Wow! eBook – Blog

Book Description

Physics for Flash Games, Animation, and Simulations teaches ActionScript programmers how to incorporate real physics into their Flash animations, games, user interfaces, and simulations.

• Introduces Flash physics in an accurate, but approachable way, covering what is required to produce physically realistic simulations (as opposed to animations that look roughly right)
• Packed full of practical examples of how physics can be applied to your own games and applications
• Addresses the diverse needs of game developers, animators, artists, and e-learning developers

The book assumes a basic knowledge of ActionScript and Flash. However, no previous knowledge of physics is required—only some very basic math skills. The authors present everything from basic principles to advanced concepts, so you’ll be able to follow the logic and easily adapt the principles to your own applications. The book builds on your physics knowledge, enabling you to create not only visual effects, but also more complex models and simulations.

What you’ll learn

• Basic math and physics you’ll need to incorporate realism into your games, animations and simulations
• How to incorporate a wide range of forces, including environmental forces such as gravity and friction, and forces due to fluids, such as drag and upthrust
• How to build a number of realistic simulations, like submarines and flight simulators Download Now »

Book Description

The team that brought you the bestselling Beginning iPhone 4 Development is back again for Beginning iOS 5 Development, bringing this definitive guide up-to-date with Apple’s latest and greatest iOS SDK, as well as with the latest version of Xcode.

There’s coverage of brand new technologies, with chapters on storyboards and iCloud, for example, as well as significant updates to existing chapters to bring them in line with all the changes that came with the iOS 5 SDK. You’ll have everything you need to create your very own apps for the latest iOS devices, including the iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and the latest iPod touch. Every single sample program in the book has been rebuilt from scratch using Xcode 4.2 and the latest iOS 5-specific project templates and designed to take advantage of the latest Xcode features.

Assuming only a minimal working knowledge of Objective-C, and written in a friendly, easy-to-follow style, Beginning iOS 5 Development offers a complete soup-to-nuts course in iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch programming. The book starts with the basics, walking through the process of downloading and installing Xcode and the iOS 5 SDK, and then guides you though the creation of your first simple application.

From there, you’ll learn how to integrate all the interface elements Apple touch users have come to know and love, such as buttons, switches, pickers, toolbars, and sliders. You’ll master a variety of design patterns, from the simplest single view to complex hierarchical drill-downs. The confusing art of table building will be demystified, and you’ll learn how to save your data Download Now »

Book Description

Beginning Android 4 Games Development offers everything you need to join the ranks of successful Android game developers. You’ll start with game design fundamentals and programming basics, and then progress toward creating your own basic game engine and playable game that works on Android 4.0 and earlier devices. This will give you everything you need to branch out and write your own Android games.

The potential user base and the wide array of available high-performance devices makes Android an attractive target for aspiring game developers. Do you have an awesome idea for the next break-through mobile gaming title? Beginning Android 4 Games Development will help you kick-start your project.

The book will guide you through the process of making several example games for the Android platform, and involves a wide range of topics:

• The fundamentals of Android game development targeting Android 1.5-4.0+ devices
• The Android platform basics to apply those fundamentals in the context of making a game
• The design of 2D and 3D games and their successful implementation on the Android platform

What you’ll learn

• How to set up and use the development tools for developing your first Android 4 or earlier version game app
• The fundamentals of game programming in the context of the Android platform Download Now »

Book Description

Practical Android 4 Games Development continues your journey to becoming a hands-on Android game apps developer. This title guides you through the process of designing and developing game apps that work on both smartphones and tablets, thanks to the new Android SDK 4.0 which merges the User Interface and Experience APIs and more.

The author, J.F. DiMarzio, has written eight books, including Android: A Programmer’s Guide—the first Android book approved by Google—recently updated and translated for sale in Japan. He has an easy-to-read, concise, and logical writing style that is well suited for teaching complex technologies like the Java-based Android.

From 2D-based casual games to 3D OpenGL-based first-person shooters, you find that learning how to create games on the fastest growing mobile platform has never been easier.

• Create 2D and 3D games for Android 4.0 phones and tablets such and the Motorola Xoom
• Build your own reusable “black box” for game development
• Easy-to-follow examples make creating the sample games a hands-on experience

What you’ll learn

• How to design and develop compelling 2D and 3D games
• How to create rich environments and characters
• How to do collision detection Download Now »

Book Description

Pro Web Project Management is a collection of hard-won lessons the authors have learned managing modern web projects with small and medium budgets in a consulting environment. This isn’t a book about project management theory. Pro Web Project Management tells how to create real deliverables, get answers from indecisive clients, manage wayward programmers, and use checklists to wow clients. This book is made up of real examples, real lessons, real documents, and real tips woven together into a step-by-step walkthrough of a project’s life cycle.

Pro Web Project Management is written for both the full-time project manager and the aspiring project manager who might have a role that blends client support, web development, and project management. The project budget sweet spot for this book is $50,000 to $500,000. If you manage a project in this space, reading this book will make you a better project manager.

• Learn how to manage a modern web project with a budget of $50,000 to $500,000
• Get actionable tips on dealing with real project management challenges
• Learn the simple, defined process—refined over the years—to take simple and complex projects from proposal to successful launch

What you’ll learn

• How to run an effective meeting
• How to write scopes of work that lead to successful projects Download Now »

Book Description

Startup: An Insider’s Guide to Launching and Running a Business is for people who are excellent at something—product or web development, writing code, marketing or selling anything—but who are now toiling for others. Yet they have long had a dream: to take that special skill set and use it, on their own terms, in a startup business.

This pattern is romanticized by the media in the form of the “tech entrepreneur”—the guy brainstorming with buddies in a garage who ends up selling his startup for millions. But what is the reality behind stories like that one? For that matter, what mental processes, frames of reference, hard knocks, and lessons learned make up the “back story” behind any startup success? This book not only reveals the actual experience of entrepreneurship, but it provides readers with a set of universal entrepreneurial skills and tools they can use to build a business.

Author Kevin Ready has made this journey, and more than once. He earned his MBA—Master of Bruise Acquisition—through numerous encounters with “situations,” problems, black holes, bad employees, sea monsters, not enough money, and other karate chops to the organizational body. Startup illustrates in detail the lessons he learned the hard way—so you don’t have to.

Backed up by stories of both his successes and failures, Ready helps readers learn shortcuts to help them do what eight out of 10 entrepreneurs can’t: Build and sustain a successful start-up.
Download Now »