828-7 What you'll learn How to lead and execute strategy as an entrepreneur About developing meaningful, long-term business relationships Recognize strategic opportunities and threats How and when to take the next step without compromising principles About balancing dreams with practical considerations To avoidthe pitfalls that can trigger disaster To learn from mistakes and make informed course corrections

Who this book is for

Software professionals or managers, usually working in the video games industry Game developers interested in starting an independent studio Gamers who are interested in the history of games and game studios Table of Contents 1. Trip Hawkins Electronic Arts, 3DO, Digital Chocolate 2. Nolan Bushnell Atari 3. Wild Bill Stealey MicroProse Software 4. Tony Goodman Ensemble Studios 5. Feargus Urquhart Obsidian Entertainment 6. Tim Cain Troika Games 7. Warren Spector Junction Point Studios 8. Doug & Gary Carlston Broderbund Software 9. Don Daglow Stormfront Studios 10. John Smedley Verant Interactive 11. Ken Williams Sierra On-Line 12. Lorne Lanning Oddworld Inhabitants 13. Chris Ulm Malibu Comics, High Moon Studios, Appy Entertainment 14. Tobi Saulnier 1st Playable Productions 15. Christopher Weaver Bethesda Softworks 16. Jason Rubin Naughty Dog 17. Ted Price Insomniac Games

In response to the success of the first edition of Foundation Game Design with Flash, Rex van der Spuy has revised and updated all the code to meet current programming best practices, and the focus is now on accurate ActionScript 3.0, regardless of the IDE that you use. We've all sneaked the odd five minutes here or there playing the latest Flash game that someone sent around the office, but creating those games is trickier than it looks. The aim of Foundation Game Design with ActionScript 3.0 is to take you, even if you've minimal multimedia or programming experience, through a series of step-by-step examples and detailed case studies--to the point where you'll have the skills to independently design any conceivable 2D game using Flash and ActionScript. Foundation Game Design with ActionScript 3.0 is a non-technical one-stop shop for all the most important skills and techniques a beginning game designer needs to build games with Flash from scratch. Whether you're creating quick blasts of viral amusement, or more in-depth action or adventure titles, this is the book for you.* Focused and friendly introduction to designing games with Flash and ActionScript * Detailed case studies of Flash games * Essential techniques for building games, with each chapter gently building on the skills of preceding chapters * Modern best practices and new content on ActionScript 3.0 * Also covers asset creation in Photoshop and Illustrator What you'll learn * How to build interactive movies and objects with Flash * A thorough grounding in ActionScript 3.0 and good programming practices, with minimal prior programming experience required * How to build interactive storybooks, space-shooter, adventure and drag-and-drop games * To master collision detection, enemy AI systems, player control, managing game data, basic physics and trigonometry * To make use of design patterns and object-oriented programming techniques to build robust games * Strategies for making games fun to play and easy to build Who this book is for This book is for a non-technical, creative person who wants to learn the art of video game design, but has no idea where to start or where to look for help.It is a lucid, friendly and step-by-step guide though all the technical and creative issues involved in game design with Flash and ActionScript. The book treats programming as a creative artistic tool, and will help anyone who may be afraid of programming come to love the subject as much as the author does. The techniques in the book are comprehensive enough to form the basis of career as a game designer, and form a solid foundation for continued study of programming and ActionScript. This book is the missing link that will guide and inspire any curious and creative person turn a good game idea into a reality. Table of Contents * Programming Foundations: How to Make a Video Game * Making Objects * Programming Objects * Controlling Movie Clip Objects * Decision Making * Controlling a Player Character * Bumping into Things * Object-Oriented Game Design * Platform Game: Physics and Data Management * Advanced Object and Character Control * Using Flash Professional

Featuring interviews with the creators of 31 popular video games-including Grand Theft Auto, Strider, Maximum Carnage and Pitfall-this book gives a behind-the-scenes look at the origins of some of the most enjoyable and iconic adventure games of all time. Interviewees recount the endless hours of painstaking development, the challenges of working with mega-publishers, the growth of the adventure genre, and reveal the creative processes that produced some of the industry's biggest hits, cult classics and indie successes.

Create compelling 2D games with Learn cocos2d Game Development with iOS 5. This book shows you how to use the powerful cocos2d game engine to develop games for iPhone and iPad with tilemaps, virtual joypads, Game Center, and more. It teaches you: * The process and best practices of mobile game development, including sprite batching, texture atlases, parallax scrolling, touch and accelerometer input. * How to enhance your games using the Box2D and Chipmunk physics engines and other cocos2d-related tools and libraries. * How to add UIKit views to cocos2d and how to add cocos2d to UIKit apps. * The ins and outs of the Kobold2D development environment for cocos2d and its preconfigured libraries, including cocos3d and Lua. Best of all, Learn cocos2d Game Development with iOS 5 will have you making games right from the very start. It guides you step-by-step through the creation of sample games.These fun examples are modeled after popular App Store games and teach you key concepts of the cocos2d game engine and relevant tools like TexturePacker (texture atlas), PhysicsEditor (physics collision shapes), Particle Designer (particle effects), Glyph Designer (bitmap fonts), and others. This book offers a rock-solid introduction to creating games made entirely with cocos2d and little or no iOS 5 SDK and OpenGL code. It also details alternative implementations, identifies the best free and commercial tools for cocos2d game development, features coverage of the author's improved cocos2d game engine (Kobold2D), and even helps you enhance your game's marketability on the App Store. What you'll learn * The process and best practices of mobile game development, including sprite batching, texture atlases, parallax scrolling, touch and accelerometer input. * How to enhance your games using the Box2D and Chipmunk physics engines and other cocos2d-related tools and libraries. * How to add UIKit views to cocos2d and how to add cocos2d to UIKit apps.* The ins and outs of the Kobold2D development environment for cocos2d and its preconfigured libraries, including cocos3d and Lua. Who this book is for The book is aimed at beginning game developers looking for an easier and even more powerful way to create compelling 2D graphics using OpenGL and Objective-C. It is assumed that the reader will have some knowledge of object-oriented programming and the Apple and iPhone/iPad developer environment. Table of Contents * Introduction * Getting Started * Essentials * Your First Game * Game Building Blocks * Sprites In-Depth * Scrolling with Joy * Shoot em Up * Particle Effects * Working with Tilemaps * Isometric Tilemaps * Physics Engines * Pinball Game * Game Center * Best Tools for cocos2D Development * Kobold2D Fundamentals * Out of the Ordinary

In the vein of their cult-classic dark fantasy titles Demon's Souls (2009) and the Dark Souls franchise (2011, 2014, 2016), game developers FromSoftware released the bleak Gothic horror Bloodborne in 2015. Players are cast in the role of hunters in a hostile land, probing the shadowy city of Yharnam in search of "paleblood." The game achieved iconic status as both a horror and an action title for its rich lore and for the continuity of story elements through all aspects of game design. This first full-length study examines Bloodborne's themes of dangerous knowledge and fatal pride and its aesthetics in the context other works on game studies, horror and the Gothic. The book's three parts focus on lore and narrative, the game's nightmarish world, and its mechanics.

Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity is perfect for those who would like tocome to grips with programming Unity. You may be an artist who has learned 3D tools such as 3ds Max, Maya, or Cinema 4D, or you may come from 2D tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator. On the other hand, you may just want to familiarize yourself with programming games and the latest ideas in game production. This book introduces key game production concepts in an artist-friendly way, and rapidly teaches the basic scripting skills you'll need with Unity. It goes on to show how you, as an independent game artist, can create casual interactive adventure games in the style of Telltale's Tales of Monkey Island, while also giving you a firm foundation in game logic and design. The first part of the book explains the logic involved in game interaction, and soon has you creating game assets through simple examples that you can build upon and gradually expand. In the second part, you'll build the foundations of a point-and-click style first-person adventure gameincluding reusable state management scripts, load/save functionality, a robust inventory system, and a bonus feature: a dynamically configured maze and mini-map. With the help of the provided 2D and 3D content, you'll learn to evaluate and deal with challenges in bite-sized pieces as the project progresses, gaining valuable problem-solving skills in interactive design. What you'll learn How to build interactive games that work on a variety of platforms Take the tour around Unity user interface fundamentals, scripting and more Create a test environment and gain control over functionality, cursor control, action objects, state management, object metadata, message text and more What is inventory logic and how to manage it How to handle 3D object visibility, effects and other special cases How to handle variety of menus and levels in your games development How to handle characters, scrollers, and more How to create or integratea story/walkthrough Who this book is for

Students or artists familiar with tools such as 3ds Max or Maya who want to create games for mobile platforms, computers, or consoles, but with little or no experience in scripting or the logic behind games development. Table of Contents Exploring the Genre Unity UIBasics andGetting Started ScriptingGetting your Feet Wet Terrain GenerationCreating a Test Environment Navigation and Introduction to Functionality Cursor Control Action Objects Managing State Object Metadata Message Text Inventory Logic Managing the Inventory Finishing the Basic Functionality Getting Down to the Game Maze and Final Sequence Menus and Levels Beyond the Basics Appendix A: Shader Graphs Appendix B: Keyboard Key Names Appendix C: Final Sequence Outline

This thoroughly researched reference work provides a comprehensive guide to popular and obscure video games of the 1970s and early 1980s, covering virtually every official United States release for programmable home game consoles of the pre-Nintendo NES era. Included are the following systems: Adventure Vision, APF MP1000, Arcadia 2001, Astrocade, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, ColecoVision, Fairchild Channel F, Intellivision, Microvision, Odyssey, Odyssey2, RCA Studio II, Telstar Arcade, and Vectrex. Organized alphabetically by console brand, each chapter includes a history and description of the game system, followed by substantive, encyclopedia-style entries for every game released for that console, regardless of when the game was produced. Each video game entry includes publisher/developer information and the release year, along with a detailed description and, frequently, the author's critique. A glossary provides a helpful guide to the classic video game genres and terms referenced throughout the work. An appendix lists a number of ""homebrew"" titles that have been created by fans and amateur programmers and are available for download or purchase.

Level design connects the player to the game through challenges, experiences, and emotions. This book is an invaluable introduction to the evolving practices of Level Designers across the games industry. The increasingly complex role of the Level Designer requires technical and creative skill as it brings together architecture, art, player psychology, interaction design, usability, and experience design. This book explores in detail the principles designers employ when planning levels and building engaging spaces for the player. As well as practical approaches to level design, the book delves into the theoretical underpinnings of the processes and charts a path towards thinking like a Level Designer. Throughout the book you will be guided through the fundamentals of level design: each chapter builds on the types of research, ideation, best practices, and methodologies Level Designers employ when creating prototypes and shipped games. A series of interviews with designers and case studies from game studios examine the application of industry-wide expertise used to create triple-A and indie game titles. By the end of this book you will have gained valuable insight into the role of a Level Designer and be able to devise, plan, and build your own engaging and entertaining game levels.

Forty original contributions on games and gaming culture What does Pokemon Go tell us about globalization? What does Tetris teach us about rules? Is feminism boosted or bashed by Kim Kardashian: Hollywood? How does BioShock Infinite help us navigate world-building? From arcades to Atari, and phone apps to virtual reality headsets, video games have been at the epicenter of our ever-evolving technological reality. Unlike other media technologies, video games demand engagement like no other, which begs the question-what is the role that video games play in our lives, from our homes, to our phones, and on global culture writ large? How to Play Video Games brings together forty original essays from today's leading scholars on video game culture, writing about the games they know best and what they mean in broader social and cultural contexts. Read about avatars in Grand Theft Auto V, or music in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. See how Age of Empires taught a generation about postcolonialism, and how Borderlands exposes the seedy underbelly of capitalism. These essays suggest that understanding video games in a critical context provides a new way to engage in contemporary culture. They are a must read for fans and students of the medium.

Learning C# Programming with Unity 3D, Second Edition is for the novice game programmer without any prior programming experience. Readers will learn how C# is used to make a game in Unity 3D. Many example projects provide working code to learn from and experiment with. As C# evolves, Unity 3D evolves along with it. Many new features and aspects of C# are included and explained. Common programming tasks are taught by way of making working game mechanics. The reader will understand how to read and apply C# in Unity 3D and apply that knowledge to other development environments that use C#. New to this edition: includes latest C# language features and useful tools included with the .NET library like LINQ, Local Functions Tuples, and more! Key Features Provides a starting point for the first-time programmer C# Code examples are simple short and clear Learn the very basics on up to interesting tricks which C# offers

More than just a simple journey through the history of Pokemon, Daniel Dockery offers an in-depth look at the franchise's many branches of impact and influence. With dozens of firsthand interviews, Monster Kids covers its beginnings as a Japanese video game created to recapture one man's love of bug-collecting as a child before diving into the decisions and conditions that would ultimately lead to that game's global domination. With its continued growth as television shows, spin-off video games, blockbuster movies, trading cards, and toys, Pokemon is a unique and special brand that manages to continue to capture the attention and adoration of its eager fanbase 25 years after its initial release. Whether it was new animated shows like Digimon, Cardcaptors, and Yu-Gi-Oh!; the rise of monster-catching video games and trading card games; and more, Pikachu, the king of pop culture in the '90s, opened the doors in America to those hoping to capture some of Pokemon's dedicated fans. In Monster Kids, Dockery combines the personal stories of the people who helped bring Pokemon to the global stage with affection and humor, making this book the ultimate look at the rise of the franchise in Japan and then North America, but also the generation of kids whose passion for "catching them all" created a unique cultural phenomenon that continues to make a profound impact today.

The drums of war thunder once again . . . World of Warcraft redefined online gaming for millions and millions of people, and in the fifteen years since its launch, each new chapter in the game's story has been bolstered through the Blizzard Entertainment's incredible cinematics. The Cinematic Art of World of Warcraft: Volume I goes behind the scenes with the team who built the game's stunning movies. With never-before-seen concept art and accounts of the creative and technical process, this is the definitive visual gallery of how countless artists brought the world of Azeroth to life in incredible detail and motion. The first installment in a new series, The Cinematic Art of World of Warcraft: Volume I is a visual chronicle covering the cinematics from the beginning of World of Warcraft through to the Warlords of Draenor expansion.

Albion unveiled! Set off on a behind-the-scenes journey that delves deep into the design of the much anticipated Fable Legends. Featuring pages of high-quality concept art from Lionhead Studios, showcasing sketches, evolutions, renders, and more for each of the heroes, villains, creatures, and locations found throughout the game. Accompanied by exclusive developer interviews, this book is a must for any wandering hero - or malevolent villain...

Follow the adventures of Evan and his archaeologist uncle as they explore for treasure from an ancient kingdom. Help them succeed by building a series of five robots using LEGO's popular MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 robotics kit. Without your robots, Evan and his uncle are doomed to failure and in grave danger. Your robots are the key to their success in unlocking the secret of The King's Treasure

In this sequel to the immensely popular book, LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT: The Mayan Adventure, you get both an engaging story and a personal tutorial on robotics programming. You'll learn about the motors and sensors in your NXT 2.0 kit. You'll learn to constructively brainstorm solutions to problems. And you'll follow clear, photo-illustrated instructions that help you build, test, and operate a series of five robots corresponding to the five challenges Evan and his uncle must overcome in their search for lost treasure.Provides an excellent series of parent/child projects Builds creative and problem-solving skills Lays a foundation for success and fun with LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0

Please note: the print version of this title is black & white; the eBook is full color. What you'll learn Build working robots using the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 kit Constructively brainstorm solutions to challenging problems Troubleshoot when your robots do not work as you expect Design with a repeatable method, not randomly Document your designs using the Design Journal Worksheet Program your robots using the NXT-G graphical programming language Who this book is for

LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0: The King's Treasure is written for children ages 10 and up who want to learn to design, build, and operate robots using LEGO's immensely popular MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 robotics kit. The book leads readers through a series of five projects centered on an engaging story line. It can be read by kids alone, or it can provide the spark for a wonderful series of parent/child activities. Teachers and FIRST LEGO League leaders can use the book teach NXT 2.0 programming, and will find complete instructions for building five sample robots and creating five programs. Table of Contents Turns and Tricks MazerunnerPlanning and Design MazeBotBuild It MazeRunnerProgram It Swing and Switch RopeSwingerDesign and Planning RopeSwingerBuild It RopeSwingerProgram It Hook and Pull RingTosserDesign and Planning RingTosserBuild It RingTosserProgram It Rock and Roll RampRiderDesign and Planning RampRiderBuild It RampRiderProgram It Grab and Release ZipLinerDesign and Planning ZipLinerBuild It ZipLinerProgram It Treasure and Discovery

The Game Maker's Companion is the long-awaited sequel to The Game Maker's Apprentice. This book picks up where the last book left off, advancing your game development journey with some seriously impressive gaming projects. This time you'll learn how to make professional-quality platform games with solid collision detection and slick control mechanisms and you'll get acquainted with a long-lost icon of platform gaming history on the way. You'll go on to discover techniques to add depth and believability to the characters and stories in your games, including The Monomyth, cut scene storyboarding, and character archetypes. This culminates in the creation of an original atmospheric platform-adventure which will take your GML programming skills to new heights. There's even a handy reference section at the back of the book which will be invaluable for adding common features to your own games. With contributions from four games industry professionals and a highly respected member of the Game Maker community, The Game Maker's Companion is another labor of love that will give you even more hours of enjoyment than the original. If you already own Game Maker, then you really must own this book as well.