Object-Oriented Game Development

Description
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.

Contents
Acknowledgements1.  Introduction
2.  The game development process
3.  Software engineering for games
4.  Object-oriented design for games
5.  The component model for game development
6.  Cross-platform development
7.  Game objects
8.  Design-driven control
9.  Iterative development techniques10. Game development roles11. Case study: CorditeAppendix: coding conventions used in this bookBibliographyWeb resourcesIndex

Features

• Practical OO design methodologies with examples drawn from commercial code
• Design patterns that work in practice
• How to write "reusable" code that will actually be reused
• How to write games using component technology
• The ability to develop multi-platform titles efficiently
• The use of iterative techniques in programming and schedule development