Thiagi's 100 Favorite Gamesis an exciting new resource from Sivasailam "Thiagi" Thiagarajan, who is acknowledged as the world’s foremost authority on interactive learning. This is a first-of-its-kind collection that represents game play at its very best. Thiagi offers the "how-to" and the "lowdown" on his all-time favorite games. With this resource, you’ll never be stuck for a fun, innovative, and effective activity. Thiagi’s 100 Favorite Games can be used to: Illustrate concepts Aid learning transfer Improve team work Build critical skills in any training event Energize meetings Or us as icebreakers, or openers and closers to a formal training session

A cultural study of video game afterlife, whether as emulation or artifact, in an archival box or at the bottom of a landfill. We purchase video games to play them, not to save them. What happens to video games when they are out of date, broken, nonfunctional, or obsolete? Should a game be considered an “ex-game” if it exists only as emulation, as an artifact in museum displays, in an archival box, or at the bottom of a landfill? In Game After, Raiford Guins focuses on video games not as hermetically sealed within time capsules of the past but on their material remains: how and where video games persist in the present. Guins meticulously investigates the complex life cycles of video games, to show how their meanings, uses, and values shift in an afterlife of disposal, ruins and remains, museums, archives, and private collections. Guins looks closely at video games as museum objects, discussing the recontextualization of the Pong and Brown Box prototypes and engaging with curatorial and archival practices across a range of cultural institutions; aging coin-op arcade cabinets; the documentation role of game cartridge artwork and packaging; the journey of a game from flawed product to trash to memorialized relic, as seen in the history of Atari's infamous E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial; and conservation, restoration, and re-creation stories told by experts including Van Burnham, Gene Lewin, and Peter Takacs. The afterlife of video games—whether behind glass in display cases or recreated as an iPad app—offers a new way to explore the diverse topography of game history.

AI is an integral part of every video game. This book helps professionals keep up with the constantly evolving technological advances in the fast growing game industry and equips students with up-to-date information they need to jumpstart their careers. This revised and updated Third Edition includes new techniques, algorithms, data structures and representations needed to create powerful AI in games. Key Features A comprehensive professional tutorial and reference to implement true AI in games Includes new exercises so readers can test their comprehension and understanding of the concepts and practices presented Revised and updated to cover new techniques and advances in AI Walks the reader through the entire game AI development process

Building XNA 2.0 Games: A Practical Guide for Independent Game Development is written by James Silva, who recently won the prestigious Microsoft Dream Build Play game competition with his award–winning game, The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai. Building XNA 2.0 Games: A Practical Guide for Independent Game Development is an in–depth and exclusive look into the entire XNA game development process and includes the creation of a software game masterpiece. James Silva guides you through the process he took to build his award–winning title, from concept to reality. He reveals tips and techniques for creating a polished, high–quality game with very few resources, while bridging the gap between coding and art. This title shows software developers the following: The creation of a polished game from start to finish Design philosophies Next–gen 2D graphics, including shaders Techniques for fast, fluid game play XACT Audio and XInput Eye–catching particle effects for visual stimulation The book is packed full of code, pictures, and valuable insights into XNA game development.

A Positive Political Theory Primer is designed to introduce students to the application of game theory to modeling political processes. This accessible text covers the essential aspects of game theory while keeping the reader constantly in touch with why political science as a whole would benefit from considering this method. Examining the very phenomena that power political machineries—elections, legislative and committee processes, and international conflict, the book attempts to answer fundamental questions about their nature and function in a clear, accessible manner. Included at the end of each chapter is a set of exercises designed to allow students to practice the construction and analysis of political models. Although the text assumes only an elementary-level training in algebra, students who complete a course around this text will be equipped to read nearly all of the professional literature that makes use of game theoretic analysis. Each chapter also contains suggestions for further reading for those students who wish to broaden their learning and expertise.

Children's ministry can be fun and meaningful when you use these incredibly creative resources from Godprints--"The Most Creative Children's Ministry Resource Ever!" Every activity helps kids learn what God is like and how to become more like Him! That's why we say - these are Resources That Leave a Godprint!

Get ready for a fun-filled experience of learning Java by developing games for the Android platform Key Features Learn Java, Android, and object-oriented programming from scratch Build games including Sub Hunter, Retro Pong, Bullet Hell, Classic Snake, and a 2D Scrolling Shooter Create and design your own games, such as an open-world platform game Book Description Android is one of the most popular mobile operating systems presently. It uses the most popular programming language, Java, as the primary language for building apps of all types. However, this book is unlike other Android books in that it doesn’t assume that you already have Java proficiency. This new and expanded second edition of Learning Java by Building Android Games shows you how to start building Android games from scratch. The difficulty level will grow steadily as you explore key Java topics, such as variables, loops, methods, object oriented programming, and design patterns, including code and examples that are written for Java 9 and Android P. At each stage, you will put what you’ve learned into practice by developing a game. You will build games such as Minesweeper, Retro Pong, Bullet Hell, and Classic Snake and Scrolling Shooter games. In the later chapters, you will create a time-trial, open-world platform game. By the end of the book, you will not only have grasped Java and Android but will also have developed six cool games for the Android platform. What you will learn Set up a game development environment in Android Studio Implement screen locking, screen rotation, pixel graphics, and play sound effects Respond to a player’s touch, and program intelligent enemies who challenge the player in different ways Learn game development concepts, such as collision detection, animating sprite sheets, simple tracking and following, AI, parallax backgrounds, and particle explosions Animate objects at 60 frames per second (FPS) and manage multiple independent objects using Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) Understand the essentials of game programming, such as design patterns, object-oriented programming, Singleton, strategy, and entity-component patterns Learn how to use the Android API, including Activity lifecycle, detecting version number, SoundPool API, Paint, Canvas, and Bitmap classes Build a side-scrolling shooter and an open world 2D platformer using advanced OOP concepts and programming patterns Who this book is for Learning Java by Building Android Games is for you if you are completely new to Java, Android, or game programming and want to make Android games. This book also acts as a refresher for those who already have experience of using Java on Android or any other platform without game development experience.