Fundamentals of Game Development

• Does not require pre-requisites. Students would not need any special art, engineering, programming, or design knowledge in order to understand the concepts discussed in the text.
• Emphasis is on design and production. This book presents an overview of the fundamentals of developing a game from concept to completion that is geared towards a student audience.
• Provides a case study that illustrates the process of a game design concept becoming an actual game. Instructors can build this case study into the curriculum and base assignments on it
• Accompanying CD-ROM includes blank versions of all the templates and forms discussed in the book, samples of game development documentation, images from actual games (e,g, Star Trek Online) and game demos
• Instructor's resources include sample syllabus, class assignments, Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides for lectures, color figures, solutions to exercise sets, and more

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  Chapter 1  What Is a Game?
  Chapter 2  The Game Industry
  Chapter 3  Roles on the Team
  Chapter 4  Teams
  Chapter 5  Effective Communication
  Chapter 6  Game Production Overview
  Chapter 7  Game Concept
  Chapter 8  Characters, Setting, and Story
  Chapter 9  Game Requirements
  Chapter 10  Game Plan
  Chapter 11  Production Cycle
  Chapter 12  Voiceover and Music
  Chapter 13  Localization
  Chapter 14  Testing and Code Releasing
  Chapter 15  Marketing and Public Relations
Appendix A  Case Study – Justice Unit
Appendix B  Glossary
Appendix C  Resources
Appendix D  Star Trek Online
Appendix E  Interview Biographies
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• Fundamentals of Game Development is a book that should be required in every freshmen level university classroom that teaches anything about game development. Not only will it open eyes to the students about what they may want to do in the industry, but it provides excellent explanations of how the industry works in almost every facet.
  
  
  The read is not complicated, rather it's easy. From quick history lessons to job breakdowns to examples/samples of jobs this book has it all. It's not too specific, but it is a great guide to different options for budding game developers.
  
  
  Nathaniel Stevens
  Managing Editor
  digitalchumps.com

• Designed so that readers with no previous experience can understand, the book focuses on the concepts rather than the code, and covers everything from the pitch of the game to the voiceover work and localization. Fundamentals of Game Development is a must for anyone who wants to get into or understand the field of making video games
  
  
  
  -Midwest Book Review

• "There is a wealth of production documentation examples in the text, at the publisher's Web site, and on the accompanying CD-ROM. This material includes PowerPoint slides, sample discussion exercises, and quizzes that could aid instructors interested in using the book for a video game production class. Readers considering the production track in the video game industry would benefit most, but anyone curious about mainstream game development will find the book focused and enlightening."
  
  
  
  - A. Chen, Cogswell Polytechnical College
  CHOICE Reviewer
  December 2010 Vol. 48 No. 04 - Science & Technology, Information & Computer Science

• "There are a lot of good ideas. In fact, as this book says on one of the first pages, 'the idea is the easy part; it's turning the idea into an actual playable game that's the hard part.' This book is about the hard part, primarily that is the design of the game with a bit on production and marketing. It's an excellent introduction to how the industry really works, and yes, it is an industry with players like Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo huge companies with billions of dollars in annual revenue, thousands of employees."
  
  
  
  -John Matlock
  Books-On-Line

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Ideal for introductory game development and game production courses.

Sample Course titles include: Introduction to Game Development; Game Documentation; Ethics; Business Development of Games; Team Product Development; Game Production; Game Project Management.

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• Chapter One_What Is a Game?
  Chapter One_What Is a Game?

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