Wolfgang Engel's GPU Pro 360 Guide to 3D Engine Design gathers all the cutting-edge information from his previous seven GPU Pro volumes into a convenient single source anthology that covers the design of a 3D engine. This volume is complete with articles by leading programmers that focus on various aspects of 3D engine design such as quality and optimization as well as high-level architecture. GPU Pro 360 Guide to 3D Engine Design is comprised of ready-to-use ideas and efficient procedures that can help solve many computer graphics programming challenges that may arise. Key Features: Presents tips & tricks on real-time rendering of special effects and visualization data on common consumer software platforms such as PCs, video consoles, mobile devices Covers specific challenges involved in creating games on various platforms Explores the latest developments in rapidly evolving field of real-time rendering Takes practical approach that helps graphics programmers solve their daily challenges

Now that Apple has introduced the GameKit framework to its iOS SDK, you can integrate Game Center features directly into your iPhone and iPad apps. This concise cookbook shows you how it's done, with 18 targeted recipes for adding leaderboards, user authentication, achievements, multiplayer games, and many other features.

How do you display players' scores and achievements? How do you create Game Center accounts and add friends? Each recipe in this book includes a simple code solution you can put to work immediately, along with a detailed discussion that offers insight into why and how the recipe works.

Recipes include techniques to: Set up Game Center for an iOS App Use block objects and Grand Central Dispatch to write Game Center apps Authenticate a local player in Game Center Use iTunes Connect to create leaderboards and achievements Retrieve leaderboard and achievement information programmatically Handle players' state changes in multiplayer games

Computer role-playing games (CRPGs) are a special genre of computer games that bring the tabletop role-playing experience of games such as Dungeons & Dragons to the computer screen. Thisnew edition inlcudes two new chapters: The Modern Age, and a chapter on Indies and Mobile CRPGs. The new modern age chapter will cover, among other topics, Kickstarter/FIG crowdfunded projects such as Torment: Tides of Numenera and Pillars of Eternity. It'll also bring the book up to date with major games such as Dragon Age, Witcher, Skyrim. Expanded info in first chapter about educational potential of CRPGs. Color figures will be introduced for the first time. Key Features gives reviews of hundreds of games across many platforms. comprehensive book covering the history of computer RPGs. comprehensive index at the back, letting you quickly look up your favourite titles

Though in existence for only a few decades, video games are now firmly established in mainstream culture all around the planet. Every year new games are produced, and every year new favorites emerge. But certain characters have become so iconic that they withstand both time and the shifting interests of players. Such creations permeate other elements of popular culture-from graphic novels to film-and are known not only to dedicated gamers but to the general public as well. In 100 Greatest Video Game Characters, readers can learn about some of the most popular and influential figures that have leapt from computer monitors and television screens and into the public consciousness. The entries in this volume provide general facts about the characters as well as explore their cultural significance. The entries include the following information: *Game developer *Year character was established *Video game franchise In addition, the book examines the commonalities of various video game characters to help readers better understand their popularity and how they operate within the video games and the industry itself. Whether casually looking up information on video game characters or researching what these icons says about society, readers will enjoy this entertaining and informative volume. Comprehensive and engaging, 100 Greatest Video Game Characters will appeal to fans and scholars alike.

Do you have creative ideas that you wish you could transform into code? Do you want to boost your problem solving and logic skills? Do you want to enhance your career by adopting an algorithmic mindset? In our increasingly digital world, coding is an essential skill. Communicating an algorithm to a machine to perform a set of tasks is vital. Beginner's Guide to Code Algorithms: Experiments to Enhance Productivity and Solve Problems written by Deepankar Maitra teaches you how to think like a programmer. The author unravels the secret behind writing code - building a good algorithm. Algorithmic thinking leads to asking the right question and enables a shift from issue resolution to value creation. Having this mindset will make you more marketable to employers. This book takes you on a problem-solving journey to expand your mind and increase your willingness to experiment with code. You will: Learn the art of building an algorithm through hands-on exercises Understand how to develop code for inspiring productivity concepts Build a mentality of developing algorithms to solve problems Develop, test, review, and improve code through guided experimentation This book is designed to develop a culture of logical thinking through intellectual stimulation. It will benefit students and teachers of programming, business professionals, as well as experienced users of Microsoft Excel who wish to become proficient with macros.

The true murderer has been revealed, and the Investigation Team must return to the Midnight Channel to finally bring the case to an end. Based the Persona 4 video game!

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.

The evolution of story-telling is as old as the human race; from the beginning, when our ancestors first gathered around a campfire to share wondrous tales through oral traditions, to today, with information and stories being shared through waves and filling screens with words and images. Stories have always surrounded us, and united us in ways other disciplines can't. Storytelling for Interactive Digital Media and Video Games lays out the construct of the story, and how it can be manipulated by the storyteller through sound, video, lighting, graphics, and color. This book is the perfect guide to aspiring storytellers as it illustrates the different manner of how and why stories are told, and how to make them "interactive." Storytelling features heavy game development as a method of storytelling and delivery, and how to develop compelling plots, characters, settings, and actions inside a game. The concept of digital storytelling will be explored, and how this differs from previous incarnations of mediums for stories Key Features: Explores the necessary elements of a story (setting, character, events, sequence, and perspective) and how they affect the viewer of the story Discusses media and its role in storytelling, including images, art, sound, video, and animation Explores the effect of interactivity on the story, such as contest TV, web-based storytelling, kiosks, and games Shows the different types of story themes in gaming and how they are interwoven Describes how to make games engaging and rewarding intrinsically and extrinsically

WOULD YOU KILL ONE PERSON TO SAVE FIVE OTHERS? If you could upload all of your memories into a machine, would that machine be you? Is it possible we're all already artificial intelligences, living inside a simulation? These sound like questions from a philosophy class, but in fact they're from modern, popular video games. Philosophical discussion often uses thought experiments to consider ideas that we can't test in real life, and media like books, films, and games can make these thought experiments far more accessible to a non-academic audience. Thanks to their interactive nature, video games can be especially effective ways to explore these ideas. Each chapter of this book introduces a philosophical topic through discussion of relevant video games, with interviews with game creators and expert philosophers. In ten chapters, this book demonstrates how video games can help us to consider the following questions: 1. Why do video games make for good thought experiments? (From the ethical dilemmas of the Mass Effect series to 'philosophy games'.) 2. What can we actually know? (From why Phoenix Wright is right for the wrong reasons to whether No Man's Sky is a lie.) 3. Is virtual reality a kind of reality? (On whether VR headsets like the Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, and HTC Vive deal in mass-market hallucination.) 4. What constitutes a mind? (From the souls of Beyond: Two Souls to the synths of Fallout 4.) 5. What can you lose before you're no longer yourself? (Identity crises in the likes of The Swapper and BioShock Infinite.) 6. Does it mean anything to say we have choice? (Determinism and free will in Bioshock, Portal 2 and Deus Ex.) 7. What does it mean to be a good or dutiful person? (Virtue ethics in the Ultima series and duty ethics in Planescape: Torment.) 8. Is there anything better in life than to be happy? (Utilitarianism in Bioshock 2 and Harvest Moon.) 10. How should we be governed, for whom and by who? (Government and rights in Eve Online, Crusader Kings, Democracy 3 and Fable 3.) 11. Is it ever right to take another life? And how do we cope with our own death? (The Harm Thesis and the good death in To The Moon and Lost Odyssey.)

"This book focuses on the history of video games, consoles, and home computers from the very beginning until the mid-nineties, which started a new era in digital entertainment. The text features the most innovative games and introduces the pioneers who developed them. It offers brief analyses of the most relevant games from each time period. An epilogue covers the events and systems that followed this golden age while the appendices include a history of handheld games and an overview of the retro-gaming scene"--Provided by publisher.

Sound can make or break the visual experience of a video game. If you press a button, and you hear a click, you know you are playing a game, without the click, you are merely interacting with an image on the screen. Sound elevates the experience of a game, and is obviously a KEY ingredient to the success of a game. This book goes out to sound designers and music composers for games who may be able to pick up on the theories and concepts in other books, but will need the book that shows them just how to get their first demo reel done. Stevens and Raybould get right into the heart of sound design and implemention, providing real practical examples to learn from, so that composers and designers can quickly develop the skills they need to design sound and music for games. This hands-on book guides students and professionals through the whole development process of how to create and implement sound and music for games. Stevens and Raybould offer a hugely effective teaching tool to engage students: a complete set of tools and interactive tutorials that are fully tested and proven to work in a University setting. The book comes with a powerful associated web site including 20 videos (10 mins each) with screen captures, voice over and interactive commentary, several hundred sound files that designers can plug right into their own games, and a unique tutorial game level for readers to play and learn in - so that they can experience, interact, and see exactly how sounds are applied in a real game. This is the best vehicle for learning how to create compelling sound and music for games - a truly unique approach that gets designers and students up and running quickly.

How are the world's best videogames created? Are they truly hatched through marathon all-night sessions of acne-ridden, junk food-eating programmers and artists huddled in front of multiple monitors cranking out code and content? Which key decisions determine whether or not a particular game will be a hit? What's crunch time really like? Journey behind the scenes to learn the truth about how the world's greatest videogames get made. Join videogame industry veteran Michael Thornton Wyman on a series of detailed, behind-the-scenes tours with the teams that have made some of the most popular and critically acclaimed videogames of the modern era. Drawing on insider's perspectives from teams large and small, from single-person independent projects (Linerider), to casual game classics (Diner Dash), PC titles (Spore) to AAA Console games (NBA Live), and including modern-day masterpieces (Halo, Rock Band and World of Warcraft), learn from the creators about how these games were made, and hear their stories from the trenches of videogames production. The second part of the book provides real-world, hands-on advice you can start using immediately to make your own games better. Thorough and detailed analysis of common, proven best practices give you specific nuts and bolts tools to implement at any phase of your game project, from concept development through prototyping, production, testing and launch. The book is an excellent resource for those working directly on game design or production, for those aspiring to work in the field, or for anyone who has wondered how the world's greatest videogames get made.

Human brains can be seen as knowledge processors in a distributed system. Each of them can achieve, conscious or not, a small part of a treatment too important to be done by one. These are also "hunter / gatherers" of knowledge. Provided that the number of contributors is large enough, the results are usually better quality than if they were the result of the activity of a single person, even if it is a domain expert. This type of activity is done via online games.

Masters of Doom is the true inside story of the Lennon and McCartney of the video game industry: John Carmack and John Romero. Together they created an empire, ruled a multibillion-dollar industry, and provoked a national controversy. They lived a unique American dream, escaping their broken homes to co-create the most innovative and notoriously successful video games in history - Doom and Quake - until the games they made tore them apart. David Kushner has been covering the video game industry for ten years and knows all the angles. Even those with no interest in video games will be fascinated by this vastly entertaining tale of friendship, betrayal and the genesis of a multibillion-dollar popular art form.

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 untold story of Atari's Missile Command With the advent of the arcade, Atari Inc. and its iconic game, Missile Command, were at the forefront of the industry's explosion, helping usher in both the age of the video game and the gamer lifestyle. In 8-Bit Apocalypse, tech insider Alex Rubens delves into electronic history to tell of an era when arcade games were designed, written, and coded by individual designers. He interviews major figures including Atari founder Nolan Bushnell and Missile Command creator David Theurer, who suffered from frequent nightmares of nuclear holocaust as he worked on the game. The first in-depth, personal history of the era, 8-Bit Apocalypse combines Rubens's tech industry knowledge and experience as a gaming journalist to conjure the wild silicon frontier of the '80s.

Introduction to Modeling and Simulation with MATLAB and Python is intended for students and professionals in science, social science, and engineering that wish to learn the principles of computer modeling, as well as basic programming skills. The book content focuses on meeting a set of basic modeling and simulation competencies that were developed as part of several National Science Foundation grants. Even though computer science students are much more expert programmers, they are not often given the opportunity to see how those skills are being applied to solve complex science and engineering problems and may also not be aware of the libraries used by scientists to create those models. The book interleaves chapters on modeling concepts and related exercises with programming concepts and exercises. The authors start with an introduction to modeling and its importance to current practices in the sciences and engineering. They introduce each of the programming environments and the syntax used to represent variables and compute mathematical equations and functions. As students gain more programming expertise, the authors return to modeling concepts, providing starting code for a variety of exercises where students add additional code to solve the problem and provide an analysis of the outcomes. In this way, the book builds both modeling and programming expertise with a "just-in-time" approach so that by the end of the book, students can take on relatively simple modeling example on their own. Each chapter is supplemented with references to additional reading, tutorials, and exercises that guide students to additional help and allows them to practice both their programming and analytical modeling skills. In addition, each of the programming related chapters is divided into two parts - one for MATLAB and one for Python. In these chapters, the authors also refer to additional online tutorials that students can use if they are having difficulty with any of the topics. The book culminates with a set of final project exercise suggestions that incorporate both the modeling and programming skills provided in the rest of the volume. Those projects could be undertaken by individuals or small groups of students. The companion website at http://www.intromodeling.com provides updates to instructions when there are substantial changes in software versions, as well as electronic copies of exercises and the related code. The website also offers a space where people can suggest additional projects they are willing to share as well as comments on the existing projects and exercises throughout the book. Solutions and lecture notes will also be available for qualifying instructors.

An addictive thriller from the most sensational new voice in YA fiction. When sixteen-year-old Asha Kennedy discovers her older sister Maya's dead body in their home, her world falls apart. Desperate for answers, and to stay out of the hands of the social services she grew up in, Asha turns to her hacker friends for help. Her search leads her to Zu Tech, the hit games studio where Maya was a lead coder. As Asha begins to unravel the riddle of her death, she realises that the only way to uncover the truth is from the inside. Asha ghosts her old life and infiltrates a Zu Tech eSport tournament as they launch 'SHACKLE', the revolutionary Virtual Reality video game Maya was working on - and which hides a monstrous secret... Perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder A guaranteed page turner full of heart, tension and twists you won't see coming! The first book in a major new YA series

Surviving Game School speaks about what to expect in a top game design or game development college program, and what to expect once students get out. Making games is not at all the same as playing games. Uncommonly blunt, the book reveals the rigors - and the joys - of working in this industry. Along the way the book touches on themes of time management, creativity, teamwork, and burnout. The authors explore the impact working in the game industry can have on personal relationships and family life. The book closes with advice about life's goals and building and keeping a sensible balance between work and everything else. Key Features: What you can expect from a top college Game Design Program, from an experienced college professor What to expect while working in the games industry, from 25-year veteran game developer. How to find an industry job after gaining a relevant college degree How to build and maintain a satisfying career in the games industry

The Essential Guide to Game Audio: The Theory and Practice of Sound for Games is a first of its kind textbook and must-have reference guide for everything you ever wanted to know about sound for games. This book provides a basic overview of game audio, how it has developed over time, and how you can make a career in this industry. Each chapter gives you the background and context you will need to understand the unique workflow associated with interactive media. The practical, easy to understand interactive examples provide hands-on experience applying the concepts in real world situations.

This book explores hybrid play as a site of interdisciplinary activity-one that is capable of generating new forms of mobility, communication, subjects, and artistic expression as well as new ways of interacting with and understanding the world. The chapters in this collection explore hybrid making, hybrid subjects, and hybrid spaces, generating interesting conversations about the past, current and future nature of hybrid play. Together, the authors offer important insights into how place and space are co-constructed through play; how, when, and for what reasons people occupy hybrid spaces; and how cultural practices shape elements of play and vice versa. A diverse group of scholars and practitioners provides a rich interdisciplinary perspective, which will be of great interest to those working in the areas of games studies, media studies, communication, gender studies, and media arts.

Experience the thrill of crafting your own HTML5 game with Phaser.js game engine. HTML5 and modern JavaScript game engines have helped revolutionized web based games. Each chapter in An Introduction to HTML5 Game Development with Phaser.js showcases a sample game that illustrates an aspect of Phaser.js (now Lazer.js) that can be used as is, or in remixed games of the developer’s design. Each of these examples help the reader to understand how to optimize JavaScript game development with modern project tooling like Grunt and Bower. Though the world of HTML game development continues to grow and evolve, An Introduction to HTML5 Game Development with Phaser.js, provides a grounded resource and vital learning tool to anyone looking to optimize web game development process.

Key Features

Chapter objectives and examples with sample code make concepts easy to grasp

Master questions and chapter summaries further help to solidify these concepts

Feature boxes that contain important hints and things to note help keep readers on the right path

This book uses a "building blocks" approach to game development and starts with the technology required to get things running

Each chapter will be a small sample game that demonstrates one piece of Phaser.js, giving the reader time to grasp and understand the core concepts

Subsequent chapters will demonstrate new features, building upon the knowledge of previous examples

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: About HTML5 Games

Chapter 3: Workspace Setup

Chapter 4: Phaser – Basic Setup

Chapter 5: Phaser Basics

Chapter 6: Game Examples

Chapter 7: Deployment

Chapter 8: Conclusion

Appendices

Want to develop games for Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7? This hands-on book will get you started with Microsoft's XNA 4.0 development framework right away -- even if you have no experience developing games. Although XNA includes several key concepts that can be difficult for beginning web developers to grasp, "Learning XNA 4.0" shortens the learning curve by walking you through the framework in a clear and understandable step-by-step format.

Each chapter offers a self-contained lesson with illustrations and annotated examples, along with exercises and review questions to help you test your understanding and practice new skills as you go. Once you've finished this book, you'll know how to develop your own sophisticated games from start to finish. Learn game development from 2D animation to 3D cameras and effects Delve into high-level shader language (HLSL) and introductory artificial intelligence concepts Build three complete, exciting games using 2D, 3D, and multiplayer techniques Develop for and deploy your games to the Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7

Master game design and digital art principles simultaneously with this all-in-one guide to creating games in the cutting-edge game engine Unity. Reworked for C# and Unity 2018 & 2019, and bursting with images and tutorials, Penny de Byl's Holistic Game Development with Unity will help the reader gain the multidisciplinary skills needed to succeed in the independent game industry. Holistic Game Development with Unity includes new coverage on Augmented Reality, Networking, and Virtual Reality such as the Oculus Rift. Supplementary material, including instructional videos, discussion forums and art assets are provided in the companion website located at www.holistic3d.com. Learn to combine the beauty of art and the functionality of programming in de Byl's third edition for Unity game development. Key features: Art and programming in Unity, the only one-stop shop for individual developers and small teams looking to tackle both tasks. Proven step-by-step tutorials show you how to design and structure an entire game in Unity with art assets. Revised to cover the Unity game engine versions 2018 and 2019. New coverage of Nav Meshes, Augmented Reality, Mobile Builds and Mecanim. An introduction to essential two- and three-dimensional mathematical and physics concepts. A portfolio of royalty free reusable game mechanics. Revamped and expanded accompanying website, www.holistic3d.com, features project source code, instructional videos, art assets, author blog, and discussion forums. Additional challenge questions and lesson plans are available online for an enhanced learning experience.