Game Design Books

If ever you wanted to learn Flash® the quick and simple way, THIS BOOK IS IT!!
It'll be your bestest buddy from start to finish. And don't let the thickness of "Beaker" (yep, I gave it a name) put you off ... if you're like me and you have extensive knowledge of Illustrator®, Photoshop®, GoLive®, plus the now defunct LiveMotion®, and all their terminologies, you can be forgiven for skipping certain sections.
Flash® is here to stay and, from what I am hearing, it gets even easier to use with each product update.
Come on. Jump on board! You wont regret it!

I purchased this book to learn the latest OOP programming techniques available in Flash MX 2004. However, the author spent the bulk of each chapter explaining how to do something using techniques appropriate to versions prior to MX 2004, then made a statement about there was a better way to do it. He then spent very little time telling you what to modify to make it more OOP oriented or more efficient. You can't skip ahead and just look at the "better way" since all explanations of the "better way" were based on modifications to the original example.

Obviously, the author just did a "quickie" upgrade of a previous version of this book so he could sell more copies. I don't need to waste my time learning how to do something the hard/inefficient way. With the cost of the book, the author should have written a new version appropriate to the upgrades made under MX 2004 to support OOP instead of just adding a few OOP comments here and there to a previous version of the book.

Avoid this book if you want to learn good OOP techniques!

If you want a beginners guide to learning Flash, this is a good one. Explains steps in detail, and rather clearly. There are a few frustrating errata, but they are well documented on the publishers website. If you are looking for a reference text rather than a hold-my-hand guide, look elsewhere. I rate this 4/5 stars.

From the publisher's Web site.

Features
#The third installment in the popular line of For Teens books.

#Covers the complete game design process, from idea, to design document, to development of the game.

#Provides samples from real game design documents.

#Helps readers develop the skills they need to express their game ideas clearly and thoroughly.

#Examines game design theory as it applies to the different game genres.


Table of Contents
1. What is Game Design?
2. What is a Game Designer?
3. The Design Document
4. The Game Idea
5. Creating the High Concept
6. Visualizing the Game
7. Designing Audio
8. Game Flow
9. Interface Design
10. Technical Design
11. Schedules and Budgets
12. Special Considerations
Appendix A: Design Document

This book is far too general to be useful to anyone. There are far better books that address this topic.

I'm not a game design expert. I'm not in the gaming industry at all, except as a consumer. My son, on the other hand, has expressed a desire to "play test games" as a career. I thought, okay, let's check it out.

Game Design for Teens is an introduction to the game design world (a complex, very technical realm), with the purpose of creating a game design document.

Good: This book is written to the level of its intended audience.
Good: It includes many good/relevant graphics.
Good: Not designed to be a science book.
Good: Keeps to the purpose/focus of the book with many good/relevant anecdotes.

Other: It is a bit verbose/complex at times.

Impressions: Good for young people interested in game design/development.

Sincerely,

JMS

The beauty and simplicity of these angels in this collection are wonderful. The pages however are very thin, while they are intended to look like stained glass, they do not hold up to the heavy hands of a small child. Supervision would be needed.
I have been using coloring books for years as a guide to formulate patterns for needlework. Taking bits and pieces and sewing quilts for myself and my family. Quite a treasure of ideas to stimulate the sewer as well.

I was not as impressed with this book. The art work was shoddy and out of proportion. The pictures were cute, though. This would be a better book for children than adults. Though I realize that it was not in a specific "adult" labeled sectioin, I recommend this for children or maybe Sunday School teachers of young children. The pictures,though not artsie are very sweet.

This coloring book, as well as other stained-glass coloring books from Dover, is suitable for all ages, including adults. In fact, the books would be wasted on young children. All of them are especially beautiful when colored with the deepest shades of markers, and particularly when viewed from the back.

All the tips are great for beginners. I am a professional and found only 5% of the book helpful. Not worth the money for only learning 5%. Most of the tips I already knew. For sure it's a beginners book. I have to say after reading through it ONLY once......the book binder fell completely apart! The glue on the binder did not hold up at all. Now all the pages are falling out. TERRIBLE!

I'd say as a Production Coordinator I'm an intermediate user of Adobe Illustrator CS2. So I didn't need a book w/ too much basic training, although this book is pretty good ad providing you with the exact step-by-step procedures for carrying out certain "Killer Tips." This is a very good all-around book for Illustrator CS2. Above all, there are so many CS2 shortcuts in this book that the average CS2 user wouldn't know. I'd recommend this book to anyone that is looking to extend their knowledge of Illustrator. It's smart and succinct. It's comfortable to carry around - won't way you down, and best of all it's really inexpensive!

Straight-to-the-point, clear & practical. Something useful for any user of Illustrator.

I would buy from this vendor again! The item was exactly as it was described.

I never received this product so I can't make a fair review.. Thank You Erica Koenig

this is a wonderful presentation of M Ms most famous outfits. the art work is superb. marilyn henry is a very talented artist and i own several of her pd books. i highly recommend this along with tom tierney's M M bbok for a complete collection.

This is a wonderful book on the history of kites, with photos and stories you won't find in any other place. Modern kites are surveyed in color photos and plans. He also includes detailed diagrams of some great kite reels and other kite equipment. No, it's not a How-To book with any step-by-step insctructions. But if I were stuck on a desert island with one kite book, this would be it. It's a slim, large format paperback, with much more content than you'd think by looking at the outside.

This book is a joke! I bought a book to learn how to make kites; I wasn't interested 110 pages of the history of kites. He does not include any photos of kites that he has directions for, and his directions are cheesy one or two page diagrams that are not helpful at all.

Pelham's Book of Kites is the most essential reference for any person who is interested in the history, construction and flying of kites. It shows a large variety of designs and ideas for kites of all sorts. The actual construction techniques are sometimes left up to the reader to figure out but there is enough information to work from. Well worth the search for a copy. There is no way I let go of mine!!!!

Until today I had never heard of Norma Gregory, But like a lot of pyro artist pyrography came way after being an artist.In my 40's I decided to learn pyrography,I've done it for ten years now and as much as I love doing this type of art I found it harder to find new subjects Until I picked up this book. Page after page the Author lets the reader see so many Designs and Ideas. I'm not a writer,and I've never done a review. But I do know enough that this is a great book for beginers or Pyrographers who have been at it awhile. William Hough

The book offers a good overview of the subject of woodburning. The types of tools needed are discussed; however, it was short on explanation here. The author should have spent more time examining the different types of tools and the qualities of each type. The book discusses the best types of wood for pyrographic efforts and this was useful. The book has a wide variety of designs from birds to seashore items. All are well drawn. The disigns are complex, and they are printed in the book very lightly. The problem in reproducing them comes from the lightness of the picture and the complex design. They do not reproduce as well as disigns I have found in other books.

Overall I found the book informative and the designs excellent.

Although I was excited to purchase this book, my excitement didn't last when I looked at the sketches / pictures in the book. I call them pictures because that is what they truly are, not actual patterns. Norma Gregory's talent shows up well in her designs but due to their complicated rendering they are very difficult to transfer.

This book is not for beginners - but more seasoned artisans.

If you are looking for patterns, like I was, you will be disappointed in this book.

Sadly this thing only really covers Map making,with the title it has I would cry foul and demand your money back,unless you are focusing on maping.

While this book does primarily cover mapping for Quake 4 (which is a form of modding), it also covers other aspects of modding (although in lesser detail). However, if you want to make a new level for the game, this book rocks. It comes with complete examples on making maps from start to finish. It shows you how to make custom textures for your maps and characters. Then it shows you how to package and release your map to the world.

[...]

Definitely worth the price. You'll be making your own maps for your friends or clan by the end of the weekend.

The title is Quake 4 Mods for Dummies. The tag line is "Ever wonder what Quake 4 would be like if it included that especially cool weapon you dreamed up? Here's the fun and easy way® to find out." But here's the deal: it will show you how to INCLUDE that fancy new weapon, but not how to make it. Nor will it tell you how to change the gameplay mechanics of the game.
What you get instead is 200+ pages of how to make maps. At the end of that is a small section on how to make a GUI, reskin models, and package them for putting into the game.
I'm giving it 3 stars because it seems like a pretty nice map tutorial, but this is NOT a book on how to make mods. If you wanted to learn how to make that machine-gun-shotgun, you're out of luck here. If you wanted to find out how to make new power-ups, you're out of luck here.
Summary, the book would be better named Quake 4 Mapping for Dummies.

If you are an experienced seamstress, this is a really nice book. There are many beautiful scarves in it, some with a lot of detail work.

For the rest of us, (who take the machine out occasionally to mend with) the directions are rather confusing. Also, there are only a few scarves that aren't too dressy to wear with jeans for a walk in the park, so you are going to be spending some $$$$ to make most of these designs.

I wanted to give this book three-and-a-half stars. Not for a beginner, but someone who really enjoys sewing would like this book, especially if they like to dress up--see if you can understand the directions first!

I was excited with the idea of creating my own scarves to accompany the clothes I make. Well this book helped me immensely to experiment with different embellishment techniques and ideas. Linda Lee has selected 13 artists (among them Marcy Tilton, Jane Conlon and Stephanie Valley whose books are among my favorite) each one presenting one or more scarves they made with a different style and a new approach to traditional techniques and materials. The scarves are very beautiful and stylish (!!) and the photographs are so good that many times I just go over them admiring Linda Lee's work.

But this is not just a book full of pictures of beautiful scarves. It is a well organized book comprising six parts each one concentrating on a different traditional approach to embellishing. Each part includes 5-6 different scarves with a list of materials, fabric notes, cutting instructions and full of clear and detailed instructions and illustrations on construction.

The first part of the book is focused on ribbon fantasy including "delicately hazy sheers, iridescent ribbons and open-weave lattices''. The second part of the book is focused on traditional arts including "the art of piecing, applique, cutwork and shadow work". The third part of the book is focused on contemporary interpretations to make interesting scarves by slashing, washing, shrinking etch. The fourth part of the book is focused on beads and baubles. The fifth part of the book is focused on senciled, stamped and stitched techniques to create very beautiful and original scarves. The last part of the book is focused on architectural shapes that are truly fun to make and wear !!

I highly recommend this book to any (beginner, intermediate or advanced) sewer that takes pleasure in creating special accessory pieces!!

This books has lots of pictures of beautiful, well photographed scarves; but I was very disappointed in the lack of technical instructions. Even as a moderately experienced semestress, I thought the "instructions" glossed over the difficult parts. I found very little help given in this book on how to make a professional looking scarf.

If you are expecting a book on "how to" then this book is probably not going to fulfill your needs. However, this book does provide the viewer with a pethora visual inspiration. Many of the images in this book are innovative, provocative, and a great resource for make-up artistry. The colors are bright and vivid and the make-up artistry is boundless. I certainly have enjoyed sharing this material with my fellow make-up artists.

Excellent book to have for inspiration for creative makeup artistry. This book is not for the beginning makeup artist nor does it provide step by step instructions. I highly recommend it for the visual appeal.

The book's dimensions are smaller than one would expect for a photography style book (shame on me for not paying closer attention). If you are looking for "inspiration" in styling this might be your book, but it contains no information on how effects were achieved and there are a good portion of the images that are obviously digitally manipulated to get additional effects. This is not the semi-educational guide to extremely creative make-up artistry that I was looking for.