Charles River Media.

Charles River Media

10 Downer Ave, Higham, MA 02043

www.charlesriver.com

These excellent guides are highly recommended picks for college-level students of computer science. Kenny Erleben, Jon Sporring, Knud Henricksen and Henrik Dohlmann's Physics-Based Animation (1584593807, $69.95) provides an in-depth, advanced survey of animation and gaming with a focus on physics-based animation. From equations and math applications to examples linking code choices to algorithms and physics systems, this weighty student's guide goes beyond simple introductions to provide the nuts and bolts of physics-based animation sequences and explanations. Frank Nielsen's Visual Computing: Geometry, Graphics, And Vision (1584504277, $59.95) provides students with an introduction to data structures, algorithmic techniques, and geometry associated with computer graphics. Students involved in 3D techniques receive not only background on concepts and formulas, but important real-world examples to reinforce concepts. Both are fine college-level picks. An even wider audience will be found for Chris Bateman and Richard Boon's 21st Century Game Design (1584504293, $39.95), which examines how best to design games and tailor them for specific kinds of audiences. Chapters focus more on the psyche and needs of the player than most programming or game books, discussing both how games can address these desires and how they can appeal to a wider audience outside the hard-core gamer. Any game designer or those seeking to develop and distribute games would do well to examine 21st Century Game Design with its audience-oriented focus. Paul Schuytema and Mark Manyen's Game Development With Lua (1584504048, $49.95) discusses a program which uses complex artificial intelligence to enhance the game environment. While Game Development With Lua may seem like a guide for only the most advanced programmers, developers will be pleased to note it may be written by practicing Lua game developers for commercial development, but assumes little prior knowledge, providing both a history of Lua and how to blend it into a C++ development project. The focus is a blend of activities and instructions on key game development features which uses the game programmer's C++ basics to explain Lua links and applications.