This comprehensive resource examines the rapidly-growing esports phenomenon in higher education, bringing the perspectives of players, administrators, and scholars together in one volume to discuss the basics of esports, how to start and maintain successful esports programs, and issues and trends in the field. Esports are a global phenomenon with an estimated audience of 400 million people in 2018. Given their already strong base and rising popularity on college campuses, esports have been referred to as the new college football. This book offers practical insights into how to develop and maintain an esports program that is consistent with institutional purposes and values. The book is helpful to all types of institutions (small to large, public and private, 2-year or 4-year). It draws on current scholarship and the professional experience of the authors, focused heavily on practical advice for higher education professionals. Among the challenges of esports in higher education the book addresses are competition structure, competition climate, child protection, cheating, gambling, lack of reliable relevant data to inform decisions, and the advent of an esports arms race. Some of the opportunities described in the book include student recruitment and success networks with high schools, and partnerships with the esports industry. Done correctly, esports can provide a structured way for all students (on campus, off campus, and online) to engage in both curricular and cocurricular programming that can provide measurable learning outcomes and have a positive impact on retention rates.

The Art of Titanfall 2 is the ultimate guide to the development of Respawn Entertainment's fast-paced, visually stunning first-person shooter. Featuring an exclusive array of highly stylised concept art, sketches, 3D renders, maquette modelling, and commentary from key Respawn Entertainment team members, this is a must-have for any fan of the dynamic and destructive world of Titanfall 2.

Games are poised for a major evolution, driven by growth in technical sophistication and audience reach. Characters that create powerful social and emotional connections with players throughout the game-play itself (not just in cut scenes) will be essential to next-generation games. However, the principles of sophisticated character design and interaction are not widely understood within the game development community. Further complicating the situation are powerful gender and cultural issues that can influence perception of characters. Katherine Isbister has spent the last 10 years examining what makes interactions with computer characters useful and engaging to different audiences. This work has revealed that the key to good design is leveraging player psychology: understanding what's memorable, exciting, and useful to a person about real-life social interactions, and applying those insights to character design. Game designers who create great characters often make use of these psychological principles without realizing it. Better Game Characters by Design gives game design professionals and other interactive media designers a framework for understanding how social roles and perceptions affect players' reactions to characters, helping produce stronger designs and better results.

COLLADA is a COLLAborative Design Activity for establishing an open standard Digital Asset schema for interactive 3D applications. This book explains in detail how to use the COLLADA technology in a project utilizing 3D assets, and ultimately how to create an effective content creation pipeline for the most complex development. Errata are posted at http://collada.org/mediawiki/index.php/COLLADA_book.

For the first time in print, step into the fantasy world of The Elder Scrolls Online. Tales of Tamriel - Vol. I: The Land takes readers on an adventure throughout the war-torn landscapes and battlefields of Tamriel, featuring a horde of in-game texts and exclusive artwork. Lavishly bound and produced, this series of books is the definitive guide to lore from the Elder Scrolls Online.

This is an excellent resource for programmers who need to learn Java but aren't interested in just reading about concepts. "Introduction to Java Programming with Games" follows a spiral approach to introduce concepts and enable them to write game programs as soon as they start. It includes code examples and problems that are easy to understand and motivates them to work through to find the solutions. This game-motivated presentation will help programmers quickly apply what they've learned in order to build their skills.

Perhaps the fastest growing facet of American popular culture, the video game industry is Hollywood's premier rival in the entertainment business. But stacks of new releases for gaming enthusiasts mean more than just boom season for a burgeoning industry. Since tabletop fantasy role-playing games emerged in the 1970s, fantasy gaming has made a unique contribution to popular culture and perceptions of social realities in America. This book presents the most current research in fantasy games and examines the cultural and constructionist dimensions of fantasy gaming as a leisure activity. Each chapter investigates some social or behavioural aspect of fantasy gaming and provides insight into the cultural, linguistic, sociological, and psychological impact of games on both the individual and society. Section I discusses the intersection of fantasy and real-world scenarios and how the construction of a fantasy world is dialectically related to the construction of a gamer's social reality. Because the basic premise of fantasy gaming is the assumption of virtual identities, Section II looks at the relationship between gaming and various aspects of identity. The third and final section examines what the personal experiences of gamers can tell us about how humans experience reality. These concluding studies assess the pedagogical value of fantasy games in terms of both formal education and social morality.

This book brings the insights of game professionals, DCC creators, hardware vendors, and current researchers together into a collection that focuses on the most underrepresented and critical part of game production: tools development. The first gems-type book dedicated to game tools, this volume focuses on practical, implementable tools for game development professionals. Topics range from asset tracking to improving remote version control performance to robust and efficient IO. Technical artists, as well as game play, audio, and graphics programmers will find new tools to improve work flow and help build games faster.

Well-known Maya professional, Michael Ingrassia, takes readers through his unique style of modeling: "Image Based Modeling" where efficient, realistic models can be created very quickly. Ingrassia's techniques allow modelers to create exact replicas of their concept characters or objects. The techniques presented are very efficient and allow game modelers to quickly build out stand alone props to populate environments and game levels. Presented are tried and true techniques that the author has used successfully in game production for the past 10 years. Most, if not all 3D books, focus on basic "box" modeling techniques, which are the basis for proper 3D modeling but not the complete solution. In the author's experience, students who have learned through the Image Based Modeling brand, have quickly excelled into effective modelers. One of the hardest things for any modeler to do is match their model EXACTLY to the concept art or photos they are provided. The insider tips in this book walk artists through this process. Artists begin with basic modeling and advance to a creating a complete scene and set design/game level. Rather than including sporadic models with zero association from to one another, each model in the book becomes an integral part of an overall theme realistic in game development today. The accompanying downloadable resources include 8 exclusive video tutorials on advanced Maya techniques as bonus tracks for artists providing invaluable modeling, rigging and texturing samples. Also, an in-depth video on assembling a "Killer Demo Reel" showing simple but effective video editing techniques used by the author so that artists can learn how to get their work seen. The book not only teaches effective methodology, but provides the user with impressive content for producing effective demo reels and portfolios. Pros and cons of demo reel, website and artist representation are given, along with insights into the expectations of game studios today. The video tutorials show users the finished product, and then run through the process of step by step creation of that particular technique.

The definitive guide to more effective and personally fulfilling game development with Agile Methods-now revamped to reflect ten more years of experience and improvements Game development is in crisis-facing bloated budgets, impossible schedules, unmanageable complexity, and death-march overtime. It's no wonder so many development studios are struggling to survive. Fortunately, there is a solution. Agile and Lean methods have revolutionized development in the game development industry. In Agile Game Development, long-time game developer and consultant Clinton Keith shows exactly how these methods have been successfully applied to the unique challenges of modern game development. Clint has spent more than 25 years developing games and training and coaching hundreds of game development teams. Drawing on this unparalleled expertise, he shows how teams can use the practices of Scrum and Kanban, customized to game development, to deliver games more efficiently, rapidly, and cost-effectively; craft games that offer more entertainment value; and make life more fulfilling for development teams at the same time. Contains several new chapters on live games, leadership, and coaching, including an all-new section on Agile for large teams of up to 1000 developers Updates to all chapters to reflect a decade of experience with more than 200 studios Now covering Kanban and other Agile approaches alongside Scrum Understanding Agile goals, roles, and practices in the context of game development Discovering how Agile benefits every specialty in game development from art to QA Communicating and planning your game's vision, features, and progress Game developers and leaders are recognizing the modern challenges of gaming. Game development organizations need a far better way to work. Agile Game Development gives them that-and brings the profitability, creativity, and fun back to game development.

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

Steve Rabin's Game AI Pro 360: Guide to Architecture gathers all the cutting-edge information from his previous three Game AI Pro volumes into a convenient single source anthology covering game AI architecture. This volume is complete with articles by leading game AI programmers that further explore modern architecture such as behavior trees and share architectures used in top games such as Final Fantasy XV, the Call of Duty series and the Guild War series. Key Features Provides real-life case studies of game AI in published commercial games Material by top developers and researchers in Game AI Downloadable demos and/or source code available online

This book offers a perspective into a phenomenon becoming more and more common: AAA developers 'going indie'. Written through the personal story of the author finding his way into the AAA games space, only to retreat back to indie games and consulting work and finding a new-old life making games for himself, and finding fulfillment in doing so. It is both a word of warning to creatives seeking a corporation and a call for disillusioned developers to break free and do something wild, creative, and unexpected. It is critical of common industry issues such as structural crunch, health issues, work life balance, and more, but is also a personal story of mismatched needs in doing creative work. Key Features Under-explored viewpoint of the games industry, someone who worked for years to 'break in', then worked for years to 'break out'. Offers a unique look at making an indie game life both financially and mentally feasible. Encourages developers sitting on the fence to take the plunge.

From a steamy jungle to a modern city, or even a sci-fi space station, 3D Game Environments is the ultimate resource to help you create AAA quality art for a variety of game worlds. Primarily using Photoshop and 3ds Max, students will learn to create realistic textures from photo source and a variety of techniques to portray dynamic and believable game worlds. With detailed tutorials on creating 3D models, applying 2D art to 3D models, and clear concise advice on issues of efficiency and optimization for a 3D game engine, Luke Ahearn gives you everything students need to make their own realistic game environments. Key Features The entire game world development process; from planning to 3D modeling, UV layout, and creating textures. Exercises and projects to practice with; each section includes projects to guide you through creating different world genres. The updated companion website-www.lukeahearn.com/textures/ now includes video tutorials in addition to updated sample textures, shaders, materials, actions, brushes, program demos, plug-ins and all art from the book-all the tools you need in one place.

A textbook for learning 3d modeling fundamentals, this step-by-step lesson book develops the readers modeling skills through a series of modeling exercises creating modules for a medieval castle environment. As the text introduces new modeling skills it additionally calls on the reader to perform repetitive tasks, reinforcing skills learned in the process. The content is presented as if the reader is in a working video game studio, being responsible for researching asset design, providing the team with placeholder assets, and final model assets that are unwrapped and custom textured. Upon completion of the modeling projects, the modeled environment is exported to the Unity game engine for use in a real game environment, Although the text uses Autodesk 3ds Max for the modeling program, the principals are transferable to other major modeling programs. Key Features: The goal of this book is to teach the fundamentals of 3d modeling video game assets in a simplified, logical progression, optimized for learning at a beginner level. This series of modeling exercises is the result of having taught over one thousand video game students the fundamentals of 3d modeling. Often, teachers are not fully trained in teaching the concepts of 3d modeling. This text, written for self-paced learning helps those instructors. Includes instructions and project files for exporting the finished project environment into a 3d game engine, Unity. Appendices include additional 3ds Max tool instructions. A companion site includes working 3ds Max project files for Chapters, a 3ds Max user interface and 3ds Max short cut keys and more.

A laugh-out-loud 'best of' selection of TommyInnit's most weird and wonderful quotes - plus much more - carefully selected to BLOW YOUR MIND by him and best friend Wilbur Soot. 'Nah, I think I'd be a pretty bad shark' 'What if God was just legs?' 'We're really just chilling, fellas' Born sometime in the early 2000s, TommyInnit's first job was a YouTuber. No, really, we're not joking, the very first job he had was a YouTuber. For the last three years, he's been mouthing off on the internet to anyone who will listen. So far, that's over 40 million followers. Will there ever be an end to TommyInnit's rampant flurry of success? Probably. And Wilbur Soot has been right by his side. Wilbur first started his career as a young man staring at the wall until he also became a YouTuber. He also discovered a little activity some may call 'singing'. In The Quote Book, TommyInnit covers a wealth of topics from cars-that-grow-teeth to slime people, and from things that be crazy to octopi. Curated and edited by Wilbur Soot, TommyInnit is about to change your life one word at a time. Unless, dear reader, you read two words at a time, like he does. Featuring: A day in the life Inside TommyInnit's brain What TommyInnit would do if he was God Life advice from Wilbur Love poetry and history lessons, TommyInnit style Wilbur's attempts to reason with TommyInnit

Dr. Alireza Tavakkoli's Game Development and Simulation with Unreal Technology covers the latest version of Unreal Technology. Since the 1990s Epic Games, Inc. has been leading the revolution of gaming graphics and Artificial Intelligence. Now, unreal technology is one of the most potent and prominent engines that is currently used in games. Its influence can be spotted in classic triple A titles like, Fortnite, Gears of War 2, Borderlands 2, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Tavakkoli goes into detail concerning the creation of game level designs, blueprint coding, shader programing, as well as artificial intelligence concepts to help readers in creating their own games. Game Development also includes a number of practice friendly extensions and concept modules to help solidify the reader's understanding of concepts and techniques. The book is divided into three sections that act as building blocks in order to facilitate the comprehension of the material. Key Features: Provides beginner level through advanced concepts in blueprint programming with the Unreal Engine 4.18 Hundreds of small/mid-scale projects developed as concept examples throughout the book which can be utilized in more comprehensive entertaining interactive computer simulations and games Chapter exercises will take the readers' understanding of Unreal Engine to the next level.

An in-depth analysis of the best video game franchises, characters, consoles, and computers of the 1980's. Curating the most important games, including Pac Man, Tetris, Frogger, Outrun, Zelda, Super Mario, and more, as well as the hardware: the NES, C64, Sega Mega System, the Amiga 50, and more.

Super Mario Bros. Doom. Minecraft. It's hard to imagine what life would be like today without video games, a creative industry that now towers over Hollywood in terms of both financial and cultural impact. The video game industry caters to everyone, with games in every genre for every conceivable electronic device--from dedicated PC gaming rigs and consoles to handhelds, mobile phones, and tablets. Successful games are produced by mega-corporations, independent studios, and even lone developers working with nothing but free tools. Some may still believe that video games are mere diversions for children, but today's games offer sophisticated and wondrously immersive experiences that no other media can hope to match. Vintage Games 2.0 tells the story of the ultimate storytelling medium, from early examples such as Spacewar! and Pong to the mind blowing console and PC titles of today. Written in a smart and engaging style, this updated 2nd edition is far more than just a survey of the classics. Informed by hundreds of in-depth personal interviews with designers, publishers, marketers, and artists--not to mention the author's own lifelong experience as a gamer--Vintage Games 2.0 uncovers the remarkable feats of intellectual genius, but also the inspiring personal struggles of the world's most brilliant and celebrated game designers--figures like Shigeru Miyamoto, Will Wright, and Roberta Williams. Ideal for both beginners and professionals, Vintage Games 2.0 offers an entertaining and inspiring account of video game's history and meteoric rise from niche market to global phenomenon. Credit for the cover belongs to Thor Thorvaldson.

Despite its significant growth over the past five years, the mobile and social videogame industry is still maturing at a rapid rate. Due to various storage and visual and sound asset restrictions, mobile and social gaming must have innovative storytelling techniques. Narrative Tactics grants readers practical advice for improving narrative design and game writing for mobile and social games, and helps them rise to the challenge of mobile game storytelling. The first half of the book covers general storytelling techniques, including worldbuilding, character design, dialogue, and quests. In the second half, leading experts in the field explore various genres and types of mobile and social games, including educational games, licensed IP, games for specific demographics, branding games, and free to play (F2P). Key Features The only book dedicated to narrative design and game writing in social and mobile games, an explosive market overtaking the console gaming market. Provides tips for narrative design and writing tailored specifically for mobile and social game markets. Guides readers along with conclusions that include questions to help the reader in narrative design and/or writing. Explores real games to illustrate theory and best practices with analyses of game case studies per chapter, covering indie, social/mobile, and AAA games. Includes checklists to help readers critique their own narrative design/writing.

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

Real-Time Rendering combines fundamental principles with guidance on the latest techniques to provide a complete reference on three-dimensional interactive computer graphics. It will help you increase speed and improve image quality and learn the features and limitations of acceleration algorithms and graphics APIs. This latest fourth edition has been updated to include a chapter on virtual reality and augmented reality and covers new topics such as visual appearance, global illumination, and curves and curved surfaces. It is for anyone serious about computer graphics who wants to learn about algorithms that create synthetic images fast enough that the viewer can interact with a virtual environment. Reviews "This is the book I recommend to everyone starting out in the industry. Not only is it a great reference on so many topics, each topic is covered in impressive depth with great references for further exploration." - Alex Vlachos, Valve "Real-Time Rendering condenses literally thousands of cutting-edge papers, talks, and blogs into a single, easy-to-read volume presenting today's best practices, open problems, and promising state-of-the-art research. A key reference for beginners and experts!" - Chris Wyman, Principal Research Scientist, NVIDIA "Since it was first published, Real-Time Rendering has been an invaluable companion to anyone who wants to keep up with this dynamic field. It combines rigorous coverage of the fundamentals with up-to-date discussion of the latest techniques. The fourth edition is required reading for anyone serious about computer graphics." - Matt Pharr, co-author of Physically Based Rendering: From Theory to Implementation "I built our rendering engine and my career on what I learned in previous editions of Real-Time Rendering. This new edition is carefully updated to represent the current state of our field, and will remain the first resource I check when tackling a new challenge." - Patrick Cozzi, Principal Graphics Architect, Cesium, and co-editor of OpenGL Insights "Real-Time Rendering is the first book I recommend reading to anyone who wants to learn real-time graphics. All the relevant knowledge in one place, and a joy to read, too!" - Aras Pranckevicius, Unity Technologies About the Cover: The cover shows an example of advanced real-time rendering technology used in the 2018 Star Wars (TM) short Reflections, which includes real-time ray tracing of reflections and area light shadows computed on the GPU. The short was produced by Epic Games and built in Unreal Engine in collaboration with ILMxLAB and NVIDIA.

Considered a sign of the 'coming of age' of video games as an artistic medium, the award-winning BioShock franchise covers vast philosophical ground. BioShock and Philosophy: Irrational Game, Rational Book presents expert reflections by philosophers (and Bioshock connoisseurs) on this critically acclaimed and immersive fan-favorite. Reveals the philosophical questions raised through the artistic complexity, compelling characters and absorbing plots of this ground-breaking first-person shooter (FPS) Explores what BioShock teaches the gamer about gaming, and the aesthetics of video game storytelling Addresses a wide array of topics including Marxism, propaganda, human enhancement technologies, political decision-making, free will, morality, feminism, transworld individuality, and vending machines in the dystopian society of Rapture Considers visionary game developer Ken Levine's depiction of Ayn Rand's philosophy, as well as the theories of Aristotle, de Beauvoir, Dewey, Leibniz, Marx, Plato, and others from the Hall of Philosophical Heroes