Microsoft XNA Game Studio Creator's Guide, Second Edition shows you how to create 3D models and control them with code; custom-program a game engine; and add animation, lighting and special effects. New features covered in this edition include network and mobile device gaming. C# tutorials tailored to XNA game development are also included.

OpenGL opens the door to the world of high-quality, high-performance 3D computer graphics. The preferred application programming interface for developing 3D applications, OpenGL is widely used in video game development, visualization and simulation, CAD, virtual reality, modeling, and computer-generated animation.

OpenGL® Shading Language, Second Edition, extensively updated for OpenGL 2.0, is the experienced application programmer's guide to writing shaders. Part reference, part tutorial, this book thoroughly explains the shift from fixed-functionality graphics hardware to the new era of programmable graphics hardware and the additions to the OpenGL API that support this programmability. With OpenGL and shaders written in the OpenGL Shading Language, applications can perform better, achieving stunning graphics effects by using the capabilities of both the visual processing unit and the central processing unit.

The central goal of the book is to provide a global and unified view of the rich interdisciplinary visual computing field. The book is written for undergraduate students and game development and graphics professionals. Lecturers in computer graphics and vision will also find it complementary and valuable. The book aims at broadening and fostering readers? knowledge of essential 3D techniques by providing a sizeable overall picture and describing essential concepts. Throughout the book, appropriate real world applications are covered to illustrate uses and generate interest in adjacent fields. The book also provides concise C++ code for common tasks that will be of interest to a broad audience of practitioners.

The OpenGL Programming Guide, now in its third edition, is the definitive volume for programmers using this evolving graphics interface standard. Written by members of the OpenGL Architecture Review Board, this book offers understandable tutorials and lessons on getting up to speed and getting the most out of the latest version of OpenGL, version 1.2.

As the MMP game market continues to grow, new challenges and technology hurdles constantly emerge, and the demand for practical solutions increases. Massively Multiplayer Game Development 2 is an all new volume in the successful series that provides ready-to-use solutions discovered by MMP pros! All of these solutions help the development team keep up with the demands for faster, better games. The areas covered focus on critical issues in MMP development, including online support & commerce, good storytelling, mobile MMPs, and innovative programming techniques that will help the team stay a few steps ahead of the players and hackers. This is a must-have title!

Dave Eberly's 3D Game Engine Design was the first professional guide to the essential concepts and algorithms of real-time 3D engines and quickly became a classic of game development. Dave's new book 3D Game Engine Architecture continues the tradition with a comprehensive look at the software engineering and programming of 3D engines. This book is a complete guide to the engineering process, starting with a walk-through of the graphics pipeline showing how to construct the core elements of 3D systems, including data structures, the math system, and the object system. Dave explains how to manage data with scene graphs, how to build rendering and camera systems, and how to handle level of detail, terrain, and animation. Advanced rendering effects such as vertex and pixel shaders are also covered as well as collision detection and physics systems. The book concludes with a discussion of application design, development tools, and coding standards for the source code of the new version of the Wild Magic engine included on the CD-ROM. Wild Magic is a commercial-quality game engine used by many companies and is a unique resource for the game development community.

The author explores game development tools and practices for the rapidly growing mobile device market. The focus throughout the text is on using the AppForge add-on tool for Visual Basic to create games that can be used on numerous mobile game devices, including Palm Pilots, Pocket PCs and the Nokia Communicator.

As a designer using Flash you will see how you can apply your creative skills to the many stages of game production and produce your own interactive games with this versatile package. Creating games for mobile devices is now also covered! As an animator you will be able to add interactive functionality to your own animation and produce a game. As a web developer you will see how to make the best use of the sophisticated development environment Flash offers for the production of both artwork and code to create low bandwidth, animated web content that sells!

Many of today's computer games are mega productions with huge teams and budgets, vast quantities of content, and crunched schedules. Getting these games to market is not an easy feat. Just managing the creation of content and getting that content into the right place at the right time is an enormous challenge. Hundreds of development hours are lost dealing with asset and pipeline issues, so the need for a working system is immense. The Game Asset Pipeline is written for tools programmers, producers, and managers who need to know how to create such a system. The solutions and ideas presented in the book cover current technology and methods that can be used to design and implement an asset management system.