The Star Wars battles you've always you've always dreamed of are here! Fight for the Rebels or the Empire with up to 40 players in multiplayer matches, along with solo challenges and a co-op matches, along with solo challenges and a co-op mode. Pilot massive AT-ATs, the Millennium Falcon, TIE Fighters, and more. Play as some of your favourite characters, like Darth Vader and Boba Fett. Premium hardcover and content only available in the Collector's Edition. Earn every Achievement / Trophy with our thorough coverage. Dominate battle with expert strategies for multiplayer matches and co-op play. Learn about the best uses for every weapon and vehicle in the game. Includes a free mobile-friendly eGuide! These limited guides will only be printed once. When they are sold out, they will be gone forever!

Ready to make amazing games for the iPhone and iPad? With Apple's Swift programming language, it's never been easier. This updated cookbook provides detailed recipes for managing a wide range of common iOS game-development issues, ranging from 2D and 3D math, SpriteKit, and OpenGL to augmented reality with ARKit. You get simple, direct solutions to common problems found in iOS game programming. Need to figure out how to give objects physical motion, or want a refresher on gaming-related math problems? This book provides sample projects and straightforward answers. All you need to get started is some familiarity with iOS development in Swift. For more information and resources, check out the book's website at https://www.secretlab.com.au/books/ios-game-dev-cookbook-swift.

Create your own innovative applications in computer vision, game design, music, robotics, and other areas by taking full advantage of Kinect's extensive interactive, multi-media platform. With this book, you get a step-by-step walkthrough of the best techniques and tools to come out of the OpenKinect project, the largest and most active Kinect hacking community.

Learn dozens of hacks for building interfaces that respond to body movements, gestures, and voice, using open source toolkits such as openFrameworks, the Processing IDE, and OpenKinect driver library. Whether you're an artist, designer, researcher, or hobbyist, this book will give you a running start with Kinect. Set up a development environment in Windows 7, Mac OSX, or Ubuntu Build special effects apps with tools such as Synapse and Cinder Create gestural interfaces to integrate and control digital music components Capture the realistic motions of a 3D model with NI mate, Blender, and Animata Design gesture-based games with the ZigFu SDK Recreate the dimensions of any room in realtime, using RGBDemo Use gestures to navigate robots and control PC interfaces

A comprehensive, practical guide to composing video game music, from acquiring the necessary skills to finding work in the field. Music in video games is often a sophisticated, complex composition that serves to engage the player, set the pace of play, and aid interactivity. Composers of video game music must master an array of specialized skills not taught in the conservatory, including the creation of linear loops, music chunks for horizontal resequencing, and compositional fragments for use within a generative framework. In A Composer's Guide to Game Music, Winifred Phillips-herself an award-winning composer of video game music-provides a comprehensive, practical guide that leads an aspiring video game composer from acquiring the necessary creative skills to understanding the function of music in games to finding work in the field. Musicians and composers may be drawn to game music composition because the game industry is a multibillion-dollar, employment-generating economic powerhouse, but, Phillips writes, the most important qualification for a musician who wants to become a game music composer is a love of video games. Phillips offers detailed coverage of essential topics, including musicianship and composition experience; immersion; musical themes; music and game genres; workflow; working with a development team; linear music; interactive music, both rendered and generative; audio technology, from mixers and preamps to software; and running a business. A Composer's Guide to Game Music offers indispensable guidance for musicians and composers who want to deploy their creativity in a dynamic and growing industry, protect their musical identities while working in a highly technical field, and create great music within the constraints of a new medium.

How to Make a Movie on a Tight BudgetToday's indie film market is growing by leaps and bounds and filmmaker Rickey Bird and screenwriter and novelist Al Guevara are on a mission to help indie moviemakers everywhere. Bird and Guevara want to show aspiring filmmakers how to overcome common movie and video production problems: Not enough money for crews Over budget and likely making the wrong movie Can't get the attention of an indie studio Should have started with a short film to gain attention Amateur Movie & Video Production. Thousands of aspiring filmmakers are learning how to use cheaper, widely available filmmaking technology, and the craft of making movies from books pulled from bookstore and library shelves. Their work is totally DIY and they are the most creative people you will ever meet. Rickey Bird's Hectic Films is a Southern California enterprise building a filmmaking empire on a budget. His short films, feature films, micro docs and tutorials have landed in some of the biggest American film festivals and been seen online worldwide. The result? Millions of views worth of exposure from films online, in festivals and creative marketing literally on the street. His many projects have seen leading B actors like Hulk Hogan and Vernon Wells (Mad Max Road Warrior), make-up artists from the TV show Grimm, and stuntmen from the Call of Duty games. What you'll learn in this book: How planning and shooting a short film today can lead to a feature-length project tomorrow Everything you need to know about writing a movie project on a burger budget Tips on how to find locations and not get arrested Shooting tips galore for building exciting scenes Sound and film editing tips and all kinds of special effects wizardry, including puppetry Screenings, promotions, and juicy tips on film festival strategy If you liked books such as How to Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck, The Filmmaker's Handbook, or Rebel Without a Crew, you'll love Cheap Movie Tricks.

Create a real 2D game from start to finish with ImpactJS, the JavaScript game framework that works with the HTML5's Canvas element. Making video games is hard work that requires technical skills, a lot of planning, and--most critically--a commitment to completing the project. With this hands-on guide, you'll learn how to use Impact with other technologies step-by-step.

You'll pick up important tips about game design, and discover how to publish Impact games to the Web, desktop, and mobile--including a method to package your game as a native iOS app. Packed with screen shots and sample code, this book is ideal for game developers of all levels. Set up your development environment and discover Impact's advantages Build a complete game with core logic, collision detection, and player and monster behavior Learn why a game design document is critical before you start building Display and animate game artwork with sprite sheets Add sound effects, background music, and text Create screens to display stats and in-game status Prepare to publish by baking your game files into a single file

Inside the Games You Grew Up with but Never Forgot
With all the whiz, bang, pop, and shimmer of a glowing arcade. The Ultimate History of Video Games reveals everything you ever wanted to know and more about the unforgettable games that changed the world, the visionaries who made them, and the fanatics who played them. From the arcade to television and from the PC to the handheld device, video games have entraced kids at heart for nearly 30 years. And author and gaming historian Steven L. Kent has been there to record the craze from the very beginning.
This engrossing book tells the incredible tale of how this backroom novelty transformed into a cultural phenomenon. Through meticulous research and personal interviews with hundreds of industry luminaries, you'll read firsthand accounts of how yesterday's games like Space Invaders, Centipede, and Pac-Man helped create an arcade culture that defined a generation, and how today's empires like Sony, Nintendo, and Electronic Arts have galvanized a multibillion-dollar industry and a new generation of games. Inside, you'll discover:
·The video game that saved Nintendo from bankruptcy
·The serendipitous story of Pac-Man's design
·The misstep that helped topple Atari's $2 billion-a-year empire
·The coin shortage caused by Space Invaders
·The fascinating reasons behind the rise, fall, and rebirth of Sega
·And much more!
Entertaining, addictive, and as mesmerizing as the games it chronicles, this book is a must-have for anyone who's ever touched a joystick.

Explore the faster way to build games using UE5 Blueprints using this practical guide with key images printed in color Key Features Design a fully functional game in UE5 without writing a single line of code Implement visual scripting to develop gameplay mechanics, UI, visual effects, VR, and artificial intelligence Deploy your game on multiple platforms and share it with the world Book DescriptionUnreal Engine's Blueprint visual scripting system enables designers to script their games and programmers to create base elements that can be extended by designers. With this book, you'll explore all the features of the Blueprint Editor, along with expert tips, shortcuts, and best practices. The book guides you through using variables, macros, and functions, and helps you learn about object-oriented programming (OOP). You'll discover the Gameplay Framework and advance to learning how Blueprint Communication allows one Blueprint to access information from another Blueprint. Later chapters focus on building a fully functional game step by step. You'll start with a basic first-person shooter (FPS) template, and each chapter will build on the prototype to create an increasingly complex and robust game experience. You'll then progress from creating basic shooting mechanics to more complex systems such as user interface elements and intelligent enemy behavior. The book demonstrates how to use arrays, maps, enums, and vector operations and introduces the elements needed for VR game development. In the final chapters, you'll learn how to implement procedural generation and create a product configurator. By the end of this book, you'll have learned how to build a fully functional game and have the skills required to develop an entertaining experience for your audience. What you will learn Understand programming concepts in Blueprints Create prototypes and iterate new game mechanics rapidly Build user interface elements and interactive menus Use advanced Blueprint nodes to manage the complexity of a game Explore all the features of the Blueprint editor, such as the Components tab, Viewport, and Event Graph Get to grips with OOP concepts and explore the Gameplay Framework Work with virtual reality development in UE Blueprint Implement procedural generation and create a product configurator Who this book is forThis book is for anyone interested in developing games or applications with UE5. Although basic knowledge of Windows OS is required, experience in programming or UE5 is not necessary.

The success of Angry Birds, Peggle, and Fruit Ninja has proven that fun and immersive game experiences can be created in two dimensions. Furthermore, 2D graphics enable developers to quickly prototype ideas and mechanics using fewer resources than 3D. 2D Graphics Programming for Games provides an in-depth single source on creating 2D graphics that can be easily applied to many game platforms, including iOS, Android, Xbox 360, and the PlayStation Suite. The author presents examples not only from video games but also from art and animated film. The book helps new programmers learn the concepts and techniques used to produce appealing 2D graphics. It starts with the basics and then covers topics pertaining to motion and depth, such as cel animation, tiling, and layering. The text also describes advanced graphics, including the use of particle systems, shaders, and splines. Code samples in the text and online allow readers to see a particular line of code in action or as it relates to the code around it. In addition, challenges and suggested projects encourage readers to work through problems, experiment with solutions, and tinker with code. Full of practical tools and tricks, this color book gives novices in-depth guidance on making professional, high-quality graphics for games. It also improves the relationship between programmers and artists by explaining how certain art and design challenges can be solved with a programmatic solution.

An exploration of the way videogames mount arguments and make expressive statements about the world that analyzes their unique persuasive power in terms of their computational properties. Videogames are an expressive medium, and a persuasive medium; they represent how real and imagined systems work, and they invite players to interact with those systems and form judgments about them. In this innovative analysis, Ian Bogost examines the way videogames mount arguments and influence players. Drawing on the 2,500-year history of rhetoric, the study of persuasive expression, Bogost analyzes rhetoric's unique function in software in general and videogames in particular. The field of media studies already analyzes visual rhetoric, the art of using imagery and visual representation persuasively. Bogost argues that videogames, thanks to their basic representational mode of procedurality (rule-based representations and interactions), open a new domain for persuasion; they realize a new form of rhetoric. Bogost calls this new form "procedural rhetoric," a type of rhetoric tied to the core affordances of computers: running processes and executing rule-based symbolic manipulation. He argues further that videogames have a unique persuasive power that goes beyond other forms of computational persuasion. Not only can videogames support existing social and cultural positions, but they can also disrupt and change these positions themselves, leading to potentially significant long-term social change. Bogost looks at three areas in which videogame persuasion has already taken form and shows considerable potential: politics, advertising, and learning.

Welcome to the sixth volume of the Game Programming Gems series. With team sizes constantly expanding, developers are finding themselves pushed to become increasingly specialized. This makes it important to have cutting-edge, ready-to-use material in your specialization, as well as resources that you can call upon if you need to work outside your area of expertise. Volume 6 has been explicitly designed with your current challenges in mind. With the new generation of machines, players expect higher-fidelity models and animations, fancier physics and graphics effects, and more intelligent AI. All of these capabilities require robust teams and longer schedules, so to help ensure that your games are still delivered on time and on budget, youall find 50 all new articles written by experts in game technology from many different backgrounds and over twenty countries. This volume also includes a brand new section dedicated to Scripting and Data-Driven Systems, which is focused entirely on the growing trend of removing the programmer from the data-tweaking loop. So, whether you're a new game programmer starting out on this exciting path, a grizzled, industry veteran, or a most welcome visitor, we hope that you will find inspiration, insight, and at least one or two true gems to use in your world!

Naughty Dog Studios and Dark Horse proudly present the essential companion to "The Last of Us," a richly detailed and compelling game set in a postpandemic world where humans have become an endangered species. Featuring concept art, character designs, and astonishing settings and landscapes, "The Art of" The Last of Us provides a unique look at one of the gaming world's most eagerly anticipated titles.
* A must-have companion to the game.
* Incredible full-color artwork
* The latest project from Naughty Dog Studios.
* "The Last of Us" swept the top Game Critics awards at 2012's E3 conference.

Do you have what it takes to become a game developer? With this hands-on book, you'll learn quickly and easily how to develop computer games with Microsoft's XNA 3.0 framework-not just for your PC, but for Xbox 360 and the Microsoft Zune as well. Written by an experienced university-level game development instructor, Learning XNA 3.0 walks you through the framework in a clear and understandable step-by-step format. Each chapter offers a self-contained lesson with lots of illustrations and annotated examples to help you master key concepts. Once you finish the book, you'll know how to develop sophisticated games from start to finish. Learn game development concepts from 2D animation to 3D cameras and effects Delve into high-level shader language (HLSL) and introductory artificial intelligence concepts Develop three complete and exciting games using 2D,3D and multiplayer concepts Develop and deploy games to the Xbox 360 and the Microsoft Zune

While teaching XNA to beginning game developers, author Aaron Reed noticed that several key concepts were difficult for students to grasp. Learning XNA 3.0 was written specifically to address those issues. With this book, you can test your understanding and practice new skills as you go with unique "Test Your Knowledge" exercises and review questions in each chapter. Why wait? Amaze your family and friends by building your own games for the PC, Xbox 360, and Zune-with Learning XNA 3.0. "An outstanding book Teaches you XNA development in a smart way, starting from 2D basics and going into 3D and shader development. What I really like is the 'peeling the onion' approach the author takes, which builds up knowledge from previous chapters." --David "LetsKillDave" Weller, CEO, Cogito Ergonomics, LLC, and former XNA program manager

Play Anything is nothing short of brilliant... I will be recommending this provocative and entertaining book to everyone I know." u- Jane McGonigal, bestselling author of Reality is Broken and SuperBetter ife is boring: filled with meetings and traffic, errands and emails. Nothing we'd ever call fun . But what if we've gotten fun wrong? In Play Anything, visionary game designer and philosopher Ian Bogost shows how we can overcome our daily anxiety transforming the boring, ordinary world around us into one of endless, playful possibilities.The key to this playful mindset lies in discovering the secret truth of fun and games. Play Anything, reveals that games appeal to us not because they are fun, but because they set limitations . Soccer wouldn't be soccer if it wasn't composed of two teams of eleven players using only their feet, heads, and torsos to get a ball into a goal Tetris wouldn't be Tetris without falling pieces in characteristic shapes. Such rules seem needless, arbitrary, and difficult. Yet it is the limitations that make games enjoyable, just like it's the hard things in life that give it meaning. Play is what happens when we accept these limitations, narrow our focus, and, consequently, have fun. Which is also how to live a good life. Manipulating a soccer ball into a goal is no different than treating ordinary circumstances, like grocery shopping, lawn mowing, and making PowerPoints,as sources for meaning and joy. We can play anything" by filling our days with attention and discipline, devotion and love for the world as it really is, beyond our desires and fears.Ranging from Internet culture to moral philosophy, ancient poetry to modern consumerism, Bogost shows us how today's chaotic world can only be tamed,and enjoyed,when we first impose boundaries on ourselves. "An essential read for those seeking to understand how a new idea of play can be positive for our lives." u- Library Journal (STARRED review) /u Play Anything is a profound book: both a striking assessment of our current cultural landscape, and at the same time a smart self-improvement guide, teaching us the virtues of a life lived playfully." u- Steven Johnson, author of How We Got To Now and Everything Bad Is Good For You /u

Phone application development is a phenomenon, with games the hottest commodity on the App Store. And Unity is a hugely powerful game engine that is fast becoming the most loved middleware in the game world, revolutionizing game development and making game creation for the iPhone much more accessible and fun for artists. With these two killer platforms (iPhone and Unity) game developers are empowered to create compelling games but they must be careful to specifically address the unique challenges of the iPhone hardware cpu and gpu requirements. Art in this medium must adhere to specific specs like: texture size, polygon count, and shader support, so that the 3D content looks great and runs optimally. This book teaches artists how to circumvent the potential pitfalls of the medium by doing things like "batching," "creating meshes," and "sharing materials" to improve performance. Learn how to create stunning 3D game assets using Luxology's artist-friendly modo, and Blender, the free open-source 3D app. And optimize your art for the iPhone through exercises in modelling characters and environmental assets, texturing painting, animating skinned characters, UV Mapping and baking light information, as well as importing the assets and setting up shaders. The companion web site offers the assets and scene files in the book, and several video walkthrough further illustrating concepts covered in the book. **The author will also deploy a demo of the game assets to the App Store in the form of an iPhone/iPad app that mimics the look and feel of the book. The app will be available free

BlackBerry smart phones aren't just for business. In fact, throw away that boring spreadsheet, tear up that yearly budget reportthe BlackBerry is a lean, mean game-playing machine. Carol Hamer and Andrew Davison, expert software game developers, show you how to leverage the BlackBerry Java Development Environment (based on Java ME) to design and create fun, sophisticated game applications from role playing to dueling with light sabers. The BlackBerry: not as clumsy or as random as a blasteran elegant device, for a more civilized age.

In this book, Carol and Andrew give you the professional techniques you need to use music, 2D and 3D graphics, maps, and game design patterns to build peer-to-peer games, role playing games, and more for the BlackBerry. What you'll learn How to build a custom user interface with your game's theme How to take your graphics to the next level with SVG and OpenGL ES How to boogie on down with a MMAPI music player How to optimize your games with BlackBerry-specific APIs and tools How to program games for any BlackBerry device, from the earliest Java-enabled smartphones to models that run the BlackBerry 5 operating system How to build games for two players or the whole world with GPS, SMS, and the Internet How to create space adventures that may confound your mind with their awesomeness. How to drive a toy sports car from your BlackBerry using Bluetooth and USB How to sell your game on BlackBerry App World and beyond Who this book is for

This book is for game enthusiasts and software engineers who know at least a bit of Java and want to program games for the BlackBerry. No prior knowledge of Micro Edition programming is required. Table of Contents Gaming on BlackBerry BlackBerry Application Basics Game Graphics and Events with MIDP and RIM Classes Adding a Professional Look and Feel Security and Selling Your Game Swingin' Light Saber Play a Live Opponent with SMS Using Scalable Vector Graphics Creating Role-Playing Games on the Internet Remotely Drive a (Toy) Sports Car Fox and Hounds Introducing 3D with JSR 239

This is the first textbook dedicated to explaining how artificial intelligence (AI) techniques can be used in and for games. After introductory chapters that explain the background and key techniques in AI and games, the authors explain how to use AI to play games, to generate content for games and to model players. The book will be suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses in games, artificial intelligence, design, human-computer interaction, and computational intelligence, and also for self-study by industrial game developers and practitioners. The authors have developed a website (http://www.gameaibook.org) that complements the material covered in the book with up-to-date exercises, lecture slides and reading.

Transnational Play approaches gameplay as a set of practices and a global industry that includes diverse participation from players and developers located within the global South, in nations outside of the First World. Players experience play in game cafes, through casual games for regional and global causes like environmentalism, through piracy and cheats, via cultural localization, on their mobile phones, and through urban playful art in Latin America. This book offers a reorientation of perspective on the global developers who make games, as well as the players who consume games, while still acknowledging geographically distributed socioeconomic, racial, gender, and other inequities. Over the course of the inquiry, which includes a chapter dedicated to the cartography of the mobile augmented reality game Pokemon Go, the author develops a theoretical line of argument critically informed by gender studies and intersectionality, postcolonialism, geopolitics, and game studies, problematizing play as a diverse and contested transnational domain.

Sheathe your sword, draw your cards, and summon more than 50 delicious bites and cocktails inspired by Blizzard Entertainment's smash-hit digital card game. From the best-selling author of World of Warcraft: The Official Cookbook and A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook comes a new collection of delicious recipes. With the Innkeeper's Tavern Cookbook, fans will unlock Hearthstone-inspired eats, cocktails, and mocktails. A replica of Harth Stonebrew's own private cookbook, this delightful guide contains more than fifty all-new recipes perfect for any Fireside Gathering or game night, from Sarge's Easy Mac & Cheese to Medivh's favorite martini--and, of course, funnel cake. Complete with mouthwatering color photos and Harth's personal notations, recipe modifications, and reflections, the Innkeeper's Tavern Cookbook brings the world of Hearthstone to life like never before. Hearthstone is a fast-paced digital card game where players sling spells, summon minions, and command powerful heroes in duels of epic strategy. Featuring familiar characters from the Warcraft(R) universe, Hearthstone has won over legions of fans with its humor and deceptively simple gameplay.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Advances in Computer Games, ACG 2005, held in Taipei, Taiwan, in September 2005 in conjunction with the 10th Computer Olympiad. It contains 20 papers that cover all aspects of artificial intelligence in computer-game playing.

An easy, step-by-step guide to enable YOU to draw Fortnite's most iconic Outfits, weapons, accessories, and more, brought to you by Epic Games and featuring the authentic Fortnite holographic seal. Think the intricate designs in Fortnite look difficult to reproduce? Think again. This all-new collection breaks down each drawing into simple, step-by-step stages, zeroing in on the details and providing expert tips and hints along the way. Armed with nothing more than a pencil and paper, YOU TOO can create drawings that will strike fear into your enemies. LET'S DO IT! * From Peely to Rippley, Black Shield to Bonesy, Lavawing to Laser Chomp, HOW TO DRAW: VOLUME 2 is crammed full of your favorite Fortnite items * Featuring a drawing tutorial intro to help you brush up on your techniques, plus helpful tips and hints throughout * Aimed at a range of abilities, progressing from easier sketches to more challenging designs

Push your GameMaker programming skills to the edge with 100 programming challenges using the popular GameMaker: Studio and GML. Each challenge includes an outline of the challenge, a scoring and time guide, useful GML code, and a working example provided in GMZ format. For more advanced programmers, each challenge comes with an additional task to complete. Think you're a good GameMaker game application developer or programmer? Think again with this awesome book! What You'll Learn Upgrade your skills with each specific game application coding challenge Create many different game events, action or scenarios Code for many different kinds of game applications or themes from space to adventure to sports to fantasy Who This Book Is For GameMaker and GameMaker: Studio users and coders.