Category: game

Unity in Action: A top-notch how-to guide for game developers – #gamedev #programming

by Si Dunn

Unity in Action Joseph Hocking Manning – paperback Unity, the cross-platform game development environment, is easy to download and get running. But it definitely is not easy to learn without some help. Fortunately, Joe Hocking’s Unity in Action makes it reasonably straightforward to learn how to develop games in 3D, as well as with Unity’s … Continue reading Unity in Action: A top-notch how-to guide for game developers – #gamedev #programming

Realm of Racket: Learn to Program, One Game at a Time – #Racket #game #programming #bookreview

by Si Dunn

Realm of Racket Learn to Program, One Game at a Time! Matthias Felleisen, David Van Horn, Conrad Barski, M.D., Forrest Bice, Rose DeMaio, Spencer Florence, Feng-Yun Mimi Lin, Scott Lindeman, Nicole Nussbaum, Eric Peterson, and Ryan Plessner (No Starch Press – paperback, Kindle) Formerly known as PLT Scheme, Racket is an offshoot of the Lisp/Scheme … Continue reading Realm of Racket: Learn to Program, One Game at a Time – #Racket #game #programming #bookreview

LEGO Bonanza — Stack ’em up: 3 hot new books for LEGO builders – #bookreview

by Si Dunn

No Starch Press recently has released three new books aimed at the world’s millions of LEGO™ builders: The Unofficial LEGO™ Builder’s Guide, 2nd Edition The LEGO™ Adventure Book, Vol. 1 The Unofficial LEGO™ Technic Builder’s Guide. Here are short reviews of each. The Unofficial LEGO™ Builder’s Guide, 2nd Edition Allan Bedford (No Starch, paperback – … Continue reading LEGO Bonanza — Stack ’em up: 3 hot new books for LEGO builders – #bookreview

Enterprise Games – How to build a better 21st-century business with game mechanics – #business #bookreview

by Si Dunn

Enterprise Games: Using Game Mechanics to Build a Better Business Michael Hugos (O’Reilly, paperback – Kindle) Can 21st-century games and gamers attack and destroy the top-down, assembly-line thinking that still keeps many businesses firmly rooted in the previous century?  Michael Hugos’ compelling new book makes a solid case that they can. Game mechanics, he argues, can … Continue reading Enterprise Games – How to build a better 21st-century business with game mechanics – #business #bookreview

Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress – How to build and fight your way into this complex game – #bookreview

by Si Dunn

Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress Peter Tyson (O’Reilly, paperback, list price $19.99; Kindle edition, list price $15.99) Many gamers agree with this book’s tagline, that Dwarf Fortress is “…the most complex video game ever made.” For that reason, they have avoided taking it up or have tried it, stumbled over its steep learning curve, and … Continue reading Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress – How to build and fight your way into this complex game – #bookreview

Oh, say can you C? Learning to program with Head First C – #bookreview #in #programming

by Si Dunn

Head First C By David Griffiths and Dawn Griffiths (O’Reilly, paperback, list price $49.99)  Long ago, in a universe now very far away, I was an ABC programmer: assembler, BASIC, and C. I learned C from a book popularly known as “K&R,” after its authors, Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie. (Their classic work … Continue reading Oh, say can you C? Learning to program with Head First C – #bookreview #in #programming

Tap, Move, Shake: Turning Your Game Ideas into iPhone & iPad Apps – #bookreview

by Si Dunn

Tap, Move, Shake: Turning Your Game Ideas into iPhone & iPad Apps By Todd Moore (O’Reilly, paperback, list price $29.99; Kindle edition, list price $23.99) If you have some game ideas and a little coding experience, this well-focused and well-written book can show you how to get started as a developer of iPhone and iPad … Continue reading Tap, Move, Shake: Turning Your Game Ideas into iPhone & iPad Apps – #bookreview

CoffeeScript: Accelerated JavaScript Development – #bookreview #programming

by Si Dunn

CoffeeScript: Accelerated JavaScript Development By Trevor Burnham (Pragmatic Bookshelf, $29.00, paperback) JavaScript was thrown together in 10 days and “was never meant to be the most important programming language in the world,” says Trevor Burnham, a web developer and founder of DataBraid, a startup focused on “developing data analysis and visualization tools.” Yet, JavaScript was “understood … Continue reading CoffeeScript: Accelerated JavaScript Development – #bookreview #programming

Designed for Use: Create Usable Interfaces for Applications and the Web – #bookreview

by Si Dunn

Designed for Use: Create Usable Interfaces for Applications and the Web By Lukas Mathis (Pragmatic Bookshelf, $35.00 paperback) There’s no code inside this well-written book for programmers and visual designers. Instead, the focus is on usability — how people use things — and how you can make big, modest or subtle improvements to their experiences … Continue reading Designed for Use: Create Usable Interfaces for Applications and the Web – #bookreview

Gamification by Design – Implementing Game Mechanics in Web and Mobile Apps – #bookreview

by Si Dunn

Gamification by Design: Implementing Game Mechanics in Web and Mobile Apps By Gabe Zichermann and Christopher Cunningham (O’Reilly, $24.99, paperback; $9.99, Kindle) Many companies which sell us products and services are rushing to try to adapt successful videogame strategies to their sales techniques. This well-written and adequately illustrated book encourages companies to view consumers as “players” rather … Continue reading Gamification by Design – Implementing Game Mechanics in Web and Mobile Apps – #bookreview