Description: From Windows Solitaire to Bejeweled to Wii Tennis, casual games have radically changed the landscape of games. By simplifying gameplay and providing quick but intense blasts of engaging play, casual games have drawn in huge new audiences of players. To entertain and engage the casual player, game designers must learn to think about what makes casual games work, from game mechanics to narrative content. Through the close examination of a number of casual games, you will learn how to inject the necessary game design elements into your casual games and give your designs the complexity and strategy they need to hook gamers. You will learn:

Description: Do you love video games? Do you want to learn how to make them yourself? Welcome to 3D Game Programming for Teens, Second Edition, a how-to resource for anyone interested in creating a video game. Written specifically for beginners in an easy-to-follow way, the book teaches you basic programming, graphic design, and 3D modeling so that you can design and develop your very own games. You’ll begin with an introduction to some simple programming concepts using the Blitz3D language. Then you’ll learn about graphics creation for games using CorelDRAW and PHOTOPAINT. Finally you’ll explore basic 3D modeling with Autodesk 3ds Max, and you’ll learn how to enhance your games with sound effects, collisions, and more.

Description: Essential XNA Game Studio 2.0 Programming provides both hobbyists and experienced programmers with the information they need to take advantage of Microsoft s powerful XNA Framework and XNA Game Studio to produce professional-level games for both the PC and the Xbox 360. Beginners learn the fundamentals of 2D game development, creating a complete top-down shooter. Intermediate and advanced users can jump right into 3D game development and create a version of the 3D game that takes advantage of hardware acceleration using High-Level Shader Language (HLSL). Learn how to: Build an input system to receive events from devices. Use the Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT) to integrate sounds and music into your game. Design difficulty systems to tailor your game to players with different skill levels.

Description: Advanced 3D Game Programming with DirectX 10.0 provides a guide to developing cutting-edge games using DirectX 10.0. Beginning with the foundations of 3D math and the components of DirectX, programmers new to graphics and game programming will learn how to implement networking, collision detection, and multithreading. Full source code is provided for the examples and for the client/server networked 3D first-person game that brings together many of the techniques discussed in the book. Learn how to: Acquire input from the user through the keyboard and mouse. Simulate intelligence using steering algorithms and motivation engines. Render using HLSL shaders. Use advanced 3D techniques such as forward and inverse kinematics, subdivision surfaces, and radiosity lighting. Manage scenes via portal rendering.

Description: With the increasing popularity of games that run on all PC platforms whether Windows, Mac, or Linux the search is on for game developers who can create cross-platform games. Cross-Platform Game Development explains to both beginners and experts how to use cross-platform tools, provides tutorials on setting up and compiling key gaming libraries, and examines the necessary code and conceptual frameworks to get started on the path to making cross-platform games. With this book: Discover how to create cross-platform games in C++ using the cross-platform editor Code::Blocks. Explore how to make games quickly with a combination of cross-platform and open-source gaming libraries. Understand the fundamentals of game programming, including hierarchial scene management, collision detection, and depth sorting. Learn how to make both 2D and 3D real-time cross-platform games, complete with sound, graphics, and more.

Description: The Art of Videogames explores how philosophy of the arts theories developed to address traditional art works can also be applied to videogames.
Presents a unique philosophical approach to the art of videogaming, situating videogames in the framework of analytic philosophy of the arts
Explores how philosophical theories developed to address traditional art works can also be applied to videogames
Written for a broad audience of both philosophers and videogame enthusiasts by a philosopher who is also an avid gamer

Description: Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3 is your start-to-finish guide to modding and level design with the world’s hottest new gaming engine: Unreal Engine 3. Here’s everything you need to know to jumpstart your skills and create stunning new content and games for consoles and PCs alike! Your authors aren’t just the world’s #1 Unreal game development trainers: They’ve even built the training modules that shipped with Unreal Tournament 3: Limited Collector’s Edition. Now, working with the full cooperation of Unreal Engine 3’s creators, Epic Games, they introduce every facet of game development–from simple level creation to materials, lighting, and terrain...even advanced level optimization and streaming!

Description: Using XNA Game Studio 3.0, any programmer can master the art of game development and begin selling games to millions of Xbox 360 users worldwide. Now, there’s a practical, comprehensive guide to game development with Microsoft’s powerful new XNA Game Studio 3.0 and the entire XNA Framework.

In Microsoft® XNA® Game Studio 3.0 Unleashed, XNA expert Chad Carter covers the entire XNA platform, presents extensive sample code, and explains that code line by line. Carter walks you through the entire process of game development, including installing XNA, creating objects, handling input, managing and extending the content pipeline, optimizing game performance, and creating both 3D and 2D games. Carter presents sophisticated coverage of using XNA’s high level shader language; creating physical effects; and endowing characters with realistic artificial intelligence.

Description: For many players, games are entertainment, diversion, relaxation, fantasy. But what if certain games were something more than this, providing not only outlets for entertainment but a means for creative expression, instruments for conceptual thinking, or tools for social change? In Critical Play, artist and game designer Mary Flanagan examines alternative games—games that challenge the accepted norms embedded within the gaming industry—and argues that games designed by artists and activists are reshaping everyday game culture.

Description: Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume II: Advanced Level Design Concepts with Unreal Engine 3 is your start-to-finish guide to state-of-the-art Unreal Tournament 3 modding and level design. Here’s everything you need to know to take your game design skills to the next level, creating content with breakthrough depth and interactivity! Your authors aren’t just the world’s #1 Unreal game development trainers: They’ve built the training mods that shipped with Unreal Tournament. Now, working with the full cooperation of Unreal Engine 3’s creators, Epic Games, they introduce innovative, pro-quality techniques you’ll find nowhere else: outstanding solutions for everything from particle effects to physics, materials to cinematics. Packed with tips, hands-on tutorials, and expert insight, Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume II will help you take Unreal Tournament 3 and Unreal Engine 3 to the limit...and then blow right by it!