Index_G

G

Game assets. See Game resources; Resource files.

Game coding

buffer zones between action, 277–278

bugs in, 491–494. See also Bugs.

CD-ROM space for, 469

complexity of, 9, 433–434

debugging, 448–450. See also Debugging.

intellectual property issues, 469

nominal operation, predicting, 430

as professional endeavor, 1

programming tasks, 473–474

undocumented features in, 491–492

Game completion

archive, testing, 560–561

patch builds, creating, 561

post mortems, 561–562

product demos, 561

Game controllers, components of, 125–126

Game Developer's Conference, 8

Game development

bug reports, 10–11, 522–525

complexity of tasks, 9, 433–434

design and planning stages, 12

estimating time for, 480.

See also Scheduling.

file management, 10

fun games, achieving, 12–13

hardware, 5–6

lead time, 14

logo compliance, 15–16

platforms used in, 6–8

project time frames, 13–14. See also Schedule; Scheduling.

schedule crunches, 13–14, 458

scheduling. See Scheduling.

tools for, 4–5, 11–12

Game development industry

bad aspects of, 8–12

employment opportunities, 16–17

good aspects of, 1–8

jobs in, 2

people in, 2–4

tradeshows, 8

Game engines, 255

2D engines, 22–33

3D engines, 22–33, 360

graphics engines, 28

physics engines, 359–362

sprite engines, 21

storing, 105

Game files, collections of, 10

Game industry media, communicating with, 548

Game objects, initializing, 225

Game options, loading, 222–224

Game projects

building, 113–114

code, 543–547.

completing, 560–563

content, 547–548

creating, 100–106

dead end, 559

features, installing, 540–541

managing, 113–114

market, racing to, 558

naming, 100–101

panicking during, 559–560

personnel problems, 555–558

quality of, 540–543

scheduling issues, 549–555

Game resources

art formats, 252–257

compartmentalizing, 258–259

compression of, 260–261

resource cache, 269–281

resource file builder, 261–268

resource files, 257–259

resource identifiers, 270

sound formats, 252–257

types of, 251

world design and, 277–281

Game Scripting Languages, 73–83

Game scripts

compiling, 76

interpreted, speed of, 76

programming, 82–83

Game windows, maximizing, 248–249

Game world

design of, 26–29

simulating in code, 43

Game_App_Directory, 223

GameCube (Nintendo), 5–7

Games

active, functions of, 229

animated sequences in, 255, See also Animations.

bitmaps, incorporating, 251

cinematic sequences, incorporating, 255

elements of, 99

look and feel of, 29

project organization problems, 99–100

saving, 247

shutting down, 250

sounds, incorporating, 251. See also Sounds.

stopping, 247–249

Game_Title, 219–220

Garriott, Richard, 9, 11

GDI colors, converting to target color, 171–172

GDI functions, drawing with, 167–170

General exception handler, trapping, 204

Geometry, 283

GetAsyncKeyState() function, 139

GetCPUSPeed() function, 215

GetLastError() function, 414

GetPixel method, 171–172

Global memory, 60–63

Global object pointers

versus global objects, 204

initializing, 205–206

Global objects versus global object pointers, 204

GPU, efficiency of, 35

Grand Theft Auto III: Vice City (Rockstar), 28, 255

Graphics, 266–267. See also Art.

programming tasks associated with, 473

Graphics engines, capabilities of, 28

Graphics file formats, on Internet, 198

Graphics Gems, 167

Grid

code definition of, 336–338

implementing, 338

rendering, 318

Grim Fandango (Lucas Arts), 2D and 3D technology in, 34–35

Guon-Beenan, Ellen, 488