Game Programming GEMS 3

The journey continues with this ALL NEW volume in the Game Programming Gems series! As with the first two volumes, a dynamic group of some of the best game programmers in the industry have generously joined together to share their insights and techniques. Their ready-to-use ideas, tips, and solutions, will help save hours of programming time, prevent redundancy, and leave you with more time to add cutting-edge features to your own games. Covering all the key areas of game development, this invaluable resource delves deep into the problems often encountered by programmers, and provides practical, valid solutions. Each section is edited by an expert in the field to ensure that the ideas are original, accurate, and useful for a variety of game development projects. In addition to covering Mathematics, Graphics, General Programming, Audio, and Artificial Intelligence, Game Programming Gems 3 also includes an all new section on Network and Multiplayer games. This is a must-have reference, and series, for every game developer. If you are just getting started, this book offers a true cross-section of the challenges youíll face, and provides a variety of additional references to help you find all the resources you need to advance your skills and knowledge. If youíre an expert already, youíll find new ideas and techniques to help save plenty of valuable programming time.

Table of Contents:
AI Rectangle Navigation A Highly Efficient Alternative to A* Function Pointer-Based Embedded Finite State Machines Terrain Analysis in an RTS; Character Virtualization A Fast Approach to Navigation Meshes A General Trigger System for AI Entities, Objects, and Quests Optimized Machine Learning Techniques Tactical Pathfinding Using A* Audio Obstruction Using Axes-Aligned Bounding Boxes Compression and Effects Using Linear Predictive Coding Using DSP to Create Dynamic Engine Sounds Creating a Compelling 3D Audio Environment Compressing Audio with Vector Quantization Using the Biquad Resonant Filter General Developing Games for an International Market A Platform Independent Function Binding Interface Autolists: Allowing Trivial Listing of Object Instances Handle-Based Smart Pointers Programming a Game Design-Compliant Engine using UML Graphics A Compiler for Programmable Vertex Shading Hardware Using Textures to Approximate a Mathematic Function Computing Optimized Shadow Volumes for Complex Data Sets Billboard Beams; Subdivision Surfaces for Character Animation Mathematics A Fast Approximation to the Slerp() Function Clipping a Convex Polyhedron Against a Plane A Naming Convention for Transformation Matrices Base-2 Logarithm Utility Functions (C++) Constrained Inverse Kinematics Quaternion Compression Coping with Friction in Dynamical Simulations Network and Multiplayer Games A UDP Monitoring and Simulation Tool (Algorithms for) Player Skill Estimates and Rating Wireless Gaming with J2ME Multiplayer Game Development Using Microsoft DirectPlay 8.1 Real-Time-Strategy Network Protocol Template-Based Object Serialization Reducing Latency in Real-time Strategy Games Large-Scale Multiplayer Servers Secure Sockets A Flexible Simulation Architecture for Mass Multi-Player Games

About the Author :
Dante Treglia is the lead software engineer at Nintendo of America's Software Development Support Group where he supports the Nintendo GameCube development community.

Review :
AI Rectangle Navigation A Highly Efficient Alternative to A* Function Pointer-Based Embedded Finite State Machines Terrain Analysis in an RTS; Character Virtualization A Fast Approach to Navigation Meshes A General Trigger System for AI Entities, Objects, and Quests Optimized Machine Learning Techniques Tactical Pathfinding Using A* Audio Obstruction Using Axes-Aligned Bounding Boxes Compression and Effects Using Linear Predictive Coding Using DSP to Create Dynamic Engine Sounds Creating a Compelling 3D Audio Environment Compressing Audio with Vector Quantization Using the Biquad Resonant Filter General Developing Games for an International Market A Platform Independent Function Binding Interface Autolists: Allowing Trivial Listing of Object Instances Handle-Based Smart Pointers Programming a Game Design-Compliant Engine using UML Graphics A Compiler for Programmable Vertex Shading Hardware Using Textures to Approximate a Mathematic Function Computing Optimized Shadow Volumes for Complex Data Sets Billboard Beams; Subdivision Surfaces for Character Animation Mathematics A Fast Approximation to the Slerp() Function Clipping a Convex Polyhedron Against a Plane A Naming Convention for Transformation Matrices Base-2 Logarithm Utility Functions (C++) Constrained Inverse Kinematics Quaternion Compression Coping with Friction in Dynamical Simulations Network and Multiplayer Games A UDP Monitoring and Simulation Tool (Algorithms for) Player Skill Estimates and Rating Wireless Gaming with J2ME Multiplayer Game Development Using Microsoft DirectPlay 8.1 Real-Time-Strategy Network Protocol Template-Based Object Serialization Reducing Latency in Real-time Strategy Games Large-Scale Multiplayer Servers Secure Sockets A Flexible Simulation Architecture for Mass Multi-Player Games