3D Game Programming All in One
Get ready for an amazing journey into the world of game development! 3D Game Programming All in One is your one-stop tour guide into this new world. If you believe that you can create games that are as cool as—or cooler than—the ones you’ve been playing, now’s your chance to prove it. This book will give you the training, experience, and tools you need to turn your ideas into reality. Using a well-defined toolkit of programs, knowledge, skills, and ideas 3D Game Programming All in One covers each step required to make a fully featured game. You’ll cover everything from opportunities within the game industry and elements of a 3D game to programming concepts, modeling, textures, and music. All you need to begin your journey is a creative idea and the enthusiasm to bring that idea to life.
850 pages
Beginning OpenGL Game Programming
With "Beginning OpenGL Game Programming", you?ll learn how to use OpenGL to develop games using high-performance graphics and game libraries. Focusing solely on topics related to graphics and OpenGL, this comprehensive guide gives you the skills you need to unleash the power of OpenGL 1.5 and create realistic, real-time graphics. If you are just getting started in 3D game development and are comfortable programming in C++, this guide is your ideal introduction to OpenGL. By the time you finish this book, you'll understand the basics of OpenGL and be able to apply your newfound skills as you create your own games!
337 pages
Programming Role Playing Games with DirectX
No game draws a player into its world in quite the same way as a role-playing game does. In role-playing games, players break through the barrier that exists between their actions and the fantastic world that they’re navigating through and instead become an inhabitant of that world. Get ready to put your creative ideas in motion and try your hand at creating your own role-playing game! "Programming Role Playing Games with DirectX, 2nd Edition" will show you how to do it as you create cool graphics and combat engines, handle players in your game, use scripts and items, and make your game multiplayer-capable. This book breaks a role-playing game down into its essential components, examining the details of each and showing you how to use them in your game project. Learn how to draw with DirectX Graphics, play audio with DirectX Audio, network with DirectPlay, and process input with DirectInput. By the time you finish, you’ll have the skills you need to create a complete role-playing game.
1105 pages
Visual Basic Game Programming for Teens
Get ready to create your first complete 2D-based role-playing game using Visual Basic 6.0. If you have experience using Visual Basic, you already have the essential skills that you need. You will learn, step by step, how to construct each part of an RPG game using DirectX components such as Direct3D. As you work your way through the book, you will write short programs that demonstrate the major topics in each chapter. Dive into the exciting world of game programming, learn how to write your own code, and take complete creative control over how your game operates. Let your imagination loose as you create amazing new adventures!
393 pages
Game Programming for Teens, Second Edition
"Game Programming for Teens, Second Edition" takes you on a comprehensive journey through the art of game programming. Truly beginning at step one, you will learn the nuances of the BASIC language. You will begin with instructions on basic coding, such as operators and statements, as you get an introduction to the language in general. You will then learn how to work with graphics. By the end of the book, you will cover the skills of sounds and music and artificial intelligence. "Game Programming for Teens, Second Edition" is light on theory and heavy on practical applications. Many diagrams and sample programs are included to help you understand each concept in full. This book gives you an exciting introduction to the field of game programming and encourages you to seek out more substantial, theory-driven books.
415 pages
Project Arcade: Build Your Own Arcade Machine
You can go back, and here's howRemember the days—and quarters—you spent pursuing aliens, fleeing ghosts, and gobbling dots in that beloved arcade? They’re hiding in these pages, along with diagrams, directions, plans, and materials lists that will enable you to build your very own arcade game. Construct joysticks, buttons, and trackballs; build the console and cabinet; install and configure the software; crank up the speakers; and wham! Step across the time-space continuum and enjoy all those classic games, plus dozens of new ones, whenever you like.
507 pages
Beginning C++ Game Programming
Interactivity?the unique feature that sets games apart from other forms of entertainment. The power of interactivity lies in the programming that occurs behind the scenes. If you?re ready to jump into the world of programming for games, "Beginning C++Game Programming" will get you started on your journey, providing you with a solid foundation in the game programming language of the professionals. As you cover each programming concept, you?ll create small games that demonstrate your new skills. Wrap things up by combining each major concept to create an ambitious multiple player game. Get ready to master the basics of game programming with C++!
353 pages
Mathematics for 3D Game Programming and Computer Graphics, Second Edition
This completely updated second edition illustrates the mathematical concepts that a game programmer would need to develop a professional-quality 3D engine. Although the book is geared toward applications in game development, many of the topics appeal to general interests in 3D graphics. It starts at a fairly basic level in areas such as vector geometry and linear algebra, and then progresses to more advanced topics in 3D game programming such as illumination and visibility determination. Particular attention is given to derivations of key results, ensuring that the reader is not forced to endure gaps in the theory. The book assumes a working knowledge of trigonometry and calculus, but also includes sections that review the important tools used from these disciplines, such as trigonometric identities, differential equations, and Taylor series.
571 pages
Programming Game AI by Example
This book describes in detail many of the AI techniques used in modern computer games, explicity shows how to implement these practical techniques within the framework of several game developers with a practical foundation to game AI.
Creating Emotion in Games: The Craft and Art of Emotioneering
David Freeman brings you the inside scoop on how to apply the Emotioneering™ techniques he's so well known for. These powerful techniques create a breadth and depth of emotion in a game, and induce a player to identify with the role he or she is playing. Mr. Freeman's techniques are so highly sought after because they're the key to mass market success in today's competitive game market. The over 300 distinct Emotioneering techniques in this book include (to name but a few): ways to give emotional depth to an NPC (non-player character), even if the NPC has just one line of dialogue; techniques to bond a player to a game's NPCs; and techniques to transform a game into an intense emotional journey. In a warm and crystal-clear style, Mr. Freeman provides examples which demonstrate exactly how to apply the techniques. He also shows how some of these techniques were utilized in, and contributed greatly to the success of such games as "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City"; "Deus Ex"; and "Thief" I & II, among others. The book is packed with striking art by some of today's top concept artists and illustrators, including an eight-page color section and a four-color, fold-out cover. When you've finished this book, you'll be equipped to apply Mr. Freeman's powerful Emotioneering techniques to artfully create emotion in the games you design, build, or produce.
Game Design Workshop: Designing, Prototyping, and Playtesting Games
Master the craft of game design so you can create that elusive combination of challenge, competition, and interaction that players seek. This design workshop begins with an examination of the fundamental elements of game design; then puts you to work in prototyping, playtesting, and redesigning your own games with exercises that teach essential design skills. Workshop exercises require no background in programming or artwork, releasing you from the intricacies of electronic game production, so you can develop a working understanding of the essentials of game design.
The ideas and exercises in this Game Design Workshop answer the questions asked by every aspiring game designer: How do I learn to design games? What skills do I need to become a professional game designer? Game design is demystified with a clear, accessible analysis of the formal and dramatic systems of game design. Examples, illustrations, and exercises strengthen your understanding of what makes game systems function; and teach you the skills and tools that you need to create a compelling game.
Refined over a number of years, this workshop curriculum has provided the foundation for hundreds of careers in all areas of the game industry including game design, producing, programming, visual design, quality assurance, and marketing. This guide to the language and business of game design will help anyone pursuing a career in the industry.
The Animator's Survival Kit:
A Manual of Methods, Principles, and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion, and Internet Animators
Richard Williams is a man who is largely responsible for the revival of the art of animation in the early 1970s. Williams had Disney animator Art Babbitt and Warner great Ken Harris working in his studio in London and training a new generation of animators in the techniques of good character animation, which was not taught at the time in any school or considered an art form.
Williams' long awaited book on animation technique is the logical successor to Preston Blair's CARTOON ANIMATION and it successfully updates some of the weaknesses of that book, particularly in handling dialogue animation. He covers a lot of the same ground that Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston did in their now out-of-print THE ILLUSION OF LIFE.
There is some history, but that's available in other books. What is unique about this book is that Williams writes how surprised he, an Academy Award winning animator with a successful professional studio, was to learn that he needed to learn just about everything over again from Harris and Babbitt. Fortunately for us he is now sharing these priceless lessons with the public.
The most important thing that an aspiring animator will get from this book is: that animation IS an art form, and good animation has nothing to do with whether it is done on computer or on paper. Williams exhorts his readers to 'draw whenever possible' and even though there is a computer modelled figure on the cover of the book, there is not a single piece of computer generated imagery in it. The book is about the bare bones, about creating life in art. Animation is the twentieth century's contribution to world art and deserves to be taken very seriously.
Beginning Game Level Design
Get ready to conquer the basics of building a strong level or mod for your games. "Beginning Game Level Design" covers everything from putting your ideas down on paper, to creating spaces and architecture, through placing units and scripting their behavior. You?ll cover each important area of expertise that goes into creating a great level. As you cover each new topic, use the end-of-chapter projects to test your newfound skills. "Beginning Game Level Design" gives you a step-by-step look into the tasks a successful designer goes through in order to create levels that keep players coming back for more.
Learning Maya | Character Rigging and Animation
Learning Maya | Character Rigging and Animation will teach you everything you need to achieve effective character set-up and animation in Maya. Developed by Alias|Wavefront Education Product Specialists, the book focuses on the creation of a human character, and provides both theoretical exploration and practical application - each chapter includes conceptual discussions and step-by-step instructions. Seventeen short presentations delivered by an Alias|Wavefront Certified Instructor are provided on the included cd-rom. The instructor provides additional theory, tips and suggestions on a chapter-by-chapter basis, thus allowing you greater insight into the concepts explored in the book.
With this book you will:
· Use layers and templating
· Connect and parent joints
· Set up IK Single Chain Solvers and group IK handles
· Use Set Driven Key
· Understand and use both Forward and Inverse Kinematics
· Simulate the deformation of clothing using Wire Deformers and Set Driven Key
· Drive joint rotation with a Blendshape Slider to help consolidate your control windows
· Understand the difference between Smooth and Rigid binding
· Export weighting maps from one character, and use for another
· Use Pole Vector constraints as a fast and easy way of achieving realistic motion in arms and legs
· Create complex and subtle character deformations through the use of Clusters and Lattices
What you need to use this book:
· Maya Personal Learning Edition, Maya Complete 4.0 or Maya Unlimited 4.0.
· A CD-ROM drive and Netscape Navigator 4.0 or Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher.
Maya Character Creation: Modeling and Animation Controls
A unique, in-depth approach to creating realistic characters in Maya. Maya Character Creation: Modeling and Animation Controls' author, Chris Maraffi, has expertise in the field and in the classroom that translates to the knowledge and solid teaching skills needed to make this book a "must-have"!
The current trend in computer graphics is greater organic realism. Many of thetop-grossing movies today, such as Spiderman, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park 3 ,and Star Wars Episode 2, all feature realistic 3D characters. There is a majorneed in the 3D community for educational material that demonstrates detailedtechniques for achieving this organic reality. Maya is one of the main packagesused on such cutting-edge films, and has an established toolset for creatingbelievable 3D characters. Maya Character Creation: Modeling and Animation Controls is designed to take you through the process of designing, modeling, and setting up animation controls for complex 3D characters. The concepts, techniques, and Maya tools used foreach step in the process are presented in each chapter, followed by manyhands-on exercises. NURBS, polygon, and subdivision surface modelingtechniques are shown for creating the character's skin, and skeleton-basedanimation controls are covered in detail. You will learn how a character'sskin should deform when the skeletal joints and muscles move. AdvancedMEL scripted animation controls are also covered extensively.
Digital Texturing & Painting
This book takes you outside the studio and walks you through the museum of life. This full color book combines traditional texture creation principles with digital texturing techniques to enhance your scenes and animations. In the first half of the book, you will learn about the history of textures in fine art and in the second half, how to apply these principles to your 2D and 3D digital scenes.
Rules of Play : Game Design Fundamentals
As pop culture, games are as important as film or television--but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games..
Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like "play," "design," and "interactivity." They look at games through a series of eighteen "game design schemas," or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance.
Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design.
Digital Cinematography & Directing
[digital] Cinematography and Directing is unlike any other cinematography or directing book you've seen. This book was written entirely for 3D animators. Based on real-world photographic and cinematic principles, it teaches you essential skills and concepts that you can apply to any industry 3D application, such as LightWave 3D, Softimage XSI, 3ds max, CINEMA 4D, Maya, and other leading programs. This book does not focus on using software but rather teaches you how to understand and use the camera within your 3D application.
* Master focal lengths, f-stops, and apertures within your 3D aplication.
* Learn how pre-production planning can guide and enhance your project by applying essential storyboarding techniques.
* Use light as not only an illumination source, but as a tool for cinematic storytelling.Learn how to direct your digital cast with proper staging techniques
"Dan Ablan's years of innovating digital production techniques and his undeniable expertise at teaching CGI, FX, and Film, makes digitalCinematography and Directing a must-have!" -Dave Adams, Dreamworks.
The Dark Side of Game Texturing
Charred ruins, bullet holes, rusted metal?if you ?re a fan of 3D first-person-shooter games, then you ?re familiar with those amazing, ominous textures that draw you into your character?s surroundings. Get ready to analyze?and re-create?the textures and graphics used in these games. All you need is a decent PC, Photoshop, and a digital camera. Once you learn how to create the textures within this book, you can create any texture for any game. Not a born artist? That?s okay. You?ll learn how to let Photoshop do most of the work. Begin with texturing basics, including pixel sizes, color modes, and alpha channels. Then jump right into hearty texture tutorials as you create everything from sci-fi backgrounds and molten lava to medieval castle walls and dragon skin. If you?re ready to travel to the grim back alleys of your imagination, then you?re ready for "The Dark Side of Game Texturing".
Real-Time Rendering Tricks and Techniques in DirectX
The last several years have seen some exciting advances in the field of real-time graphics. Starting slowly for beginning programmers, this book begins by reviewing recent 3D graphics developments and with an introduction to vectors, matrices, colors, and lighting. Then, it's on to rendering graphics! Learn various vertex and pixel shader techniques, discover how to use video as a texture, and get the scoop on several techniques for picking objects in a scene. Whatever your level of programming expertise, let this book serve as your guide to mastering the possibilities of real-time programming.
AI for Game Developers
Advances in 3D visualization and physics-based simulation technology make it possible for game developers to create compelling, visually immersive gaming environments that were only dreamed of years ago. But today's game players have grown in sophistication along with the games they play. It's no longer enough to wow your players with dazzling graphics; the next step in creating even more immersive games is improved artificial intelligence, or AI. Fortunately, advanced AI game techniques are within the grasp of every game developer--not just those who dedicate their careers to AI. If you're new to game programming or if you're an experienced game programmer who needs to get up to speed quickly on AI techniques, you'll find AI for Game Developers to be the perfect starting point for understanding and applying AI techniques to your games. Written for the novice AI programmer, AI for Game Developers introduces you to techniques such as finite state machines, fuzzy logic, neural networks, and many others, in straightforward, easy-to-understand language, supported with code samples throughout the entire book (written in C/C++). From basic techniques such as chasing and evading, pattern movement, and flocking to genetic algorithms, the book presents a mix of deterministic (traditional) and non-deterministic (newer) AI techniques aimed squarely at beginners AI developers. Other topics covered in the book include:
* Potential function based movements: a technique that handles chasing, evading swarming, and collision avoidance simultaneously
* Basic pathfinding and waypoints, including an entire chapter devoted to the A* pathfinding algorithm
* AI scripting
* Rule-based AI: learn about variants other than fuzzy logic and finite state machines
* Basic probability
* Bayesian techniques
Unlike other books on the subject, AI for Game Developers doesn't attempt to cover every aspect of game AI, but to provide you with usable, advanced techniques you can apply to your games right now. If you've wanted to use AI to extend the play-life of your games, make them more challenging, and most importantly, make them more fun, then this book is for you.
Focus on Curves and Surfaces
"Focus On Curves and Surfaces" gives you the tools you need to build exciting, high-detail characters and backgrounds for your games! Whether you?re a serious game programmer or just interested in the fields of CAD, 3D modeling, and visualization, this book gives you what you?re looking for in three easy-to-follow sections. Section One starts with the conceptual building blocks of 3D graphics. Put these ideas into practice as Section Two walks you through Bezier curves, B-splines, and the more advanced NURBS (NonUniform Rational B-Splines). Finally, build upon your knowledge of curve construction as you create exciting surfaces in Section Three. Go from the basics to hardcore 3D graphics programming in a matter of pages!
Physics for Game Developers
Aimed at the game developer or student/hobbyist interested in physics, Physics for Game Developers reviews all the math for creating realistic motion and collisions for cars, airplanes, boats, projectiles, and other objects along with C/C++ code for Windows. While this authoritative guide isn't for the math-averse, the author's clear presentation and obvious enthusiasm for his subject help make this book a compelling choice for anyone faced with adding realistic motion to computer games or simulations.
It's the clear, mathematical presentation here that makes this title a winner. Starting with the basics of Newtonian mechanics, the author covers all the basic equations needed to understand velocity, acceleration, kinematics, and kinetics, among other concepts. A knowledge of college math (including calculus) is assumed. (Appendices review the basics of matrix and quaternion mathematics for those needing a refresher.)
Central to this book is its presentation of modeling projectiles, airplanes, ships, and cars. The author first presents essential mathematical concepts for each kind of object (for instance, pitch, yaw and roll, and lift for airplanes; modeling fluid drag for ships; and braking behavior for cars). For many chapters, Bourg then presents Windows-based DirectX programs in C++ to illustrate key concepts. For example, you can experiment with different parameters to view a cannonball's path. (On their own, these programs make this book a great companion text to any advanced high school or college physics course since students can see the effect of each variable on the behavior of each body in motion for a variety of equations.)
Modeling collisions is a central concern here (a necessity, of course, for action games). To this end, the author provides collision detection and the mathematics of 3-D rigid bodies for simulating when bodies collide. As the sample programs get more involved, the author discusses techniques of tuning parameters for performance. A standout chapter here models a fluttering flag using particle systems.
In all, this text proves that physics and computers are a perfect match. The author's patient and clear mathematical investigations of common formulas and concepts can add realistic motion to any computer game, as well as help teach essential concepts to any student or hobbyist who's interested in physics and doesn't mind a little college-level math. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered: Mathematical formulas and sample C/C++ code for physics for simulations and games, basic concepts in physics, Newton's Laws of Motion, coordinate systems and vectors; mass, center of mass and moment of inertia; kinematics (velocity and acceleration), constant and nonconstant acceleration, 2-D and 3-D particle kinematics, rigid body kinematics, angular velocity and acceleration, force (force fields and friction, fluid dynamic drag, buoyancy, springs and dampers, torque), 2-D, 3-D, and rigid body kinetics; collisions (impulse-momentum, impact, linear, and angular impulse), projectiles (simple trajectories, drag, the Magnus Effect, variable mass), simulating aircraft (geometry, lift and drag, controls), simulating ships (flotation, volume, resistance, and virtual mass), simulating hovercraft and cars (including stopping distance and banking during turns), basic real-time simulations (integrating equations of motion, including Euler's Method), 2-D rigid body simulator, implementing collision response (including angular effects), rigid body rotation (rotation matrices and quaternions), 3-D rigid body simulator for an airplane (including flight controls and rendering), multiple bodies in 3-D (including implementing collisions), particle systems, reference tutorials for vector, matrix, and quaternion mathematical operations.
Programming Multiplayer Games
This book covers all the major aspects and theory behind creating a fully functional network game, from setting up a stable MySQL backed-end database for storing player information to developing a reusable TCP/IP network library for online games as well as developing web-based server interfaces.
Isometric Game Programming with DirectX 7.0
Isometric Game Programming with DirectX takes you from zero to DirectX, literally! Beginning with game programming basics you will explore such topics as WIN32 programming basics, GDI fundamentals, fonts, regions and bitmaps, DirectDraw, and Game Logic. You'll then move on to Isometric fundamentals and methodology as well as advanced topics such as Random World Generation and Direct3D.This book is a comprehensive Isometric game programming guide ideal for any serious game developer!
Focus On 3D Models
No matter where you turn in the world of gaming, you?re bound to notice the rapidly increasing use of 3D. If you?re serious about game programming, you must understand the world of 3D modeling. Focus On 3D Models is the guide you need for doing just that! This is the only book on the market that gives game programmers a comprehensive guide to the most popular 3D modeling file formats. You?ll also get coverage of foundational material such as mathematics, skeletal animation, and more. Even if you know nothing about 3D character animation when you start, by the end of the book you will be able to work with all the popular file formats, write readers, and animate the meshes in real time in your applications. For maximum benefit, you must have experience with C++, know how to create a rudimentary 3D engine, and have an understanding of algebra and trigonometry.
Focus On 3D Terrain Programming
Welcome to the world of 3D terrain programming. Now you can break away from the computer game mold of lackluster backgrounds and create amazing landscapes for your characters to explore. Focus On 3D Terrain Programming gives you the skills you need to do just that. This book brings the high-talking, abstract concepts down to earth so you can actually put them into practice. It covers the three most widely accepted terrain rendering solutions?geomipmapping, quad trees, and ROAM. Texture mapping and lighting techniques are also discussed, as well as cool special effects. Plus, the author provides the code so you can readily implement the solutions into your own games!
Developer's Guide to Multiplayer Games
This book provides in-depth coverage of all the major topics associated with online game programming, as well as giving the reader easy-to-follow, step-by-step tutorials on how to create a fully functional network library, back-end MySQL database, and complete, working online game. The first section explains practical theory on basic Windows dialogue programming, and the use of MySQL, Perl, Sockets, and TCP/IP. The second section consists of five extensive tutorials that lead the reader through the stages of creating a working online game. Together, these sections cover all the major aspects and theory behind creating a fully functional Internet game, from setting up a stable MySQL back-end database for storing player information to developing a reusable TCP/IP network library for online games. The authors' presentation provides the reader with a solid understanding of online game programming, along with the ability to expand on this knowledge and experiment with the development tools provided.
Special effects game programming with directx
Ever look at a really cool effect in your favorite game and wonder "How in the world did they do that?" This book teaches you the skills that you need to create effects that are just as awesome as the ones that first amazed you. New to DirectX? Don't worry! There are plenty of tips that will bring you up to speed quickly. Already an experienced programmer? Get ready to create some amazing effects that will get people hooked on your game! An entire section on 2D special effects shows you how to use your 3D card for effects like transitions and image warping. If it's 3D effects that you're after, this book has everything that you need to create cool effects like explosions, water, and magic spells. "Special Effects Game Programming with DirectX" is the next step in transforming your game from an application to an experience.
