San Antonio College Library

"Introduces a practical critical method for analyzing existing games and designing future games"--

Visionary game designer Jane McGonigal shows how we can harness the power of computer games to solve real-world problems and boost global happiness, since her research suggests that gamers are expert problem solvers and collaborators because they regularly cooperate with other players to overcome daunting virtual challenges. Visionary game designer Jane McGonigal reveals how we can harness the power of games to solve real-world problems and boost...

The computer gaming industry is bigger than the film and music industries and is growing faster than both of them put together. This is the first major study of brands and gaming and shows huge opportunities for brand development.

During the last few years, a new area of creative media industry, namely Serious Games, has started to emerge around the world. The term serious games has become more popular for example in the fields of education, business, welfare and safety. Despite this, there has been no single definition of serious games. A key question, what the concept itself means, has stayed unsolved though most have agreed on a definition that serious games are games or...

Offering a balance of theory and practice, this text looks at both game texts and how they are actually played, teaching the student methods for analysing the games themselves.

"Game designers spend many hours solving design problems but are often unaware that many of the problems they are solving have been encountered and solved countless times before. The best solutions may still require additional steps but there are common principles to many of the approaches that game designers can use for inspiration."--Publisher description.

"The topics explored include the varying types of games, vital preliminaries of making a game, the nuts and bolts of devising a game, creating a prototype, testing, designing levels, technical aspects, and assessing nature of the audience. With practice challenges, a list of resources for further exploration, and a glossary of industry terms, this manual is essential"--Provided by publisher.

"The Video Games Guide is the world's most comprehensive reference book on computer and video games. Each game entry includes the year of release, the hardware it was released on, the name of the developer/publisher, a one to five star quality rating, and a descriptive review of the game itself"--Provided by publisher.

Successful games merge art and technology in truly unique ways. Fused under tight production deadlines and strict performance requirements, shaped by demanding player expectations, games are among the most complex software projects created today. Game AI Pro: Collected Wisdom of Game AI Professionals covers both the art and the technology of game AI. Nothing covered is theory or guesswork. The book brings together the accumulated wisdom, cutting-edge...

"Ken McAllister notes in his introduction to Game Work that, even though computer games are essentially entertainment, they are in fact important mediating agents for the broad exercise of socio-political power." "In considering how the languages, images, gestures, and sounds of video games influence those who build, market, and play them, McAllister highlights the ways in which ideology is coded into games. Computer games, he argues, have transformative...