Synopses & Reviews
The video game industry has evolved. What was at first hobbyists working in their spare time in school labs or converted garages has grown into veteran specialists working in high-rise offices and multimillion-dollar studios. Some of these professionals came from those early days of video game development, but many emerged from other disciplines, including traditional game design, art, software programming, film animation, screenwriting, engineering, music production, and many more. Each of them brought along their own language--a collection of terms and definitions relevant to their field--which filtered in and out of the industry as they did. Games continued to change and so did the way we talked about them. Confusion inevitably arose as each discipline had, up until then, been largely independent and therefore had its own unique vocabulary. For example, what was known as "value" by an artist would have been called "brightness" by a programmer (to whom value meant something else entirely). "Theme" had a different meaning to a game designer than it did to a writer. A common language had not, and still has not, developed; yet in order for the members of any multidisciplinary venture to communicate efficiently, it must. THE GAME DEVELOPER'S DICTIONARY is the first attempt to collect the terms and phrases used within all avenues of game development, and define them, with hundreds of definitions covering game art, design, programming, production, writing, and sound. Terms are categorized alphabetically and by discipline so that entries can be accessed quickly and easily. The book emphasizes creating an understanding between the game development disciplines - great care has been exercised to define terms in ways that someone outside the related area of expertise can easily grasp. A survey of game industry job titles and their descriptions is also included.
Synopsis
The Game Developer's Dictionary: A Multidisciplinary Lexicon for Professionals and Students provides an extensive collection of terms and definitions for the game development field. Covering game art, design, programming, production, writing, and sound, terms are categorized by field so that entries can be accessed quickly and easily. Readers will find the dictionary a practical and useful guide to understanding how terms and phrases are used within other disciplines as it is written with the assumption that the readers has no familiarity with any one particular field. The Game Developer's Dictionary aims to define game development terms so that someone unfamiliar with the related discipline can understand their general definition. There are currently no other comprehensive game development dictionaries, making this a practical and useful tool with a long shelf life.
About the Author
Dan Carreker currently teaches Game Development classes at Mt. Sierra College and has industry experience as both a Database Manager for Activision's Production/QA department and as a freelance game designer. He has published several articles including advice for Game Development students and how to break into the industry.
Table of Contents
1. Foreword. 2. Preface: The Need for a More Common Language. 3. How to Use this Dictionary. 4. Alphabetical Listing of Entries. 5. Appendix A: Cross Reference for Alternate Listings. 6. Appendix B: Persons Listed within Entries.