Computers : Entertainment & Games

Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3 is your start-to-finish guide to modding and level design with the world’s hottest new gaming engine: Unreal Engine 3. Here’s everything you need to know to jumpstart your skills and create stunning new content and games for consoles and PCs alike! Your authors aren’t just the world’s #1 Unreal game development trainers: They’ve even built the training modules that shipped with Unreal Tournament 3: Limited Collector’s Edition. Now, working with the full cooperation of Unreal Engine 3’s creators, Epic Games, they introduce every facet of game development–from simple level creation to materials, lighting, and terrain...even advanced level optimization and streaming!.  . Packed with tips, hands-on tutorials, and expert techniques, Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I is all you need to create levels that look spectacular and work brilliantly...levels that gamers just can’t stop playing!.  . You’ll find expert tips on: Understanding the game development process from start to finish; Planning projects for greater efficiency, faster delivery, and better quality; Crafting worlds with stunning beauty and clarity; Bringing amazing realism to characters, objects, and props; Making the most of Unreal Engine 3’s massively upgraded lighting system; Scripting complex gameplay quickly and easily with Unreal Kismet; Building animated game assets with Unreal Matinee  Testing game performance during live gameplay; Optimizing levels by improving the interaction between lights and surfaces; Using advanced level streaming to create vast, rich, highly playable levels more...

Price: $39.99

Computers like the Apple I are incredibly simple machines. Even if you have no experience with electronics, this book will teach you how to build your own replica of the Apple I, show you how to program it yourself, and introduce you to exciting ways to expand your Apple I to control lights, motors, and more. more...

Price: $39.95

If you are a gamer, a game developer, a software security professional, or an interested bystander, this book exposes the inner workings of online-game security for all to see. From the authors of the best-selling Exploiting Software , Exploiting Online Games takes a frank look at controversial security issues surrounding MMORPGs, such as World of Warcraft ™ and Second Life ® . This no-holds-barred book comes fully loaded with code examples, debuggers, bots, and hacks. This book covers: Why online games are a harbinger of software security issues to come; How millions of gamers have created billion-dollar virtual economies; How game companies invade personal privacy; Why some gamers cheat; Techniques for breaking online game security; How to build a bot to play a game for you; Methods for total conversion and advanced mods. Written by the world's foremost software security experts, this book takes a close look at security problems associated with advanced, massively distributed software. With hundreds of thousands of interacting users, today's online games are a bellwether of modern software. The kinds of attack and defense techniques described in Exploiting Online Games are tomorrow's security techniques on display today. more...

Price: $35.99

As Templar Simon Cross fights to lead the hunted survivors of the demon surge toward salvation, time and supplies run short. Simon must penetrate the dark secrets of the demons -- as well as those of his partner in peril, Leah Creasey -- to keep his charges safe. But Leah's organization won't surrender their knowledge easily, even as new technology emerges from the Goetia Manuscript that could help Simon's cause. Warren Schimmer, linked to one of the darkest of the hellspawn -- the demonic Lilith -- is himself also targeted by infernal forces. No longer able to hide, Warren must emerge as a leader and turn a ragged band of Cabalists into an army. But when a vicious weapon that uses dreams against the human survivors of the city draws the Templars, the Cabalists, and the Hunters into the same arena, will they join forces...or turn against one another? more...

Price: $7.99

Do you have what it takes to become a game developer? With this hands-on book, you'll learn how to develop computer games with Microsoft's XNA 3.0 framework -- not just for your PC, but for Xbox 360 and the Microsoft Zune as well. Learning XNA 3.0 walks you through the framework in a clear and understandable step-by-step format. Once you finish the book, you'll know how to develop sophisticated games from start to finish. more...

Price: $27.99