Start Your Engines
Developing Driving and Racing Games
"Start Your Engines: Developing Driving and Racing Games" -- written by game programming expert Jim Parker, shows readers how to design and develop fast-action driving and racing games. Although this genre of games is very popular--estimated to represent nearly 20% of all computer games sold today--very little information has been published on this topic until now.In "Start Your Engines," the author takes readers through the entire process of creating driving and racing games, from exploring the design elements, game architecture, collision detection, intelligent opponents, and good audio techniques, to using cinematography, creating terrains, understanding the physics of racing games, using artificial intelligence, and simulating continuous time. The author first teaches readers how to create a 2D driving game, and then shows how to convert that project into a 3D racing game. In this unique book, readers will learn:
- -The nuts and bolts of creating driving and racing games--from time simulation to camera placement and controlling time and objects
- -Tips and techniques from leading 3D game developers for creating challenging driving and racing models utilizing AI and numerous collision detection packages
- -How to develop games that utilize varying driving conditions and challenging terrains and utilize ambient traffic and intelligent opponents
- -How to create a full-featured dune-buggy racing game that takes place on the unique terrain of Mars--with all the physic and AI background presented in an interactive, step-by-step learning format
Keith Weiskamp, President and Publisher of Paraglyph Press says,
"This is the first book published on the art of designing and programming driving and racing games. Jim Parker expertly presents all of the critical techniques that game programmers need to master to create their own driving and racing games, and we're confident that all students of game programming will find this new book to be enormously useful."
Author: Dr. Jim Parker
Dr. Jim Parker (Alberta, Canada), an expert on driving and racing games, has been an educator, programmer, and game designer for many years. In 2000 he pioneered Canada's first curriculum to train and educate aspiring game developers at the University of Calgary, in conjunction with Radical Entertainment of Vancouver. His course in Computer Game Programming at the University of Calgary always contains a driving game as the project for the class. He is a firm believer in the democratization of game creation, and this book is but one step in that process -- teaching others that they, too, can make a game that someone will want to play. Dr. Parker lives with his family on a farm near Cochrane, Alberta.
Start Your Engines...the First Book on Developing Driving and Racing Games by game programming expert Jim Parker - U.S. $39.99 ... up to 30% off at Amazon.com
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