Designing Games


Tynan Sylvester - 2013
    You’ll learn principles and practices for crafting games that generate emotionally charged experiences—a combination of elegant game mechanics, compelling fiction, and pace that fully immerses players.In clear and approachable prose, design pro Tynan Sylvester also looks at the day-to-day process necessary to keep your project on track, including how to work with a team, and how to avoid creative dead ends. Packed with examples, this book will change your perception of game design.Create game mechanics to trigger a range of emotions and provide a variety of playExplore several options for combining narrative with interactivityBuild interactions that let multiplayer gamers get into each other’s headsMotivate players through rewards that align with the rest of the gameEstablish a metaphor vocabulary to help players learn which design aspects are game mechanicsPlan, test, and analyze your design through iteration rather than deciding everything up frontLearn how your game’s market positioning will affect your design

Thinking in CSS


Aravind Shenoy - 2014
    Instead of wandering through loads of theory, we will understand CSS more practically so that we can design a webpage using CSS. We have used Notepad for the examples in this book. Alternatively, you can also use Notepad++ or any advanced editor. All that you need to do is copy the code and paste it into Notepad. Upon execution, you will get the output as depicted in the screenshots. Screenshots are provided for each sample code. Coding gets better with practice. The examples in this book are compatible with almost every browser. Instead of using the verbatim code, you can modify the code and see the change in the output, thereby understanding the subtle nuances of CSS. By the end of the book, with practice, you can achieve better things and get more acquainted with CSS.

Software Requirements 3


Karl Wiegers - 1999
    Two leaders in the requirements community have teamed up to deliver a contemporary set of practices covering the full range of requirements development and management activities on software projects. Describes practical, effective, field-tested techniques for managing the requirements engineering process from end to end. Provides examples demonstrating how requirements "good practices" can lead to fewer change requests, higher customer satisfaction, and lower development costs. Fully updated with contemporary examples and many new practices and techniques. Describes how to apply effective requirements practices to agile projects and numerous other special project situations. Targeted to business analysts, developers, project managers, and other software project stakeholders who have a general understanding of the software development process. Shares the insights gleaned from the authors' extensive experience delivering hundreds of software-requirements training courses, presentations, and webinars.New chapters are included on specifying data requirements, writing high-quality functional requirements, and requirements reuse. Considerable depth has been added on business requirements, elicitation techniques, and nonfunctional requirements. In addition, new chapters recommend effective requirements practices for various special project situations, including enhancement and replacement, packaged solutions, outsourced, business process automation, analytics and reporting, and embedded and other real-time systems projects.

The Wedding Officiant's Guide: How to Write and Conduct a Perfect Ceremony


Lisa Francesca - 2014
    With the officiating trend on the rise, novice officiants need a resource to guide them. In The Wedding Officiant's Guide, interfaith minister Lisa Francesca breaks down the entire officiating process, from becoming an ordained officiant and interviewing the couple to drafting and performing a moving ceremony. Written in an engaging and friendly tone, and featuring empowering advice, suggested readings, stories and lessons learned from new officiants, and practical tips from wedding planners, this inviting handbook will help new officiants write and deliver a wedding ceremony that fulfills marriage laws, delights guests, and honors the marrying couple.

Rebekah - Girl Detective #1-8


P.J. Ryan - 2013
    Each short story is around 20-24 pages long. It includes the following books: *Mysterious Garden *Alien Invasion *Magellan Goes Missing *Ghost Hunting *Grown-Ups Out To Get Us?! *The Missing Gems *Swimming With Sharks?! *Magic Gone Wrong! Rebekah Daniels is just your ordinary spunky 9 year old girl living in the small town of Curtis Bay...EXCEPT she is determined NOT to be ordinary at all! Her small town is filled with mysteries and Rebekah is sure that she, along with her best friend Mouse, will be able to solve every last one of them.

Ham Radio for Dummies


H. Ward Silver - 2004
    If you think of it as staticky transmissions sent by people in the middle of nowhere, think again. Today's ham radio goes beyond wireless to extreme wireless, Operators transmit data and pictures, use the Internet, laser, and microwave transmitters, and travel to places high and low to make contact. In an emergency or natural disaster, ham radio can replace downed traditional communication and save lives. Whether you're just getting turned on to ham radio or already have your license, Ham Radio for Dummies helps you with the terminology, the technology and the talknology. You discover how to:Decipher the jargon and speak the language Buy or upgrade your equipment, including the all-important antennas Build a ham radio shack, complete with the rig, a computer, mobile/base rig, microphones, keys, headphones, antennas, cables and feedlines Study for your license, master Morse code, take the test and get your call sign Understand the basics of ragchews (conversations), nets (organized on-air meetings) and DX-ing (competing in contacts to make contacts) Keeping logs with the vital statistics, including time (in UTC or World Time), frequency, and call sign Written by Ward Silver, an electrical engineer, Certified Amateur Radio License Examiner, and columnist for QST, a monthly magazine for ham operators, Ham Radio for Dummies gives you the info you need to delve into the science or dive into the conversation. It explains how you can:Tune in to the most common types of signals, including Morse Code (CW), single-sideband (SSB), FM, Radioteletype (RTTY), and data signals Break in, introduce yourself, converse, and say or signal goodbye Communicate while traveling (ham radio goes where mobile phones go dead) Register with an emergency organization such as ARES and RACES Help in emergencies such as earthquakes, wildfires, or severe weather Pursue your special interests, including contacting distant stations, participating in contests, exploring the digital modes, using satellites, transmitting images, and more Complete with a glossary and ten pages of additional suggested resources, Ham Radio for Dummies encourages you to touch that dial and take that mike.CUL. (That's Morse Code for "see you later.")

Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Faces


Ed Emberley - 1975
    This classic book is packed with fun things that kids-and not a few adults-really want to draw. Easy and fun, the book provides hours of art-full entertainment.

Microsoft Excel 2013 Power Programming with VBA


John Walkenbach - 2013
    Naturally, that means John Walkenbach returns with a new edition of his bestselling VBA Programming book and covers all the methods and tools you need to know in order to program with Excel. With this comprehensive guide, Mr. Spreadsheet shows you how to maximize your Excel experience using professional spreadsheet application development tips from his own personal bookshelf.Featuring a complete introduction to Visual Basic for Applications and fully updated for the latest features of Excel 2013, this essential reference includes an analysis of Excel application development and is packed with procedures, tips, and ideas for expanding Excel's capabilities with VBA.Offers an analysis of Excel application development and a complete introduction to VBA Features invaluable advice from Mr. Spreadsheet himself, bestselling author John Walkenbach, who demonstrates all the techniques you need to create Excel applications, both large and small Covers navigating the Excel interface, formatting worksheets, interacting with other Office applications, working with collaboration tools, and using sample workbooks and John Walkenbach's award-winning Power Utility Pak to help enhance your Excel skills Provides tips, tricks, and techniques for expanding Excel's capabilities with VBA that you wont find anywhere else Excel 2013 Power Programming with VBA is packed with procedures, tips, and ideas for achieving Excel excellence with VBA.

Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share


Ken Denmead - 2010
    Rather than joining the Little League team, many grew up playing computer games, Dungeons and Dragons, and watching Star Wars. Now with kids of their own, these digital-age dads are looking for fresh ways to share their love of science and technology, and help their kids develop a passion for learning and discovery.Enter supergeek, and father of two, Ken Denmead. An engineer and editor of the incredibly popular GeekDad blog on wired.com, Ken has created the ultimate, idea-packed guide guaranteed to help dads and kids alike enjoy the magic of playtime together and tap into the infinite possibility of their imagination. With illustrations throughout, this book offers projects for all ages to suit any timeframe or budget. With Denmead's expert guidance, you and your child can:-Fly a night-time kite ablaze with lights or launch a video camera with balloons-Construct the Best Slip n' Slide Ever, a guaranteed thrill ride-Build a working lamp with LEGO bricks and CDs-Create a customized comic strip or your own board game-Transform any room into a spaceship-Make geeky crafts like cyborg jack-o'-lanterns or Ethernet cuff linksBrimming with endlessly fun and futuristic tidbits on everything from gaming to gadgets, GeekDad helps every tech-savvy father unleash his inner kid-and bond with the next generation of brainiacs.Watch a Video

Unbored: The Essential Field Guide to Serious Fun


Joshua Glenn - 2012
    Vibrantly designed, lavishly illustrated, brilliantly walking the line between cool and constructive, it’s crammed with activities that are not only fun and doable but also designed to get kids engaged with the wider world. With contributions from a diverse crowd of experts, the book provides kids with information to round out their worldview and inspire them to learn more. From how-tos on using the library or writing your representative to a graphic history of video games, the book isn’t shy about teaching. Yet the bulk of the 350-page mega-resource presents hands-on activities that further the mission in a fun way, featuring the best of the old as well as the best of the new: classic science experiments, crafts and upcycling, board game hacking, code-cracking, geocaching, skateboard repair, yarn bombing, stop-action movie-making—plus tons of sidebars and extras, including trivia, best-of lists, and Q&As with leading thinkers whose culture-changing ideas are made accessible to kids for the first time.Just as kids begin to disappear into their screens, here is a book that encourages them to use those tech skills to be creative, try new things, and change the world. And it encourages parents to participate. Unbored is exciting to read, easy to use, and appealing to young and old, girl and boy. Parents will be comforted by its anti-perfectionist spirit and humor. Kids will just think it’s awesome.Contributors include: Mark Frauenfelder of MAKE magazine; Colin Beavan, the No Impact Man; Douglas Rushkoff, renowned media theorist; Geoff Manaugh, author of BLDGBLOG; John Edgar Park, a CG supervisor at DisneyToon Studios; and Jean Railla, founder of GetCrafty.com and Etsy consultant.

101 Great Science Experiments


Neil Ardley - 1993
    Science writer Neil Ardley shows how you can use everyday objects to discover the basic principles of science and understand how these apply to the world around you. So if you want to make a volcano erupt, see around corners, find out how your eyes work, or build an electromagnet, this fascinating book will show you how.Make science fun with 101 exciting step-by-step experiments that are safe and easy to do at home.

Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner


Michael Dawson - 2003
    Developed by computer science instructors, books in the For the absolute beginner series teach the principles of programming through simple game creation. You will acquire the skills that you need for more practical Python programming applications and you will learn how these skills can be put to use in real-world scenarios. Best of all, by the time you finish this book you will be able to apply the basic principles you've learned to the next programming language you tackle.Features Fun approach to a difficult topic Readers will create games with Python as they learn the fundamentals of this programming language The CD will include games that readers can cut and paste into their own Web site The author provides challenges at the end of chapters to push readers to program on their own.

Alfred's Basic Piano Library Lesson Book, Bk 1a


Willard A. Palmer - 1981
    Lesson Book Level 1A begins by teaching basic keyboard topography and fluent recognition of white key names in relation to black keys. It focuses on simple rhythms and prepares students for intervallic reading with entertaining songs that focus on same, stepping up and stepping down. It then introduces lines and space notes in treble and bass clefs, melodic and harmonic intervals of 2nds, 3rds, 4ths and 5ths, and graduates to reading on the grand staff. It also introduces the flat and sharp signs. This course is most effective when used under the direction of a piano teacher or experienced musician. Songs Include: Balloons * Batter Up! * The Donkey * A Friend Like You * Hand-Bells * A Happy Song * Horse Sense * Totem Pole Song * It's Halloween! * Jingle Bells! * Jolly Old Saint Nicholas * July the Fourth! * Just a Second! * Love Somebody * Merrily We Roll Along O'er the Deep Blue Sea * Mexican Hat Dance * My Clever Pup * My Fifth * My Robot * Old MacDonald * Old Uncle Bill * Play a Fourth * Raindrops * Rain, Rain! * Rockets * Rockin' Tune * Rock Song * Sailing * Sea Divers * See-Saws * Skating * Who's on Third? * Willie and Tillie * Wishing Well * The Zoo

Red Team Field Manual


Ben Clark - 2014
    The RTFM contains the basic syntax for commonly used Linux and Windows command line tools, but it also encapsulates unique use cases for powerful tools such as Python and Windows PowerShell. The RTFM will repeatedly save you time looking up the hard to remember Windows nuances such as Windows wmic and dsquery command line tools, key registry values, scheduled tasks syntax, startup locations and Windows scripting. More importantly, it should teach you some new red team techniques.

Frommer's 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up


Holly Hughes - 2006
    Here are cities, zoos, sports shrines, museums, castles, beaches, outdoor activities, and more--500 thoughtfully-chosen places that will enchant and beguile both the young and the young at heart. Each entry contains all the information families need to help plan a trip: age ratings, service details, and nearby kid-friendly hotels. A Specialty Index organized by type of trip helps families discover places and activities for all ages and interests, while a Geographical Index allows families to locate attractions across the world or simply across town. Photos throughout the book help bring destinations to life.Free companion podcast is available for download!