Book picks similar to
Indie Games: From Dream to Delivery by Don L. Daglow
game-design
gamedev
non-fiction
game-dev
The Code of Extraordinary Change
Steve Errey - 2012
More than a manifesto, The Code of Extraordinary Change cracks life wide open, taking you to a place where you're confident, capable and compelled to get out there and put a you-shaped dent in the universe.Containing a set of principles, ideas and specific actions learned from over 10 years of experience in coaching individuals on being naturally self-confident, the Code is a model for building natural confidence and creating and sustaining meaningful change.Get the Code of Extraordinary Change now and go dent the universe.
The Rotation: A Season with the Phillies and the Greatest Pitching Staff Ever Assembled
Jim Salisbury - 2012
Plus, the Philadelphia Phillies' 2011 rotation also happens to include Cole Hamels--the 2008 NLCS and World Series MVP--and an alternating fifth starter. This awe-inducing rotation has been the talk of baseball since coming together in December 2010. They were featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated's 2011 baseball- preview edition, interviewed on the MLB Network on opening day of spring training, covered in the New York Times Magazine, and mentioned in numerous newspapers and magazines nationwide.Authored by two of the most knowledgable and connected Phillies beat writers, The Rotation is a remarkably detailed day-in-the-life story of one complete season with a Major League Baseball starting-pitching staff. The authors offer deep daily access to the Phillies players, coaches, and front-office staff, as well as the players and staff of other major league teams and the national baseball media.With firsthand reporting and extensive interviews, plus two full-color photo inserts, this is a fascinating and detailed look into the day-to-day operation of what is arguably the greatest pitching rotation ever assembled. It is a must-read for Phillies fans and general baseball fans alike.
Summary: The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
Millionaire Mindset Publishing - 2017
The key to successful tidying is to tackle your house in the correct order, to keep only the things that bring you joy and to do it all at once, quickly and effectively. The KonMari Method will not only transform your home; once you have your whole house in order, your whole life will change for the better. You will be more confident, more focused and less distracted, and you will have the courage to break free from the past and move on from the negative aspects of your life. This summary highlights the key ideas and captures the most important lessons found in the original book. Unessential information has been removed to save the reader time. If you've already read the original, this summary will serve as a reminder of main ideas and key concepts. If you haven't, don't worry, here you will find every bit of practical information that you can apply. However, we do encourage you to purchase the original as well for a more comprehensive understanding of the subject. P.S. This is a ZERO-RISK investment, by the way. If for whatever reason you are not satisfied with our product, you will get a FULL REFUND within 7 days! So, what are you waiting for? Take action and get your copy right now, by scrolling up and clicking on the “Buy now with 1-Click” button! (Note: This summary is written and published by Millionaire Mindset Publishing. It is not the original book, and it’s not affiliated with the original author in any way. You can find the original book by accessing this link: http://amzn.to/2ygPwDj.)
A Roadmap for BJJ: How to Get Good at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as Fast as Humanly Possible
Stephan Kesting - 2015
Explanations (with photos) of how to use the six most important positions in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu to dominate your opponents. How to figure out which techniques you need to learn and practice next. What the highest percentage submissions and escapes are for each position. The background you need to avoid asking stupid questions in class. My best tips to maximize your training time, and to avoid injuries on the mat. And a ton of illustrations, photos, and links to important articles and techniques you must know.
Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals
Katie Salen - 2003
In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games. Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like play, design, and interactivity. They look at games through a series of eighteen game design schemas, or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance.Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design.
Farthest North: America's First Arctic Hero and His Horrible, Wonderful Voyage to the Frozen Top of the World
Todd Balf - 2012
Some had lost limbs to scurvy and frostbite; some had succumbed to Arctic hysteria; all of them were starving, reduced to eating the rats that seemed impervious to the vise-like cold. All but a handful of the fifty-odd sled dogs were long dead, victims of rabies and lockjaw. Thousands of miles away, people in America were convinced the crew of the Advance was dead, too. But one person remained undaunted: Elisha Kent Kane, the unlikely captain of the ill-fated ship whose previous trip to the remote and mysterious Arctic had made him one of the most famous men in the United States. Small of stature, poetic, and sickly, Kane was nonetheless determined to fulfill his voyage’s mission: to find survivors of the celebrated Arctic expedition of Sir John Franklin, and to prove the existence of a legendary Open Polar Sea that circled the North Pole. Before William Peary and Frederick Cook, there was Kane, the man who set the stage for the golden age of Arctic exploration that would follow. Under his calm yet unrelenting leadership, the crew of the Advance spent two years exploring the frozen realm of the Arctic Archipelago, going farther north than any expedition had before. But when it was finally time to return home, the ice had other ideas.
Good Luck Have Fun: The Rise of eSports
Roland Li - 2016
A confluence of technology, culture, and determination has made this possible. Players around the world compete for millions of dollars in prize money, and companies like Amazon, Coca Cola, and Intel have invested billions. Esports events have sold out Los Angeles’s Staples Center, Seoul’s World Cup Stadium, and Seattle’s KeyArena. Hundreds of people have dedicated their lives to gaming, sacrificing their education, relationships, and even their bodies to compete, committing themselves with the same fervor of any professional athlete. In Good Luck Have Fun, author Roland Li talks to some of the biggest names in the business and explores the players, companies, and games that have made it to the new major leagues.Follow Alexander Garfield as he builds Evil Geniuses, a modest gaming group, in his college dorm into a global, multimillion-dollar eSports empire. Learn how Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill made League of Legends the world’s most successful eSports league and most popular PC game, on track to make over $1 billion a year. See how Twitch pivoted from a video streaming novelty into a $1 billion startup on the back of professional gamers. And dive into eSports’ dark side: drug abuse, labor troubles, and for each success story, hundreds of people who failed to make it big. These are the stories of the rise of an industry and culture that challenge what we know about sports, games, and competition.
Press Start to Play
Daniel H. WilsonSeanan McGuire - 2015
The humble, pixelated games of the ‘70s and ‘80s have evolved into the vivid, realistic, and immersive form of entertainment that now rivals all other forms of media for dominance in the consumer marketplace. For many, video games have become the cultural icons around which pop culture revolves.PRESS START TO PLAY is an anthology of stories inspired by video games: stories that attempt to recreate the feel of a video game in prose form; stories that play with the concepts common (or exclusive) to video games; and stories about the creation of video games and/or about the video games—or the gamers—themselves.These stories will appeal to anyone who has interacted with games, from hardcore teenaged fanatics, to men and women who game after their children have gone to bed, to your well-meaning aunt who won’t stop inviting you to join her farm-based Facebook games.At the helm of this project are Daniel H. Wilson—bestselling novelist and expert in artificial intelligence—and John Joseph Adams—bestselling, Hugo Award-nominated editor of more than a dozen science fiction/fantasy anthologies and series editor of Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy (volume one forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin in 2015). Together, they have drawn on their wide-ranging contacts to assemble an incredibly talented group of authors who are eager to attack the topic of video games from startling and fascinating angles.Under the direction of an A.I. specialist and a veteran editor, the anthology will expose readers to a strategically chosen mix of stories that explore novel video game concepts in prose narratives, such as save points, kill screens, gold-farming, respawning, first-person shooters, unlocking achievements, and getting “pwned.” Likewise, each of our authors is an accomplished specialist in areas such as science fiction, fantasy, and techno-thrillers, and many have experience writing for video games professionally.Combining unique viewpoints and exacting realism, this anthology promises to thrill generations of readers, from those who grew up with Atari 2600s to the console and PC gamers of today.
Agile Game Development with Scrum
Clinton Keith - 2010
It's no wonder so many development studios are struggling to survive. Fortunately, there is a solution. Scrum and Agile methods are already revolutionizing development outside the game industry. Now, long-time game developer Clinton Keith shows exactly how to successfully apply these methods to the unique challenges of game development. Keith has spent more than fifteen years developing games, seven of them with Scrum and agile methods. Drawing on this unparalleled expertise, he shows how teams can use Scrum to deliver games more efficiently, rapidly, and cost-effectively; craft games that offer more entertainment value; and make life more fulfilling for development teams at the same time. You'll learn to form successful agile teams that incorporate programmers, producers, artists, testers, and designers--and promote effective collaboration within and beyond those teams, throughout the entire process. From long-range planning to progress tracking and continuous integration, Keith offers dozens of tips, tricks, and solutions--all based firmly in reality and hard-won experience. Coverage includes Understanding Scrum's goals, roles, and practices in the context of game development Communicating and planning your game's vision, features, and progress Using iterative techniques to put your game into a playable state every two to four weeks-- even daily Helping all team participants succeed in their roles Restoring stability and predictability to the development process Managing ambiguous requirements in a fluid marketplace Scaling Scrum to large, geographically distributed development teams Getting started: overcoming inertia and integrating Scrum into your studio's current processes Increasingly, game developers and managers are recognizing that things can't go on the way they have in the past. Game development organizations need a far better way to work.
Agile Game Development with Scrum
gives them that--and brings the profitability, creativity, and fun back to game development.
Police, Arrests & Suspects: The True Story of a Front Line Officer
John Donoghue - 2015
Who’s afraid of the Ginger Bread Man? Why do police like big busts? How can a priest assist in a violent robbery? When does Hitler figure in police negotiations? Why can making mashed potato get you arrested? When do police deploy the banana phone? What happens when you die if CSI don’t like you? Come on patrol with PC Donoghue and discover the funny, interesting and bizarre side of life on the front line of British policing. Police, Arrests & Suspects is the third fascinating account of a front line police response officer in ‘The True Story of a Front Line Officer’ series. John’s books remain hugely popular today, with over 600 5-star Amazon reviews combined. WARNING: Contains Humour & Traces of Nuts
The Little Redis Book
Karl Seguin
While it's safe to say that relational databases aren't going anywhere, we can also say that the ecosystem around data is never going to be the same.Of all the new tools and solutions, for me, Redis has been the most exciting. Why? First because it's unbelievably easy to learn. Hours is the right unit to use when talking about length of time it takes to get comfortable with Redis. Secondly, it solves a specific set of problems while at the same time being quite generic. What exactly does that mean? Redis doesn't try to be all things to all data. As you get to know Redis, it'll become increasingly evident what does and what does not belong in it. And when it does, as a developer, it's a great experience.While you can build a complete system using Redis only, I think most people will find that it supplements their more generic data solution - whether that be a traditional relational database, a document-oriented system, or something else. It's the kind of solution you use to implement specific features. In that way, it's similar to an indexing engine. You wouldn't build your entire application on Lucene. But when you need good search, it's a much better experience - for both you and your users. Of course, the similarities between Redis and indexing engines end there.The goal of this book is to build the foundation you'll need to master Redis. We'll focus on learning Redis' five data structures and look at various data modeling approaches. We'll also touch on some key administrative details and debugging techniques.LicenseThe Little Redis Book is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported license. You should not have paid for this book.You are free to copy, distribute, modify or display the book. However, I ask that you always attribute the book to me, Karl Seguin, and do not use it for commercial purposes.You can see the full text of the license at:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...About The AuthorKarl Seguin is a developer with experience across various fields and technologies. He's an active contributor to Open-Source Software projects, a technical writer and an occasional speaker. He's written various articles, as well as a few tools, about Redis. Redis powers the ranking and statistics of his free service for casual game developers: mogade.com.Karl wrote The Little MongoDB Book, the free and popular book about MongoDB.His blog can be found at http://openmymind.net and he tweets via @karlseguinWith Thanks ToA special thanks to Perry Neal for lending me his eyes, mind and passion. You provided me with invaluable help. Thank you.Latest VersionThe latest source of this book is available at: http://github.com/karlseguin/the-litt...
Guarding the Tongue
Darussalam - 2013
And indeed, the servant will speak words that are displeasing to Allah, due to which he will not he given a good condition, but (instead) be thrown into the Hellfire."(Bukhari)This book highlights those sins that seem so light on the tongue yet so grave on the scale and offers practical advice on how to keep the tongue in check.
Designing Virtual Worlds
Richard Bartle - 2003
It's a tour de force of VW design, stunning in intellectual scope, spanning the literary, economic, sociological, psychological, physical, technological, and ethical underpinnings of design, while providing the reader with a deep, well-grounded understanding of VW design principles. It covers everything from MUDs to MOOs to MMORPGs, from text-based to graphical VWs.Designing Virtual Worlds brings a rich, well-developed approach to the design concepts behind virtual worlds. It is grounded in the earliest approaches to such designs, but the examples discussed in the book run the gamut from the earliest MUDs to the present-day MMORPG games mentioned above. It teaches the reader the actual, underlying design principles that many designers do not understand when they borrow or build from previous games. There is no other design book on the market in the area of online games and virtual worlds that provides the rich detail, historical context, and conceptual depth of Designing Virtual Worlds.
Beginner's Luck Guide For Non-Runners: Learn to Run from Scratch to an Hour in 10 Weeks
George Anderson - 2013
You may have tried and failed in the past to make running stick, but never the less you are determined to master it. You may tell yourself that “running is hard”, or “I’m just not a runner”, but the truth is that anybody can learn to run if they have the right approach. You will likely have many questions; “how do I build up my running distance?”, “how do I stay motivated to run?”, “how do I warm up and cool down?”. All of these and more are covered off within the pages of this book along with a step by step guide to building up your running to 60 minutes. There is more to learning how to run than just going out and seeing how far you can go three days a week. Some people will undoubtedly have success with this method, but for most beginner runners it takes a little more guidance and support to truly master the art of running. More and more beginners are deciding to take their first steps and learn how to run. Races are popping up all over the place geared towards beginner runners and it remains one of the most accessible sports around. Learning how to run should be a fun and rewarding experience in itself, not just a means to achieve a goal. Beginner’s Luck is a complete program that teaches you everything you need to build your confidence as a runner. The program itself removes the pressure of having to stick rigidly to a set rate of progress, and instead allows you to progress at your own pace. If you are a beginner runner who would like to learn how to run for up to an hour AND surprise yourself as to how easy it really is, get Beginner’s Luck and start out on your journey today.
Changing the Game: How Video Games Are Transforming the Future of Business
David Edery - 2008
Microsoft has used games to painlessly and cost-effectively quadruple voluntary employee participation in important tasks. Medical schools have used game-like simulators to train surgeons, reducing their error rate in practice by a factor of six. A recruiting game developed by the U.S. Army, for just 0.25% of the Army’s total advertising budget, has had more impact on new recruits than all other forms of Army advertising combined. And Google is using video games to turn its visitors into a giant, voluntary labor forceencouraging them to manually label the millions of images found on the Web that Google’s computers cannot identify on their own.Changing the Game reveals how leading-edge organizations are using video games to reach new customers more cost-effectively; to build brands; to recruit, develop, and retain great employees; to drive more effective experimentation and innovation; to supercharge productivity…in short, to make it fun to do business. This book is packed with case studies, best practices, and pitfalls to avoid. It is essential reading for any forward-thinking executive, marketer, strategist, and entrepreneur, as well as anyone interested in video games in general. In-game advertising, advergames, adverworlds, and beyondChoose your best marketing opportunitiesand avoid the pitfalls Use gaming to recruit and develop better employeesLearn practical lessons from America’s Army and other innovative case studies Channel the passion of your user communitiesHelp your customers improve your products and servicesand have fun doing it What gamers do better than computers, scientists, or governmentsUse games to solve problems that can’t be solved any other way