This Library Guide presents a selection of additions to the Library collection for Games, Media and Data Science & AI. This includes some of the latest acquisitions of (e-)books, video games, board games, links to the latest editions of key journals, and the latest developments in Library resources and services.
For additional information and suggestions for improvement please contact our Games, Media and Data Science & AI information specialist Linda Hurkmans
BUas now has access to ACM Digital Library and O'Reilly for Higher Education.
The ACM Digital Library is a research, discovery and networking platform containing full-text access to all ACM publications, including journals, conference proceedings, technical magazines, newsletters and books.
The O'Reilly digital platform includes books, videos, expert playlists, and audio books. Users also get access to exclusive O’Reilly content as well as resources from approximately 200 of the world’s leading publishers in business and technology. Topics range from programming to cybersecurity to project management to communications to presentation skills.
The content includes certification test prep materials, on-demand training videos, and much more.
Game Economy Design by
This book provides a comprehensive overview of game economy design. It begins with a high-level overview, then utilizes subsequent chapters to break this down into finer details, showing methods to approach the various problems and challenges involved in creating an intricate game economy and metagame experience. The content of the book extends to associated and related fields such as monetization and live operations. The book contains step-by-step processes with best practices and examples, with content written from an empirical standpoint. The reader will gain insights into the components that form a game economy, how these components are utilized to shape a metagame experience and how monetization is integrated into this. The content will consider the work economy designers undertake during development through to postlaunch live operations. The book will appeal to all game design professionals and students of game design that wish to gain a deeper understanding of how to develop game economies.
World Design for 2D Action-Adventures by
Award-winning action-adventure designers Christopher Totten and Adrian Sandoval guide you on a quest to create levels for different styles of 2D action-adventure games, from top-down dungeon-crawler adventures to side-scrolling non-linear "Metroidvania" titles. Blending theory and practical analysis, this book shows how principles of game and level design are applied in some of your favorite 2D action-adventure games. It uses examples from popular games such as The Legend of Zelda and Hollow Knight, while also providing insights from the authors' own experiences creating independent games in the genre. This book also intersperses these examples with practical exercises in 2D action-adventure world design using the free and easy-to-use GB Studio engine, allowing readers to practice their skills and see how lessons from the theory chapters apply in real game development environments. These practical chapters cover the basics of using GB Studio and related software, such as Aseprite and Tiled, to help readers create their own action-adventure characters, monsters, quest systems, switches, keys, and other mechanics - all the way up to designing their own dungeon! World Design for 2D Action-Adventures will be of great interest to all those looking to improve their level design skills within this genre.
Graphic Design for Board Games by
With a sense of humor, plenty of examples, and simple tips, this book covers everything from typography to retail presence. Learn how to effectively use graphic design elements to enhance player experience. Create stunning game components, clear rulebooks, and effective game boards that will keep players engaged.
Demystifying Creativity by
This book is a study of the psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy of creativity, originality, and inspiration viewed from the lens of a seasoned game developer. It introduces the concept of creative sobriety--a practice that advocates better understanding our own sources of inspiration so that we can intellectually drive our creative voice closer to originality. The creative process is an improvised dance between the conscious and the subconscious mind, where knowledge, experience, intuition, observation, imagination, and projection meet in ways that are completely unique to each person. Presenting practical and theoretical approaches to originality and game concept generation, this book explores the notion of creative sobriety before moving to chapters that blend theory and practice, covering topics such as innovation, the creative process, auteurship, collaboration, and creative vision. This book will be of great interest to students of game design and creative professionals working within the industry as well as those looking to learn more about the creative process.
Game Design Deep Dive by
This entry in the Game Design Deep Dive series takes a look at the shooter genre: one that has grown with the times and whose influence can be felt from indie teams to major studios. Joshua Bycer breaks down the 30‑plus‑year history of one of the most popular genres of the games industry to educate readers on how to design their own. This book is suitable for students and designers to learn about one of the most popular genres on the market. Key features: Discusses reflex‑driven design and the challenges and balances that go into single and multiplayer gameplay Provides a breakdown of what gunplay is and how to make your FPS design pop Draws from examples across the industry Examines the design and philosophies that went into many of the best shooters released in the past 30 years
The Routledge Handbook of Role-Playing Game Studies by
This Handbook provides a comprehensive guide to the latest research on role-playing games (RPGs) across disciplines, cultures, and media in one single, accessible volume. Collaboratively authored by more than 40 key scholars, it traces the history of RPGs, from wargaming precursors to tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons to the rise of live-action role-play and contemporary computer RPG and massively multiplayer online RPG franchises, like Baldur's Gate, Genshin Impact, and World of Warcraft. Individual chapters survey the perspectives, concepts, and findings on RPGs from key disciplines, like performance studies, sociology, psychology, education, economics, game design, literary studies, and more. Other chapters integrate insights from RPG studies around broadly significant topics, like worldbuilding, immersion, and player-character relations, as well as explore actual play and streaming, diversity, equity, inclusion, jubensha, therapeutic uses of RPGs, and storygames, journaling games, and other forms of text-based RPGs. Each chapter includes definitions of key terms and recommended readings to help students and scholars new to RPG studies find their way into this interdisciplinary field. A comprehensive reference volume ideal for students and scholars of game studies and immersive experiences and those looking to learn more about the ever-growing, interdisciplinary field of RPG studies.
Technical Animation in Video Games by
This book provides a comprehensive overview of video game technical animation, covering the next generation pipelines that industry developers utilise to create their games. It covers the technical animation workflow from start to finish, looking at both software and hardware, as well as the industry standard processes that all technical animators need to know. Written to be an accessible technical animation resource, this book combines easy-to-understand principles with educational use cases on how to combine the principles and tools taught within. Example test scripts, animation files, and rig assets are provided as tangible examples that can be modified and taken apart to deepen your understanding. It covers the end-to-end pipeline of technical animation, from the very first steps of placing joints in Autodesk's Maya to breathe life into your static characters, through tools and automation development, all the way to Unreal Engine 5 integration and optimisation. Additional resources are available on the book's GitHub repository. From this resource, you will find example files for Maya and Python scripts that will help with your own work and demonstrations featured throughout this book. This book is essential reading for early-career game technical animators as well as those studying game animation courses. It will also appeal to technical animators working in the film industry.
The ACM Digital Library is a research, discovery and networking platform containing full-text access to all ACM publications, including journals, conference proceedings, technical magazines, newsletters and books.
The O'Reilly digital platform includes books, videos, expert playlists, and audio books. Users also get access to exclusive O’Reilly content as well as resources from approximately 200 of the world’s leading publishers in business and technology. Topics range from programming to cybersecurity to project management to communications to presentation skills.
The content includes certification test prep materials, on-demand training videos, and much more.
Statista is a statistics portal that provides access to statistics and studies on over 80,000 topics and areas of interest. Benefits of Statista services include: Industry-specific economic macro data with key indicators of market trends Industry-specific surveys on relevant trends and forecasts Consumer behavior studies. Statista.com provides companies, business customers, research institutions, and the academic community with direct access to quantitative data on media, business, finance, politics, and a wide variety of other areas of interest or markets.
Games and culture : a journal of interactive media by 
Computers & graphics : an international journal of systems & applications in computer graphics by 
