THE GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE:
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Tracks, Audio Tracks, Game Design Tracks, Production Tracks Business &
Legal Tracks, Programming Tracks
go to the Archives
http://www.gdconf.com
Digital Games Research
Association
http://www.digra.org/
What is DiGRA?
Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) is a non-profit, international
association of academics and practitioners whose work focuses on digital games
and associated activities, currently under preparation. Focus technologies of
the association include (but are not restricted to) existing types of computer
and video games, online games, arcade games, games on handheld and mobile
devices and games delivered through digital television or other forms of
interactive technologies.
Goals and Functions
The association aims to
encourage high-level digital games relevant research and to promote the
dissemination of work by its members through research, development, commercial,
practitioner and policy communities, networks and organisations. This it seeks
to achieve with
· an annual conference (call for conference proposals forthcoming at www.gamesconference.org)
· an association website (forthcoming at www.digra.org)
· a series of association publications on current digital games research.
DiGRA sees these as vital steps in encouraging dialogues between gaming relevant agencies and encouraging the quality of digital games knowledge, research and collaboration.
GAMING SITES:
Gamesutra
http://www.gamasutra.com/
Shockwave games:
www.shockwave.com
Game
Programming, News, Directories, Jobs, Game Dictionary:
http://www.gamedev.net/
HISTORY:
Joystick Nation by J. C. Herz
In a scant fifteen years, video- and computer games have become a
multibillion-dollar global industry's a fixture in malls, laundromats, movie
theaters, living rooms, and offices around the world's sucking up leisure time
and disposable income at a phenomenal pace. They have shaped the minds of a
whole generation who spent countless after-school hours, joystick in hand,
heart pounding, sweating through the latest chunk of thumb candy to come out of
Now J. C. Herz, author of Surfing on the Internet (and videogame
veteran), brings us the first popular history and critique of electronic
entertainment, from its genesis as primitive blips in the labs of Cold War
computer programmers to the studios where networked 3-D theme parks are
created. Tracing this neon branch of the computer industry from a small cadre
of inspired nerds to an entertainment behemoth that rivals
Written with an arcade
maven's passion and a cultural scholar's insight, Joystick Nation is a popular culture odyssey that will
fascinate media junkies, technoculture insiders, and anyone who pines for their
old Atari.
WAR
GAMES:
> THE PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF WAR: PTSD
> Participating in combat often has debilitating psychological
> effects. These effects are the result of being traumatized by combat
> experiences. This brochure provides an excellent general introduction
> to trauma and the specific psychological disorder that it causes,
> known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
> http://www.ncptsd.org/facts/general/fs_effects.html
>
> This fact sheet on PTSD gives a more detailed explanation of the
> disorder, including how it is assessed and treated.
> http://www.ncptsd.org/facts/general/fs_what_is_ptsd.html
>
> Peacekeepers suffer as well as soldiers--as many as 20% of the
> Canadian peacekeepers have PTSD. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, the UN Commander
> in
> story. Includes interviews and other first person accounts.
> http://www.tv.cbc.ca/national/pgminfo/ptsd/wounds.html
>
> The US military is starting to integrate more information about combat
> stress into training. However, the main goal is keeping soldiers on
> the battlefield, and getting them back onto the battlefield if they
> suffer from PTSD while in action. It also focuses less on training
> soldiers to get help from trained professionals than from military
> superiors and "buddies."
> http://www.9-11peace.org/r2.php3?r=105
>
> A study of American Vietnam veterans indicates that members of the
> military from minority groups, such as Native Americans, tend to
> suffer from higher rates of PTSD than Caucasian military personnel.
> http://www.ncptsd.org/facts/veterans/fs_native_vets.html
>
> Soldiers are not the only ones who are traumatized by war; civilians
> who are not directly engaged in fighting are also at risk. This
> article briefly outlines the causes and effects of exposure to
> prolonged combat stress.
> http://www.ncptsd.org/facts/disasters/fs_civilians.html
Baudrillard, Jean. Simulations,
THE
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
Theorist -Albert Bandura
http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/bandura.htm
GAME ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN :
Game Architecture and Design, by
Andrew Rollings, Dave Morris
Teaches design, architecture, and management--the
things programmers need to know before they can even begin writing code!
Provides hundreds of case studies to show what works and what doesn't. Takes
the reader through all the necessary game creation steps--from seeing a game
idea on paper to actually implementing that idea!
Game Design Perspectives (with CD-ROM) ? checked
it out, but not sure – no one great game design book out yet including artistic
bent – maybe we have to write one by Francois Dominic Laramee (Editor)
Game Design: Theory and
Practice (With CD-ROM)?same here
by Richard Rouse, Steve Ogden (Illustrator), Mark Louis Rybczyk
3ds max 4 for Windows:
Visual QuickStart Guide
by Michele Matossian
Animation with character
studio 3 by Michele Bousquet
there
are also on line tutorials that are great.
Flash Games Studio, Bhangal,
UPCOMING, NEW AND EXCITING:
AI
http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/frame.html?main=/news/news_single.html?id%3D965
Simulation
and synthespians (synthetic actors) and future issues)
MORE TO COME
MORE READINGS:
Trigger Happy : Videogames and
the Entertainment Revolution by Steven Poole
Videogames first came on the market
thirty years ago as a marginal technological curiosity. Now they are virtually
everywhere. Videogame sales have equaled movie sales. They are played by more
adults than children, and game design can even be studied in college. Yet
videogames are still often viewed as a minor form of entertainment, at best
shallow, or at worst harmful. Now, Steven Poole argues that videogames are a
nascent art for on track to supersede movies as the most popular and innovative
form of entertainment in the new century.
Game Architecture and Design, by
Andrew Rollings, Dave Morris
Teaches design, architecture, and
management--the things programmers need to know before they can even begin
writing code! Provides hundreds of case studies to show what works and what
doesn't. Takes the reader through all the necessary game creation steps--from
seeing a game idea on paper to actually implementing that idea!
Game Over Press Start To Continue by David Sheff, Andy Eddy
The riveting story of Nintendo's conquest of the interactive entertainment industry offering true tales filled with cocky arrogance, confidence and international intrigue that rival any novel. Whether it is recounting the struggles over the game"Tetris," offering blow-by-blow narrative of Nintendo's bitter legal warfare or its see-saw competition with other companies for market leadership, Game Over is a masterful piece of business journalism and technical reportage-a book both cautionary and... read more
Baudrillard, Jean. Simulations, New York, Semiotext(e), Inc., Columbia University, 1983.
Anders, Peter. Envisioning Cyberspace, New York: McGraw Hill, 1998. pgs.99-110. “Special Issues in Designing CyberSpace”
Lunenfeld, Peter. Snap to Grid: A User's Guide to Digital Arts, Media, and Cultures, Boston, The MIT Press, 2000.
Kelly, Kevin & Adam Heilbrun. “Virtual Reality: An Interview with Jaron Lanier”, The Whole Earth Catalog. Cali.: 1993. Reality Check with Jaron Lanier, 1995.
Hollands, Robin. The Virtual Reality Homebrewer’s Handbook. West Suxxex, England:1996.
Laurel, Brenda. The Art of Human Computer Interface Design. New York: Addison Wesley,
1990.
Dodsworth, Clark Jr., Digital Illusion: Entertaining the Future with High Technology, New York, Addison-Wesley, 1998
Virilio, Paul. The Lost Dimension. New York, Semiotext(e), Inc., New York: Columbia University, 1991.
Stone, Allucquere, Rosanne. The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1995.
Benedict, Michael. Cyberspace: First Steps.Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1994.
Crary, Jonathan. Techniques of the
Observer: On Vision and Modernity in the Nineteenth Century. Mass,: MIT
Press, Cambridge, 1990.
Prisoner's Dilemma/John Von Neumann, Game
Theory and the Puzzle of the Bomb by William Poundstone
Spalter, Ann Morgan. The Computer in the Visual Arts. Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1999.
Morse, Margret. Virtualities: Television, Media Art, and Cyberculture
(Theories of Contemporary Culture) Indiana Univ Pr; ISBN: 0253211778
Malraux, André. “Museum Without Walls”. In The Voices of Silence. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1978.
Bender, Gretchen & Druckery, Timothy. Culture on the Brink. “Making Sense Out of Nonsense” by Gary Chapman
Damer, Bruce. Avatars!: Exploring and Building Virtual Worlds on the Internet. Peachpit Press, 1998.
Postman, Neil. Technolopy: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. New York: Vintage Books, 1993.
Ritchin, Fred. In Our Own Image. New York: Aperture, 1990.
Gombrich,
E.H. Art & Illusion: A Study in
the Psychology of Pictorial
Representation. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1960.
Boyer,
Christine, Cybercities, Labrynths of the Mind and the City –
Real and Virtual pgs 45-71.
Gibson, William. Neuromancer. New York: Ace Book, 1984.
Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash, New York, Bantam Spectra, 1996.
Pimentel, Ken & Teixeira, Kevin. Virtual Reality: through the new looking glass. New York: Intel/Sindcrest/McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1993.
Kandinsky, Wassily. Concerning the Spiritual in Art. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1977.
Penley, Constance, Ross, Andrew eds., Technoculture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991.
Ames, Andrea L.; Nadeau, David R.; and Moreland, John L.. VRML 2.0 Sourcebook. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1997.
Hartman, Jed; Wernecke, Josie; and Carrie, Rikk. The VRML Handbook : Building Moving Worlds on the Web. New York: Addison-Wesley Pub Co, 1996.
Roehl, Bernie; Couch, Justin; Reed-Ballreich, Cindy; Rohaly, Tim; and Brown, Geoff. Late Night VRML with Java. New York: Ziff-Davis Press, 1997.
Lyotard, Jean-Francois. “Can thought exist without a body?”. In The Inhuman. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1991.
Jacobs, Karrie. “Robobabes: Why Girls Don’t Play Video Games”, in I.D. May/June, 1994.
Kantrowitz, Barbara. “Men, Women & Computers” in Newsweek, May 16, 1994, pp. 48-52.
Tannen, Deborah. “Gender Gap in Cyberspace” in Newsweek, May 16, 1994, p. 52-53.
Heidegger, Martin. "The Age of the World Picture". In: M. Heidegger, The Question ConcerningTechnology and Other Essays. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.
Kitchens, Susan A. The QuickTime VR Book : Creating Immersive Imaging on Your Desktop, Peachpit Pr; ISBN: 0201696843
De Goes, John,& Lampton, Christopher F.. Cutting-Edge 3d Game Programming With C++ , The Coriolis Group; ISBN: 1883577705
"Game Programming Gems" by Mark DeLoura, Editor
Written by more than 40 gifted game developers, "Game Programming Gems" compiles dozens of useful game-programming tips that'll let you do a lot more with 3-D graphics, no matter what your programming level. Containing sample Visual C/C++ code for OpenGL that'll run on both Windows and Linux, this text is chock-full of innovative graphics-programming techniques that'll help you write better games with cutting-edge special effects. You'll find new algorithms to do faster graphics processing, and discover techniques for adding a new level of realism to virtual worlds. Whether you already work in the gaming industry or would like to, this book provides a fascinating glimpse into the techniques that go into today's ultrarealistic video games. Read more
"JavaScript Bible, __Edition" by Danny Goodman