Marketed as the only beginning DOS game programming book on the market, this how-to guide leads readers through the game development process with game design basics. Another addition to the successful Teach Yourself series, it includes many sample game programming techniques such as joy-stick control and use of graphics. The disk offers sample source code from the book.

"Sams Teach Yourself Game Programming with Visual Basic in 21 Days" teaches the reader the art of game programming from the ground up. The reader is assumed to have basic programming knowledge that he wishes to apply to the creation of basic games. Upon completion of the book readers will have learned to build eight games including card games, puzzles, and strategy games, each focusing on a specific task and building the reader's knowledge and skill level. The final week is a culmination of the skills learned in the first two weeks where the reader builds a complete game incorporating sound, animation, etc.

Intended for programmers producing games for the Internet, this manual details the development of four full Internet games. Assuming some working knowledge of Java, the text focuses on the advanced features of game development and includes a CD-Rom that offers sample applications and demo software.

In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, Sams Teach Yourself Android Game Programming in 24 Hours will help you master mobile game development for Android 4. Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, you’ll gain hands-on expertise with the entire process: from getting access to the hardware via the Android SDK to finishing a complete example game. You’ll learn to use the Android SDK and open source software to design and build fast, highly playable games for the newest Android smartphones and tablets. Every lesson builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a rock-solid foundation for real-world success! Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common Android game programming tasks. Quizzes and exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge. By the Way notes present interesting information related to the discussion. Did You Know? tips offer advice or show you easier ways to perform tasks. Watch Out! cautions alert you to possible problems and give you advice on how to avoid them. Jonathan Harbour is a writer and instructor whose love for computers and video games dates back to the Commodore PET and Atari 2600 era. He has a Master’s in Information Systems Management. His portfolio site at http://www.jharbour.com includes a discussion forum. He also authored Sams Teach Yourself Windows Phone 7 Game Programming in 24 Hours. His love of science fiction led to the remake of a beloved classic video game with some friends, resulting in Starflight—The Lost Colony (http://www.starflightgame.com). Learn how to... Install and configure the free development tools, including the Android 4 SDK, Java Development Kit, and Eclipse (or NetBeans) Use the Android graphics system to bring your game characters to life Load and manage bitmaps, and use double buffering for better performance Incorporate timing and animation with threaded game loops Tap into the touch screen for user input Learn to use Android sensors such as the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, light detector, and thermometer Integrate audio into your games using the media player Build your own game engine library to simplify gameplay code in your projects Animate games with sprites using atlas images and fast matrix transforms Employ object-oriented programming techniques using inheritance and data hiding Create an advanced animation system to add interesting behaviors to game objects Detect collisions and simulate realistic movement with trigonometry Experiment with an evolving engine coding technique that more naturally reflects how games are written

In just 24 lessons of one hour or less, Sams Teach Yourself Unity Game Development in 24 Hours will help you master the Unity 5 game engine at the heart of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Kerbal Space Program, and many other sizzling-hot games! This book’s straightforward, step-by-step approach teaches you everything from the absolute basics through sophisticated game physics, animation, and mobile device deployment techniques. Every lesson builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a rock-solid foundation for real-world success. Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common Unity game development tasks. Practical, hands-on examples show you how to apply what you learn. Quizzes and exercises help you test your knowledge and stretch your skills. Notes and tips point out shortcuts and solutions.

A gentle introduction to game programming on the Windows platform for the complete beginner.

The biggest challenge facing many game programmers is completing their game. Most game projects fizzle out, overwhelmed by the complexity of their own code. Game Programming Patterns tackles that exact problem. Based on years of experience in shipped AAA titles, this book collects proven patterns to untangle and optimize your game, organized as independent recipes so you can pick just the patterns you need. You will learn how to write a robust game loop, how to organize your entities using components, and take advantage of the CPUs cache to improve your performance. You'll dive deep into how scripting engines encode behavior, how quadtrees and other spatial partitions optimize your engine, and how other classic design patterns can be used in games.

"Sams Teach Yourself Beginning Programming in 24 Hours, Second Edition" explains the basics of programming in the successful 24-Hours format. The book begins with the absolute basics of programming: Why program? What tools to use? How does a program tell the computer what to do? It teaches readers how to program the computer and then moves on by exploring the some most popular programming languages in use. The author starts by introducing the reader to the Basic language and finishes with basic programming techniques for Java, C++, and others.

The introductory chapters provide a solid basis in using Direct3D and DirectSound in a 2D gaming environment, providing not only the necessary theoretical discussions, but also sample programs that demonstrate the concepts discussed. Once the reader learns these basic DirectX techniques, the book leads the reader through the design and programming of a console-style computer role-playing game. As the reader builds the game piece by piece, he not only applies what he's learned about Direct3D and DirectSound, but also learns the fundamental skills needed to program games. Currently, no other book on the market covers the same material.

This book teaches the user not only how to use the product and tools, but also how to program. The 21-day structure provides a logical and easy-to-follow sequence. Handy references with short examples are provided in shaded syntax boxes. Daily lessons, review sections, and clear examples of programming code are included.