I learned about subpixel rendering only very recently after playing the amazing physics-based game BreakQuest, which utilizes the technique to allow great-looking particle effects to be implemented through software rendering. BreakQuest’s author Fèlix Casablancas explains the concept of subpixel rendering very well in a forum thread on his website, and I think it’s a good read for anyone who wants a clear explanation of the concept of subpixel rendering.

Will has other Pygame stuff on his website, and I’m sure there’s a lot more on the way – he’s the author of an upcoming Pygame book from Apress . I’m excited already!

Once again Charles River Media and series editor Steve Rabin are looking for game developers to share their wisdom in the next brand new volume of the groundbreaking AI Game Programming Wisdom series. Anything that an AI game programmer would typically deal with is fair game, including pathfinding, AI architecture, animation control, scripting, learning, and various decision-making techniques. Selected authors will have several months to write and will share in a portion of the book’s royalties. Proposals for 8-20 page articles are now being accepted until March 31st.

For those of you who are in a position to contribute to this volume, here’s your chance . I have a copy of the first book in this series, and I have to say that it is a very useful and impressive volume. It’s not the type of book that you would read from cover to cover. Instead you are presented with a series of focused articles that deal with cutting-edge game AI techniques. It’s more of an encyclopedia/cookbook than a textbook. Emphasis is on depth than on breadth, and this can prove to be very useful if you’re trying to solve a very specific problem that’s actually already covered in the book.

Maybe I’ll try to contribute in AI Wisdom 5. I’m particularly interested in the racing articles provided by the series, and I thought that the articles contained in AI Wisdom 1 are all top-notch. I find Euan Forrester’s Intelligent Steering Using PID Controllers (contained in AI Wisdom 2) article very interesting – probably, the information contained in this article will be especially relevant to today’s games, because game AI would have to be designed to consider the underlying physics engine. Unfortunately I don’t have a copy of AI Wisdom 2 YET. Hopefully, I’ll have access to this article soon and hopefully write a follow-up to it – I did some work with optimal control theory as an undergraduate and I’m thrilled at the possibility of applying it to (hopefully cutting-edge) game development!

Of course, if you find the above interesting as well, go ahead and write about it. I would love to read the result, and hopefully build upon that work eventually.

Be sure to read the guidelines before submitting your proposal. Now go work on those articles! There are royalties to be earned!

I think that this is an enormous resource not just for game enthusiasts, but for game developers as well. Knowing about the beginnings of this industry should help us understand where this industry is headed.

For beginning game developers, this is also a great resource, because it’s a great exhibition of what’s possible with limited resources.

I think that we’re very lucky to have very forgiving game development languages like Python and C# – it’s amazing how the game developers of the 80’s and 90’s were able to push the limits of computer hardware back then. Unlike today, computing cycles were a luxury, and it’s amazing how the machines were pushed to 110% of their capacity, providing us with memorable gaming experiences.

At the same time, the literature on game programming back then was probably very limited, so game developers were probably self-taught. Fortunately, a handful of them were generous enough to share their knowledge, and now we enjoy an abundance of books and Internet resources to learn about game programming.

From the page:

Founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe, Computer Gaming World began life as a small, self-published, independent magazine for the then small community of computer game hobbyists (it was, in fact, the first magazine dedicated to the hobby), but grew over the years into one of the most important and powerful media voices in all of digital entertainment, thanks to its strong editorial voice and reputation for tough but fair reviews.

This is very inspiring. It just shows you how far an idea can go, with enough dedication.

Now, let’s write those games!

To prepare for an abstract algebra exam which I’m having on Monday, I planned to buy a copy of Schaum’s Outline of Abstract Algebra, which I heard contains a lot of solved problems. To my knowledge, only one major bookstore chain sells Schaum’s Outlines here in Manila, so I went to a mall which supposedly has a branch of that bookstore.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the bookstore no longer operates in that mall! However, there was a sale going on in the entire mall, so I decided to visit one of the computer book stores to see what they had to offer.

And I ended up buying the following books:

• Game Programming Gems 2 – P350 (from P2354)
• Game Creation: No Programming Required 2/E – P250 (from P1694)
• Video Game Art – P250 (from P1352)
• Squeak: Open Personal Computing and Multimedia – P250 (from P1982)

So instead of paying P7382 for all those books, I just had to pay P1100 – more than 85% discount!

This had to be one of the best deals ever. If I had more money on hand, I would’ve bought more books .

Of course, Game Programming Gems 2 is considered as a standard resource in game development. Just skimming the table of contents gives you an idea of the wealth of information contained in the volume. However, I probably won’t be able to utilize this book in the meantime – but it’s good to have it readily available.

I got a copy of Game Creation: No Programming Required 2/E because I’m very much interested in rapid prototyping of games, which I believe this book will help me with. Even though I’m familiar with programming, I think that being familiar with a non-programming approach to game development would help me view game development not as purely programming but as a multi-disciplinary activity.

Of course, I’m hoping that Video Game Art would eventually help me graduate from “programmer art,” and loosen my dependence on third-party art libraries. Although the book uses 3D Studio Max and Photoshop (which are beyond my reach financially), I’m still hoping that I will be able to apply the concepts presented to other art packages.

Among the four, I’m probably going to spend most of my time with Squeak: Open Personal Computing and Multimedia. I find Squeak quite intriguing, and I’ve always been impressed with the ideas behind it. I think that one of the things which Squeak and scriptedfun have in common is their aim to make creation of interactive content more accessible to everyone. Also, I think that Squeak will be useful to my profession as a math teacher. I’m hoping that this book will allow me to make fun games with Squeak, and hopefully help others make their own fun games easily.

I can’t wait to start on these! In the meantime, I’ll be working on Hungerford…