Games eBooks
Unity Game Development Blueprints
Unity 3D is a powerful and popular game development tool that has taken game developers by storm. It is a cross-platform game engine, enabling you to write your game once and then port it to PCs, consoles, and even the Web, making it a great choice for both indie and AAA developers. Unity combines serious power with a friendly, easy-to-use interface. Unity Game Development Blueprints takes you on an exciting journey where you'll learn how to use Unity to its best by building a project in 2D, then a 3D game with 2D gameplay, and finally a 3D title. An easy-to-follow guide with each project containing step-by-step explanations, diagrams, screenshots, and downloadable materials. Concepts in Unity and C# are explained. ...
Unity 3D is a powerful and popular game development tool that has taken game developers by storm. It is a cross-platform game engine, enabling you to write your game once and then port it to PCs, consoles, and even the Web, making it a great choice for both indie and AAA developers. Unity combines serious power with a friendly, easy-to-use interface. Unity Game Development Blueprints takes you on an exciting journey where you'll learn how to use Unity to its best by building a project in 2D, then a 3D game with 2D gameplay, and finally a 3D title. An easy-to-follow guide with each project containing step-by-step explanations, diagrams, screenshots, and downloadable materials. Concepts in Unity and C# are explained. ...
Beginning Java 8 Games Development
Beginning Java 8 Games Development, written by Java expert and author Wallace Jackson, teaches you the fundamentals of building a highly illustrative game using the Java 8 programming language. In this book, you'll employ open source software as tools to help you quickly and efficiently build your Java game applications. You'll learn how to utilize vector and bit-wise graphics; create sprites and sprite animations; handle events; process inputs; create and insert multimedia and audio files; and more. Furthermore, you'll learn about JavaFX 8, now integrated into Java 8 and which gives you additional APIs that will make your game application more fun and dynamic as well as give it a smaller foot-print; so, your game application can run on your PC, mobile and embedded devices. ...
Beginning Java 8 Games Development, written by Java expert and author Wallace Jackson, teaches you the fundamentals of building a highly illustrative game using the Java 8 programming language. In this book, you'll employ open source software as tools to help you quickly and efficiently build your Java game applications. You'll learn how to utilize vector and bit-wise graphics; create sprites and sprite animations; handle events; process inputs; create and insert multimedia and audio files; and more. Furthermore, you'll learn about JavaFX 8, now integrated into Java 8 and which gives you additional APIs that will make your game application more fun and dynamic as well as give it a smaller foot-print; so, your game application can run on your PC, mobile and embedded devices. ...
Learning NGUI for Unity
NGUI is a robust UI system both powerful and optimized. It is an effective plugin for Unity, which gives you the power to create beautiful and complex user interfaces while reducing performance costs. This book is a practical tutorial that will guide you through creating a fully functional and localized main menu along with 2D and 3D in-game user interfaces. The book starts by teaching you about NGUI's workflow and creating a basic UI, before gradually moving on to building widgets and enhancing your UI. You will then switch to the Android platform to take care of different issues mobile devices may encounter. By the end of this book, you will have the knowledge to create ergonomic user interfaces for your existing and future PC or mobile games and applications developed with Unity 3D and NGUI. ...
NGUI is a robust UI system both powerful and optimized. It is an effective plugin for Unity, which gives you the power to create beautiful and complex user interfaces while reducing performance costs. This book is a practical tutorial that will guide you through creating a fully functional and localized main menu along with 2D and 3D in-game user interfaces. The book starts by teaching you about NGUI's workflow and creating a basic UI, before gradually moving on to building widgets and enhancing your UI. You will then switch to the Android platform to take care of different issues mobile devices may encounter. By the end of this book, you will have the knowledge to create ergonomic user interfaces for your existing and future PC or mobile games and applications developed with Unity 3D and NGUI. ...
Unity AI Programming Essentials
Unity is a powerful cross-platform game creation system that includes a game engine and integrated development environment (IDE). AI programming in Unity is a key task for any game developer as it gives you the ability to make computer characters think and behave like a living organism. This book focuses on the different AI tasks that are essential for game development using Unity. It includes topics such as defining "minds" for your characters with behavior trees. Furthermore, it covers more specialized AI tasks such as how to implement AI crowds and how to create driving AI for vehicles. We have a section dedicated to NavMesh, one of the most important aspects of pathfinding, that will show you how to customize the mesh generation to handle different use cases for different characters. This is a practical book as it uses several popular Unity plugins such as RAIN and React AI to accomplish different AI tasks. ...
Unity is a powerful cross-platform game creation system that includes a game engine and integrated development environment (IDE). AI programming in Unity is a key task for any game developer as it gives you the ability to make computer characters think and behave like a living organism. This book focuses on the different AI tasks that are essential for game development using Unity. It includes topics such as defining "minds" for your characters with behavior trees. Furthermore, it covers more specialized AI tasks such as how to implement AI crowds and how to create driving AI for vehicles. We have a section dedicated to NavMesh, one of the most important aspects of pathfinding, that will show you how to customize the mesh generation to handle different use cases for different characters. This is a practical book as it uses several popular Unity plugins such as RAIN and React AI to accomplish different AI tasks. ...
Build iOS Games with Sprite Kit
Power up your inner game developer and start building incredible games with Sprite Kit. This book will teach you everything you need to know about Apple's 2D game engine. If you have some programming experience but you're new to game development, you'll hit the ground running, no complex tools required—just the Sprite Kit SDK. You'll start out fast by building a single-finger infinite runner game, where the goal is to stay alive as long as possible and rack up points. You'll explore the Sprite Kit template, actions, and particle editor and watch your game take shape with an armed player ship, asteroids and enemy ships, explosions, power-ups, and variable difficulty. Then you'll stitch the game together with cutscenes, menus, and scoring. ...
Power up your inner game developer and start building incredible games with Sprite Kit. This book will teach you everything you need to know about Apple's 2D game engine. If you have some programming experience but you're new to game development, you'll hit the ground running, no complex tools required—just the Sprite Kit SDK. You'll start out fast by building a single-finger infinite runner game, where the goal is to stay alive as long as possible and rack up points. You'll explore the Sprite Kit template, actions, and particle editor and watch your game take shape with an armed player ship, asteroids and enemy ships, explosions, power-ups, and variable difficulty. Then you'll stitch the game together with cutscenes, menus, and scoring. ...
HTML5 Games, 2nd Edition
HTML5 Gamesshows you how to combine HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript to make games for the web and mobiles - games that were previously only possible with plugin technologies like Flash. Using the latest open web technologies, you are guided through the process of creating a game from scratch using Canvas, HTML5 Audio, WebGL and WebSockets Inside, Jacob Seidelin shows you how features available in HTML5 can be used to create games. First, you will build a framework on which you will create your HTML5 game. Then each chapter covers a new aspect of the game including user input, sound, multiplayer functionality, 2D and 3D graphics and more. By the end of the book, you will have created a fully functional game that can be played in any compatible browser, or on any mobile device that supports HTML5. ...
HTML5 Gamesshows you how to combine HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript to make games for the web and mobiles - games that were previously only possible with plugin technologies like Flash. Using the latest open web technologies, you are guided through the process of creating a game from scratch using Canvas, HTML5 Audio, WebGL and WebSockets Inside, Jacob Seidelin shows you how features available in HTML5 can be used to create games. First, you will build a framework on which you will create your HTML5 game. Then each chapter covers a new aspect of the game including user input, sound, multiplayer functionality, 2D and 3D graphics and more. By the end of the book, you will have created a fully functional game that can be played in any compatible browser, or on any mobile device that supports HTML5. ...
Designing Games
Ready to give your design skills a real boost? This eye-opening book helps you explore the design structure behind most of today's hit video games. You'll learn principles and practices for crafting games that generate emotionally charged experiences - a combination of elegant game mechanics, compelling fiction, and pace that fully immerses players. In clear and approachable prose, design pro Tynan Sylvester also looks at the day-to-day process necessary to keep your project on track, including how to work with a team, and how to avoid creative dead ends. ...
Ready to give your design skills a real boost? This eye-opening book helps you explore the design structure behind most of today's hit video games. You'll learn principles and practices for crafting games that generate emotionally charged experiences - a combination of elegant game mechanics, compelling fiction, and pace that fully immerses players. In clear and approachable prose, design pro Tynan Sylvester also looks at the day-to-day process necessary to keep your project on track, including how to work with a team, and how to avoid creative dead ends. ...
Web Audio API
Go beyond HTML5's Audio tag and boost the audio capabilities of your web application with the Web Audio API. Packed with lots of code examples, crisp descriptions, and useful illustrations, this concise guide shows you how to use this JavaScript API to make the sounds and music of your games and interactive applications come alive. You need little or no digital audio expertise to get started. Author Boris Smus introduces you to digital audio concepts, then shows you how the Web Audio API solves specific application audio problems. You'll not only learn how to synthesize and process digital audio, you'll also explore audio analysis and visualization with this API. ...
Go beyond HTML5's Audio tag and boost the audio capabilities of your web application with the Web Audio API. Packed with lots of code examples, crisp descriptions, and useful illustrations, this concise guide shows you how to use this JavaScript API to make the sounds and music of your games and interactive applications come alive. You need little or no digital audio expertise to get started. Author Boris Smus introduces you to digital audio concepts, then shows you how the Web Audio API solves specific application audio problems. You'll not only learn how to synthesize and process digital audio, you'll also explore audio analysis and visualization with this API. ...
Developing Mobile Games with Moai SDK
Moai SDK is a fast, minimalist, open-source Lua mobile framework for pro game developers. Moai is built around Lua, a common programming language for games and offers a single open-source platform for both the front-end elements seen by consumers and the back-end infrastructure. Developing Mobile Games with Moai SDK will guide you through the creation of two game prototypes in a step-by-step way, giving you the basic tools you need in order to create your own games. ...
Moai SDK is a fast, minimalist, open-source Lua mobile framework for pro game developers. Moai is built around Lua, a common programming language for games and offers a single open-source platform for both the front-end elements seen by consumers and the back-end infrastructure. Developing Mobile Games with Moai SDK will guide you through the creation of two game prototypes in a step-by-step way, giving you the basic tools you need in order to create your own games. ...
Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 Game Development
Creating fun, sophisticated games for Windows devices large or small has never been easier! With masses of example code and fully working games for you to download and run straight away Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 Game Development is your ideal first step into modern games development. This book gives you everything you need to realize your dreams and produce fantastic games that will run on all Windows 8 devices from desktops to tablets to phones. You can code once and run everywhere. The ubiquity of Windows 8 devices makes this opportunity to good to miss! ...
Creating fun, sophisticated games for Windows devices large or small has never been easier! With masses of example code and fully working games for you to download and run straight away Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 Game Development is your ideal first step into modern games development. This book gives you everything you need to realize your dreams and produce fantastic games that will run on all Windows 8 devices from desktops to tablets to phones. You can code once and run everywhere. The ubiquity of Windows 8 devices makes this opportunity to good to miss! ...
Learn Unity 4 for iOS Game Development
Unity is an incredibly powerful and popular game creation tool, and Unity 4 brings even more great features, including Mechanim animation. Learn Unity 4 for iOS Game Development will show you how to use Unity with Xcode to create fun, imaginative 3D games for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. You'll learn how to optimize your game for both speed and quality, how to test and profile your game, and how to get the most out of your iOS device features, including the gyroscope and accelerometer. You'll also learn how to incorporate the latest Game Center improvements in iOS 6 into your game, how to make sure your game gets into the App Store, and even how to promote your app and track revenue. ...
Unity is an incredibly powerful and popular game creation tool, and Unity 4 brings even more great features, including Mechanim animation. Learn Unity 4 for iOS Game Development will show you how to use Unity with Xcode to create fun, imaginative 3D games for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. You'll learn how to optimize your game for both speed and quality, how to test and profile your game, and how to get the most out of your iOS device features, including the gyroscope and accelerometer. You'll also learn how to incorporate the latest Game Center improvements in iOS 6 into your game, how to make sure your game gets into the App Store, and even how to promote your app and track revenue. ...