Synopses & Reviews
For the countless tasks involved in creating a game engine there are an equal number of possible solutions. But instead of spending hours and hours trying to develop your own answers, now you can find out how the pros do it! Game Programming Gems is a hands-on, comprehensive resource packed with a variety of game programming algorithms written by experts from the game industry and edited by Mark DeLoura, former software engineering lead for Nintendo of America, Inc. and now the newly appointed editor-in-chief of Game Developer magazine. From animation and artificial intelligence to Z-buffering, lighting calculations, weather effects, curved surfaces, mutliple layer Internet gaming, to music and sound effects, all of the major techniques needed to develop a competitive game engine are covered. Game Programming Gems is written in a style accessible to individuals with a range of expertise levels. All of the source code for each algorithm is included and can be used by advanced programmers immediately. For aspiring programmers, there is a detailed tutorial to work through before attempting the code, and suggestions for possible modifications and optimizations are included as well.
About the Author
Mark DeLoura is the founder of Shrinking Planet, a company dedicated to using videogames for education and communication. Prior to starting Shrinking Planet, Mark served as the technical director for Ubisoft's North American headquarters in San Francisco. Previously, he has performed as manager of developer relations at Sony Computer Entertainment America, lead engineer at Nintendo of America, and editor-in-chief of Game Developer Magazine. Mark is the creator of the Game Programming Gems series of books, and the founding editor of the Journal of Game Development. He has a computer science degree from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, USA, and did graduate degree work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Table of Contents
Section 1 Programming Techniques Section 2 Mathematics Section 3 Artificial Intelligence Section 4 Polygonol Techniques Section 5 Pixel Effects Section 6 Appendix