Sure, they cover the basics. But The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design goes way beyond the basics. The authors, top game designers, focus on creating games that are an involving, emotional experience for the gamer. Topics include integrating story into the game, writing the game script, putting together the game bible, creating the design document, and working on original intellectual property versus working with licenses. Finally, there’s complete information on how to present a visionary new idea to developers and publishers. Got game? Get The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design.

    Weinberg adds new insights and highlights the similarities and differences between now and then. Using a conversational style that invites the reader to join him, Weinberg reunites with some of his most insightful writings on the human side of software engineering.Topics include egoless programming, intelligence, psychological measurement, personality factors, motivation, training, social problems on large projects, problem-solving ability, programming language design, team formation, the programming environment, and much more.Dorset House Publishing is proud to make this important text available to new generations of programmers -- and to encourage readers of the first edition to return to its valuable lessons.

    We start off easy, defining some of the tech lingo you may have heard before, but didn’t fully understand. From there, each lesson introduces something new, slowly building up to the point where you are confident about what an API is and, for the brave, could actually take a stab at using one.

    Beginning with an overview of what eBay is and how to become a registered user, eBay for Dummies helps you discover how you can:Search for items to buy and list items to sell on eBay Place a bid--and determine how much you should spend Use pictures and basic HTML to make your eBay listings more appealing Communicate well and close deals without a problem Identify auction terms (reserve price, starting bid, Buy It Now, etc.) Organize your transactions and interactions using the My eBay page Resolve buying and selling issues with eBay's Trust & Safety program And much more! Registering at eBay makes you part of a really unique community of people who like to collect, buy, and sell items of just about every kind! So if you're ready to join the millions of people who use their home computers to make great deals, buy cool stuff, and turn a profit, eBay for Dummies does all the legwork so you can sit back and let the bidding begin!

    His discussions of diction, syntax, tone, meaning, composition, and revision guide the reader through the technique of making the written word clear and agreeable to read. Exercises, model passages both literary and casual, and hundreds of amusing examples of usage gone wrong show how to choose the right path to self-expression in forceful and distinctive words.

    That’s because inside each of us is an internal editor whose job is to forever polish our thoughts, so we sound smart and in control, and so that we fit into society. But what happens when we encounter problems where such conventional thinking fails us? How to get unstuck? For Mark Levy, the answer is freewriting, a technique he’s used for years to solve all types of business problems, and generate ideas for books, articles and blog posts. Freewriting is deceptively simple: Start writing as fast as you can, for as long as you can, about a subject you care deeply about, while ignoring the standard rules of grammar and spelling. Your internal editor won’t be able to keep up with your output, and will be temporarily shunted into the background. You’ll now be able to think more honestly and resourcefully than before, and will generate breakthrough ideas and solutions that you couldn’t have created any other way. Levy shares six freewriting secrets designed to knock out your editor and let your genius run free. He also includes fifteen problem-solving and creativity-stimulating principles you can use if you need more firepower—seven of which are new to this edition—and stories of problems he and others have solved through freewriting. Also new to this edition: an extensive section on how to refine your freewriting into something you can share with the world. Although Levy originally taught freewriting as a private brainstorming technique, over the years he and his clients have found that, with some tweaking, it’s a great way to generate content for books, articles, and other thought leadership pieces.

    Brian McDonald, an award winning screenwriter who has taught his craft at several major studios, supplies writers with tools to make their work more effective and provides readers and audiences a deeper understanding of the storyteller's art. When people think of a screenplay, they usually think about dialogue-the "visible ink" that is readily accessible to the listener, reader, or viewer. But a successful screenplay needs Invisible Ink as well, the craft below the surface of words. Invisible Ink lays out the essential elements of screenplay structure, using vivid examples from famous moments in popular movies as well as from one of his own popular scripts. You will learn techniques for building a compelling story around a theme, making your writing engage audiences, creating appealing characters, and much more. Praise for Invisible Ink: ..".If I manage to reach the summit of my next story it will be in no small part due to having read Invisible Ink." -Andrew Stanton (cowriter Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., and cowriter/director Finding Nemo and WALL-E) ..".Brian McDonald uses his deep understanding of story and character to pass on essential truths about dramatic writing. Ignore him at your peril." -Jim Taylor (Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Sideways and Election) ..". I recommend this fine handbook on craft to any writer, apprentice or professional, working in any genre or form." -Dr. Charles Johnson (National Book Award-winning author of Middle Passage) "If you want to write scripts, listen to Brian. The guy knows what he's talking about." -Paul Feig (creator of NBC's Freaks and Geeks, co-executive producer The Office) "With Invisible Ink Brian McDonald has written us a book to keep and heed forever because through the simple, graceful, graspable, original wisdom of it, we might just save our screenwriting lives." -Stewart Stern (Screenwriter of Rebel Without a Cause)

    Listen and speak more effectively, engage people through empathy (the most powerful word in the English language), avoid the most common conversational disasters, and use proven strategies that allow you to successfully communicate your point of view and take the upper hand in most disputes.

    The blogosphere has become a huge platform for individuals and businesses alike. As well as being essential for creative trades of all kinds--carpenters, photographers, caterers, gardeners and graphic designers to name but a few--blogs can be inspirational and beautiful; becoming hubs for people with similar tastes and interests. Blogging for Creatives is the first approachable, non-techie guide to the blogosphere, complete with hundreds of tips, tricks and motivational stories from artistic bloggers who have started from scratch. It covers everything creatives need to know about how to design a beautiful, interesting blog that people will want to return to again and again--such as how to design, publish and host a blog, as well as keeping it fresh, staying motivated and forging connections with others in the field. Professional advice is highly illustrated with examples of successful blogs, broken down into succinct types that work, helping the reader to identify and develop the style of blog they want.Includes box-out tips, tricks and anecdotes from successful bloggersNon-techie approach that reflects the creative scope of the modern blogHighly illustrated with examples of blog types that work, with proven advice from the creators

    Instead, the information found inside of the 21 chapters lays out a step-by-step formula for the two things online entrepreneurs care about most: How to build a large following FAST. How to convert those followers into DOLLARS. The old way of being successful on social media meant that you had to spend a small fortune to build your following, then light your marketing dollars on fire trying to figure out Facebook ads. Instagram Secrets completely demolishes the old way entrepreneurs were taught to use social media to grow their businesses. Now, anybody (even if you have ZERO Instagram followers) can generate an ENDLESS FLOOD of warm, cheap and targeted leads on demand. The warmer the lead, the easier the sale. The cheaper the lead, the higher the profit. Wasting weeks or months on “testing” is now a thing of the past. You can now test your website, landing page, and sales funnels in just a few hours and make the necessary tweaks that will put you on the fast track to profitability. There is a HUGE misconception about what it really means to be successful on social media: Having tons of followers is great, but it’s meaningless if it doesn’t make you money. Getting likes makes you feel good, but you can’t pay your bills with Instagram likes. Getting leads makes it seem like you are winning, but leads without sales are useless. Those who LOSE on Instagram treat it like a popularity contest to fuel their ego. Winning on Instagram is simple: Just follow the blueprint Jeremy reveals in this book. Will Instagram Secrets work for you? Yes. The pure gold packed from cover-to-cover in this book is not THEORY by the latest “Insta-Fake Guru.” The author, Jeremy McGilvrey wrote the book after learning DIRECTLY from Jason Stone, aka @Millionaire_Mentor who to date has 2.4 million followers, built and email list of 350,000 loyal subscribers and netted well over $2,000,000 using only Instagram. Jeremy wrote Instagram Secrets the same way Napoleon Hill wrote the all-time personal development best seller Think and Grow Rich. Hill interviewed billionaire businessman Andrew Carnegie to learn the secrets behind how he achieved his unheard-of success and indestructible WEALTH. He then simplified Carnegie’s teachings into the first ever roadmap for attaining extraordinary financial success. Similarly, McGilvrey distilled Jason Stone’s vast knowledge into the most comprehensive book ever written for building a massive Instagram following and turning those followers into dollars. Not only did McGilvrey STUDY with the best, he also APPLIED everything he learned from @Millionaire_Mentor to build two Instagram pages to a combined 312,567 followers in under 15 months, collect 35,456 email leads in 7 months and earn daily predictable profits from Instagram. Instagram Secrets was written with the goal of helping entrepreneurs completely bypass the years of pain, suffering and failure associated with building a profitable business and help them to achieve massive online success in record time. If you are looking for another cookie-cutter training about how to become Insta-Famous Instagram Secrets is not for you. But, if you are serious about using Instagram to grow your following fast, get leads, make sales and build a profitable business...Then pick up your copy of Instagram Secrets today.

    Author, artist and media writer Vicki Amorose offers a step-by-step approach that will enable you to create a professional artist statement. From there, she shows you how to develop the material to represent you and your work for funding, exhibition material, proposals and websites. Art-Write is filled with timely advice to connect with your viewers and promote and sell your art.

    Considering various types of participatory writing as different strains of one style—immersion writing—Robin Hemley offers new perspectives and practical advice for writers of this nonfiction genre.Immersion writing can be broken down into the broad categories of travel writing, immersion memoir, and immersion journalism. Using the work of such authors as Barbara Ehrenreich, Hunter S. Thompson, Ted Conover, A. J. Jacobs, Nellie Bly, Julio Cortazar, and James Agee, Hemley examines these three major types of immersion writing and further identifies the subcategories of the quest, the experiment, the investigation, the infiltration, and the reenactment. Included in the book are helpful exercises, models for immersion writing, and a chapter on one of the most fraught subjects for nonfiction writers—the ethics and legalities of writing about other people.A Field Guide for Immersion Writing recalibrates and redefines the way writers approach their relationship to their subjects. Suitable for beginners and advanced writers, the book provides an enlightening, provocative, and often amusing look at the ways in which nonfiction writers engage with the world around them.A Friends Fund Publication.

    We have Mindstorms to thank for that. In this book, pioneering computer scientist Seymour Papert uses the invention of LOGO, the first child-friendly programming language, to make the case for the value of teaching children with computers. Papert argues that children are more than capable of mastering computers, and that teaching computational processes like de-bugging in the classroom can change the way we learn everything else. He also shows that schools saturated with technology can actually improve socialization and interaction among students and between students and teachers.

    WordPress expert Lisa Sabin-Wilson makes it easy for anyone with a basic knowledge of the WordPress software to create a custom site using complimentary technologies including CSS, HTML, and PHP. This easy-to-follow, full-color guide helps you identify the tools and technologies you need to create the site you envision, build a user-friendly navigation system, select colors and layouts, work with existing WordPress themes, and even develop your own theme to personalize your site.WordPress offers a versatile tool for building customized Web sites; this full-color book walks you through the process, explains the complimentary technologies involved, and shows you how to select colors, fonts, and themes Case studies illustrate the process and the effects that can be achieved Shows how to incorporate WordPress templates, graphic design principles, HTML, CSS, and PHP to build a truly one-of-a-kind Web site If you know how to use WordPress software to create a blog, WordPress Web Design For Dummies will enable you to quickly and easily construct a unique Web site for your business, organization, or personal use.

    At many companies, being first with a concept and first to market are critical just to survive. In The Art of Innovation, Tom Kelley, general manager of the Silicon Valley based design firm IDEO, takes readers behind the scenes of this wildly imaginative and energized company to reveal the strategies and secrets it uses to turn out hit after hit.IDEO doesn't buy into the myth of the lone genius working away in isolation, waiting for great ideas to strike. Kelley believes everyone can be creative, and the goal at his firm is to tap into that wellspring of creativity in order to make innovation a way of life. How does it do that? IDEO fosters an atmosphere conducive to freely expressing ideas, breaking the rules, and freeing people to design their own work environments. IDEO's focus on teamwork generates countless breakthroughs, fueled by the constant give-and-take among people ready to share ideas and reap the benefits of the group process. IDEO has created an intense, quick-turnaround, brainstorm-and-build process dubbed "the Deep Dive."In entertaining anecdotes, Kelley illustrates some of his firm's own successes (and joyful failures), as well as pioneering efforts at other leading companies. The book reveals how teams research and immerse themselves in every possible aspect of a new product or service, examining it from the perspective of clients, consumers, and other critical audiences.Kelley takes the reader through the IDEO problem-solving method:> Carefully observing the behavior or "anthropology" of the people who will be using a product or service> Brainstorming with high-energy sessions focused on tangible results> Quickly prototyping ideas and designs at every step of the way> Cross-pollinating to find solutions from other fields> Taking risks, and failing your way to success> Building a "Greenhouse" for innovationIDEO has won more awards in the last ten years than any other firm of its kind, and a full half-hour Nightline presentation of its creative process received one of the show's highest ratings. The Art of Innovation will provide business leaders with the insights and tools they need to make their companies the leading-edge, top-rated stars of their industries.From the Hardcover edition.