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.

Learn how to market for your indie game, even with a small budget and limited resources. For those who want to earn a regular income from making indie games, marketing can be nearly as vital to the success of the game as the game itself. A Practical Guide to Indie Game Marketing provides you with the tools needed to build visibility and sell your game. With special focus on developers with small budgets and limited staff and resources, this book is packed with recommendations and techniques that you can put to use immediately. As a seasoned marketing professional, author Joel Dreskin provides insight into practical, real-world experiences from marketing numerous successful games and also shares tips on mistakes to avoid. Presented in an easy to read format, A Practical Guide to Indie Game Marketing includes information on establishing an audience and increasing visibility so you can build successes with your studio and games. Through case studies, examples, guidelines and tips, you will learn best practices for developing plans for your game launches, PR, community engagement, channel promotions and more Sample timelines help you determine how long in advance of a launch to prepare your first public communications, when to announce your game, as well as recommended timing for releasing different game assets Book also includes marketing checklist 'cheat sheets', dos and don'ts and additional resources

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.

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

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

Understanding Game Scoring explores the unique collaboration between gameplay and composition that defines musical scoring for video games. Using an array of case studies reaching back into the canon of classic video games, this book illuminates the musical flexibility, user interactivity and sound programming that make game scoring so different from traditional modes of composition. Mack Enns explores the collaboration between game scorers and players to produce the final score for a game, through case studies of the Nintendo Entertainment System sound hardware configuration, and game scores, including the canonic scores for Super Mario Bros. (1985) and The Legend of Zelda (1986). This book is recommended reading for students and researchers interested in the composition and production of video game scores, as well as those interested in ludo-musicology.

"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

Create your first 2D, 3D, and AR/VR games with the awesome Unity game platform. With this hands-on beginner's guide, you'll start building games fast! In Unity in Action, Third Edition, you will learn how to: Create characters that run, jump, and bump into things Build 3D first-person shooters and third-person action games Construct 2D card games and side-scrolling platformers Script enemies with AI Improve game graphics by importing models and images Design an intuitive user interface for your games Play music and spatially-aware sound effects Connect your games to the internet for online play Deploy your games to desktop, mobile, and the web Thousands of new game developers have chosen Joe Hocking's Unity in Action as their first step toward Unity mastery. This fully updated third edition comes packed with fully refreshed graphics, Unity's latest features, and coverage of the augmented and virtual reality toolkits. Using your existing coding skills, you'll write custom code instead of just clicking together premade scripts. You'll master the Unity toolset from the ground up, adding the skills you need to go from application coder to game developer. Build your next game without sweating the low-level details. The Unity game engine handles the heavy lifting, so you can focus on game play, graphics, and user experience. With support for C#, a huge ecosystem of production-quality prebuilt assets, and a strong dev community, Unity will get your game idea off the drawing board and onto the screen! You can even use Unity for more than game development, with new tools for VR and augmented reality that are perfect for developing useful apps.

The long-awaited sequel to Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984, the first book to illustrate the videogame phenomenon... In the years since the original Supercade was first published, the next generation of gamers have come of age. Raised in the aftermath of the crash - the grand arcade palaces of the early 80s replaced by battered Neo Geo cabinets in laundromats and the few remaining game parlors begging for play - they are the children of the Nintendo Entertainment System, the home console that saved the US game industry after Atari effectively destroyed it. Over the past two decades they have expressed an intense love for the games of their youth including Super Mario, Space Harrier, and Street Fighter. This volume chronicles the next era of gaming history, beginning with the NES and including the release of the Sega Master System, SNES, Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, Amiga, Game Boy, Atari Jaguar, PlayStation, Dreamcast, Xbox and more, as well as the companies, creators, and technologies that drove us into the digital future. Earnestly written and designed by author and game historian Van Burnham, the second book is even more comprehensive than the first - featuring over 500 full-color pages - plus interviews with legendary game developers like Eugene Jarvis, John Romero, and Tim Schafer, as well as premium print upgrades including metallic inks, gatefold inserts, and so much more. Supercade was conceived to pay tribute to the technology, games, and visionaries who created one of the most influential mediums in the history of entertainment - one that profoundly shaped the modern technological landscape, and inspired generations of gamers. Contributors include Nathan Altice, Max Blackley, Ian Bogost, Chris Charla, Brian Crecente, Gabe Durham, Benj Edwards, Scott Fontana, Paul Ford, Darren Gladstone, Raiford Guins, Blake J Harris, Robin Hunicke, Roland Ingram, Alex Kane, Chris Kohler, Tim Lapetino, Kelsey Lewin, Henry Lowood, Chris Melissinos, Mike Mika, Jess Morrissette, Chris Moyse, Laine Nooney, Jeremy Parish, Chris Priestman, Chris Schilling, Brandon Sheffield, Dean Takahashi, Tony Temple, Tom Vanderbilt, Brittany Vincent, John Wills, and Erik Wolpaw.

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.

Creating games in Flash is a never-ending journey of exploration, learning, and most of all, fun. Once you've mastered the basics, a new world is opened up to you, enabling you to take your existing skills to the next level and discover new skills that will in turn open new doors. This book is a direct continuation of Foundation Game Design with Flash, and is a complete point-by-point roundup of the most important skills a Flash game designer needs to know. You'll increase your ActionScript knowledge and your game design skills while creating some excellent example games. You'll learn advanced collision detection skills; professional AI and pathfinding; and how to load and save game data, create destructible environments, and build and switch game levels.Each chapter highlights a new advanced technique illustrated by practical examples. Examples of games are given in a variety of genres, all of which take an object-oriented programming approach. Advanced game design topics are covered, including vector-based collision reaction, pathfinding, billiard ball physics, and modeling game data. What you'll learn How to use vectors to figure out where objects are going and how they should react to collisions Pixel-perfect collision detection for irregular shapes using hitTest and bitmapData How to use design patterns and abstract data models to manage complex games efficiently How to create advanced enemy artificial intelligence systems using pathfinding strategies in grid-based environments How to use XML to load and save game data How to use sound and music in games and create particle effects using blitting. Who this book is for

This book is for experienced Flash and ActionScript 3.0 developers who want to take their game design skills to a professional level. Readers should have a solid background in object-oriented ActionScript 3.0 programming, and may have attempted game projects of their own. If you have readFoundation Game Design with Flash, then this book will be a natural next step for you. The book covers game design strategies and techniques common to many game design platformsnot just Flashand will help you create top-quality games that are quick to build and easy to maintain. Table of Contents Modeling Game Data Vectors: Ghosts in the Machine Collisions Between Circles Collisions Between Polygons Pixel-Perfect Collision and Destructible Environments Explosions, Blitting, and Optimization Make It Fun Sound, Music, and AI Tile-Based Game Design Pathfinding XML and External Data

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

Through the stories of gaming's greatest innovations and most beloved creations, journalist Harold Goldberg captures the creativity, controversy--and passion--behind the videogame's meteoric rise to the top of the pop-culture pantheon.
Over the last fifty years, video games have grown from curiosities to fads to trends to one of the world's most popular forms of mass entertainment. But as the gaming industry grows in numerous directions and everyone talks about the advance of the moment, few explore and seek to understand the forces behind this profound evolution. How did we get from Space Invaders to Grand Theft Auto? How exactly did gaming become a $50 billion industry and a dominant pop culture form? What are the stories, the people, the innovations, and the fascinations behind this incredible growth?
Through extensive interviews with gaming's greatest innovators, both its icons and those unfairly forgotten by history, All Your Base Are Belong To Us sets out to answer these questions, exposing the creativity, odd theories--and passion--behind the twenty-first century's fastest-growing medium.
Go inside the creation of:
Grand Theft Auto * World of Warcraft * Bioshock * Kings Quest * Bejeweled * Madden Football * Super Mario Brothers * Myst * Pong * Donkey Kong * Crash Bandicoot * The 7th Guest * Tetris * Shadow Complex * Everquest * The Sims * And many more

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.

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

GameGuru is an entry-level engine designed to be easy to use as well as being extremely accessible for the user. This book gives users the information needed to access the full depth of features available in the program. Details on how to perform more complex tasks are not found easily anywhere else or in any of the GameGuru documentation. This book will cover all of the common topics including building levels, coding, AI and more. Key Features The only book the fully covers the GameGuru engine. Includes robust documentation to perform complex tasks that are not outlined anywhere else. Includes level building, coding, AI and more. Included are scripts and demo maps for readers to learn from. GameGuru is the ultimate start-to-finish guide

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

Join the game development revolution today XNA 3.0 greatly simplifies the development of your own games, lowering the barrier for programmers to get into game development. In XNA, you can start coding your games from the very start, a true revelation compared to other game programming environments. XNA doesn't sacrifice power for this ease of useit is built entirely on DirectX technology.

Completely updated for XNA 3.0, expert Riemer Grootjans brings together a selection of the hottest recipes in XNA programming for the Xbox 360, PC, and Zune. Advanced XNA programmers, experienced coders new to game development, and even complete beginners will find XNA 3.0 Game Programming Recipes an invaluable companion whether building games for fun or as commercial products. What you'll learn

This title covers virtually every feature of the XNA 3.0 Framework. It focuses primarily on 2D and 3D graphics programming, but other game programming features such as audio playback, networking, and mobile gaming are also discussed in detail.

These are some of the topics that are being covered in depth: How to create 2D graphics 3D rendering techniques at various levels of difficulty Creating games for the Zune mobile device Loading, rendering, and animating 3D models How to read input devices: keyboard, mouse, and Xbox 360 Controller Using audio to spice up your game Adding networking to your game to challenge your friends Architectural XNA features, such as GameComponents The content pipeline: one of the three major components in XNA game development A whole list of HLSL techniques Who this book is for

This book is for everyone Whatever your experience, you will find a recipe to suit your need and skill. Great care has been taken to ensure the easier recipes provide a great deal of detail so they can be followed by readers without much programming experience. Each chapter gradually builds in difficulty so you will be able to progress through it as your XNA coding improves and you move on to more sophisticated techniques.

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.

Can you have a transformative experience as a result of falling through a programming error in the latest triple-A title? Does looking out across a vast virtual vista of undulating mountains and tumultuous seas edge you closer to the sublime? In an effort to answer these sorts of questions, Gaming and the Virtual Sublime considers the 'virtual sublime' as a conceptual toolbox for understanding our affective engagement with contemporary interactive entertainment. Through a detailed examination of the history of the sublime, from pseudo-Longinus' jigsaw puzzle of the sublime in rhetoric, through the eighteenth-century obsession with beauty and terror, past the Kantian mathematical and dynamical sublime, all the way to Lyotard's 'unpresentable event' and Deleuze's work on chaos and rhythm, this book road-tests these differing components in a far-reaching exploration of how video games - as virtual spaces of affect - might reshape our opportunities for sublime experience. Using playthroughs, developer diaries, forums discussions and contemporaneous reviews, and games ranging from the heartbreak of That Dragon: Cancer through to the abject body-horror of Outlast (with a dash of Tetris in-between) are discussed in terms the experience(s) of play, their design and their co-creation with gamers with a specific focus on rhetoric and narrative; awe; fear and terror; death and boredom. Written in an engaging and accessible style, this book is a must-read for philosophers, scholars, and those interested in games and popular culture more broadly.

Building XNA 2.0 Games: A Practical Guide for Independent Game Development is written by James Silva, who recently won the prestigious Microsoft Dream Build Play game competition with his award-winning game, The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai. Building XNA 2.0 Games: A Practical Guide for Independent Game Development is an in-depth and exclusive look into the entire XNA game development process and includes the creation of a software game masterpiece. James Silva guides you through the process he took to build his award-winning title, from concept to reality. He reveals tips and techniques for creating a polished, high-quality game with very few resources, while bridging the gap between coding and art. This title shows software developers the following: The creation of a polished game from start to finish Design philosophies Next-gen 2D graphics, including shaders Techniques for fast, fluid game play XACT Audio and XInput Eye-catching particle effects for visual stimulation The book is packed full of code, pictures, and valuable insights into XNA game development.

Would you like to create your own games, but never have the time to dig into the details of multimedia programming? Now you don't have to XNA 3.0 makes it simple to create your own games, which will run on your PC and Xbox 360 console. Even if you don't know how to program at all, Beginning XNA 3.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional will teach you the basics of C# 2008 programming along the way. Don't get overwhelmed with details you don't need to knowjust learn what you need to start creating your own games right now

This fastpaced introduction to XNA 3.0 and the C# language provides you with a quickstart guide to creating highquality XNA games. You'll be introduced to the key concepts and ideas you need to know in a gradual fashion so that you master one concept before using it as a foundation for the next. Before long, you will have the skills to create smooth, professionallooking results in a range of gaming genres. By the end of the book, you will have constructed several working games and have an excellent knowledge base from which to investigate more advanced techniques. What you'll learn Master game planning and programming basicsUnderstand 2D graphics, audio, and input basicsCreate your first 2D gameImprove your first 2D gameExplore the basics of game networkingDeal with sound in XNA 3.0See how to create a 2D multiplayer game, Rock Rain Live Understand 3D game programming basicsRender pipelines, shaders, and effectsWork with lights, cameras, and transformationsGenerate a terrainLearn skeletal animation techniquesCreate a thirdperson shooter gamePlay games on the Zune console Who this book is for

This book is for anyone approaching XNA programming for the Xbox 360 for the first time, whether they have experience programming computer games or not.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computers and Games, CG 2006, co-located with the 14th World Computer-Chess Championship and the 11th Computer Olympiad. The 24 revised papers cover all aspects of artificial intelligence in computer-game playing. Topics addressed are evaluation and learning, search, combinatorial games and theory opening and endgame databases, single-agent search and planning, and computer Go.

This amply illustrated book is about building some of Leonardo da Vinci's most famous inventions with LEGO's breathtaking robot technology, the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT. In this book, you will revive such fascinating devices as the flying machine, the aerial screw, the revolving bridge, the double leaf spring catapult, and the armored carfive centuries after their creation by the great Renaissance engineer. Using some of the most advanced programming environments for the NXT, you will make robots that work, move, and respond the way Leonardo intended his original inventions to do 500 years ago.

By engineering the LEGO models contained in this, book you will not only become acquainted with the MINDSTORMS NXT technology, but also with strategies to build advanced robots with NXT and to program them using different state-of-the-art NXT programming languages such as NXT-G, NXC, RobotC, pbLua, and leJOS NXJ.

For all five robots, historical background information is provided. Detailed high-quality step-by-step building instructions, as well as an elaborate guide for each single program enable both the inexperienced LEGO user as well as the NXT aficionado to become acquainted with the art of producing marvelous NXT creations and make use of many sophisticated features of the NXT.

This book will unleash the creative powers that slumber in everyone and combine them with the pure joy of playing. But beware: you might be surprised by the stupendous results this combination is apt to spawn.

Dark Horse Books and Nintendo team up to bring you "The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia", containing an unparalleled collection of historical information on "The Legend of Zelda" franchise. This handsome hardcover contains never-before-seen concept art, the full history of Hyrule, the official chronology of the games, and much more! Starting with an insightful introduction by the legendary producer and video-game designer of Donkey Kong, Mario, and The Legend of Zelda, Shigeru Miyamoto, this book is crammed full of information about the storied history of Link's adventures from the creators themselves! As a bonus, "The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia" includes an exclusive comic by the foremost creator of "The Legend of Zelda" manga - Akira Himekawa!