Best book for game development
Hi friends! I need an advice for a great book.
My friends and me are trying to make a videogame, the first for us , and if somebody knows some good stuff to improve our skills I really appreciate it.
thank you!
My friends and me are trying to make a videogame, the first for us , and if somebody knows some good stuff to improve our skills I really appreciate it.
thank you!
Replies
I doubt there is one book that covers every facet of the industry. If there is such a book I doubt it covers them accurately and probably fails to give each area enough detail.
It really depends on everyones experience levels with their given discipline as to what books they should be reading.
What lang do your programmers intend to use? Is it a web based game? A 3D FPS?
Are you planning on licensing an already built 3D engine? If so, which?
What 3D modeling package are your modelers going to use?
Well the project intend to obtain as final result a graphic adventure on the line of Syberia. Wintermute is our engine development tool and I think to make 3d pre-rendered background with maya and 3d studio max. That is our first attempt and we are very motivated but nobody tells us how to proceed, we are pirates without a map, so... :poly105:
thank you guys!
To be honest there really isn't a book out there that really cover this. World building is world building. It's different for every project.
1. make half sphere for sky or cube. Usually this object will have a 100 percent glow map also called emmisive or self illumination map so it doesn't receive shadows. Image for sky.
2. terrain.
3. props, buildings, etc. This can be made out of box modeling lack of a better term.
4. render out the elements if it's pre rendered, and you'll need either alphas (for masking) or a z depth map that you coder will use for all kinds of things, like sorting the 3d objects.
code wise, I'm not a coder.
if it's a pre rendered game you can use tools like flash or director to build the code and put the game together.
For collision detection and placement of objects you can use arrays.
The way I look at this is visually is to take a huge picture and you make a grid, and each square of the grid will have a value. You need to make this huge image tileable and you try to recreate this huge image with the least amount of unique pieces as possible while keeping it from looking like a tiled mess. You can look at the Legend of Zelda for the NES as an example of what I mean. Look at all the different elements that are unique and see how they put the world together which is what the huge image example is all about.
If it's level building you want do a search for unreal or quake +mapping in google and read all the tutorials you can find. It should give you ideas on how to build things. But the first step is to get a mighty piece of paper and write out want you want to make. List everything the game is supposed to be, then make a list of what you need to make in terms of art and code to make the game a reality. If by the end of writing your game document you still want to make the game, then you are on the right track. If you feel like this is too much work and don't want to, then be honest with yourself and don't start. But that is the first step. Then do research and see if what you want to make is already done, if it is, compare what makes your project unique and decide what features you liked or didn't like of the games that are similar to what you want to make are, so you can improve them in your project and avoid things you don't like. There is a big chance that there is game out there that might be similar to what you are trying to make.
For coding you need to break down what all the elements are and give them properties. So make things move, die, heal, jump, etc. Use the mighty piece of paper to decide and document what's needed and track what you have completed. It might be best to start simple and add once you have the basic mechanics done. So the first thing is to get the scene to load, then add an object, then make it move when the user wants it to. Making things pretty is the last step.
Good luck.
Alex
You don't want a game dev book, sounds like you need a modeling/texturing/rendering book, maybe something like this.
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Introducing-3ds-Max-3D-Beginners/dp/0470097612[/ame]
Actually, as EricChadwick saids, I'm trying to know if you have read any kind of book who speaks about, modeling, texturing, animation for the game. I've just finished "Game character Development with maya" and I want to read much more of this stuff.
I used to buy a lot of programming books from Amazon... but I think the best is to know what you need and then Google it... that will save you a lot of $$$$$$!
My friend and i decided to mod half life 2. We started to make the characters, and was looking around on the "poly count" that would be recommended. Then i found this place
I would recommend, find a free game engine, and mod that. Plenty of tutorials out there on most, defiantly half life 2.
if you really want to create and own your own thing, you could check out garagegames offerings. there are better engines, from what i hear, but they offer a lot of tools, tutorials, etc and their stuff is relatively cheap.