This book addresses how program teams can develop complex games within the constraints of deadlines, budgets, and changing technologies. It establishes a set best practices taken from real-world experiences, while making sure readers understand that there are not any absolute solutions. Readers are taught how to write reusable code that they will actually reuse along with games that require component technology. Practical object-oriented design methodologies with examples drawn directly from commercial code are also discussed. This book is useful for the entire game development team, including producers, designers, artists, and programmers. Games software has its roots in a'cottage'industry, ignoring formal methodologies, instead leaving the programmers to find homespun solutions to the technical problems faced. The picture has now changed: the scale of the problems faced by programmers means that more methodical techniques must be applied to game development to prevent projects spiralling out of control, both in terms of technical complexity and cost. The book addresses how program teams can develop ever more complex entertainment software within the constraints of deadlines, budgets and changing technologies. It establishes a set of best practices tempered with real-world pragmatism, understanding that there is no'one size fits all'solution. No member of the game development team should be working in isolation and the book will be useful to producers, designers and artists as well as the programmers themselves. In addition, the book addresses the needs of the growing number of Game Development courses offered in academia, giving students a much-needed insight into the real world of object-oriented game design. Games software has its roots in a "cottage" industry, ignoring formal methodologies, instead leaving the programmers to find homespun solutions to the technical problems faced. The picture has now the scale of the problems faced by programmers means that more methodical techniques must be applied to game development to prevent projects spiralling out of control, both in terms of technical complexity and cost. The book addresses how program teams can develop ever more complex entertainment software within the constraints of deadlines, budgets and changing technologies. It establishes a set of best practices tempered with real-world pragmatism, understanding that there is no "one size fits all" solution. No member of the game development team should be working in isolation and the book will be useful to producers, designers and artists as well as the programmers themselves. In addition, the book addresses the needs of the growing number of Game Development courses offered in academia, giving students a much-needed insight into the real world of object-oriented game design. "No member of the game development team should work in isolation. Whether you're a producer, designer, artist or programmer, this book will help you develop today's ever more complex entertainment software within the constraints of deadlines, budgets and changing technologies." "If you're a student taking a games degree or module, the balance of the best practice meets real-world know-how will give you the understanding you need to begin your career with confidence."--Jacket
