GDC Vault
NOTE: You can find out how to obtain an unofficial full copy of this archive from a third-party website by reading the info found in this tread. Game Developer, an in-depth monthly magazine for exposing 'the art and business of video games', was published by UBM Tech (which also runs Game Developers Conference and Gamasutra.com) from 1994 to 2013. Following the magazine's closure in July 2013, we've compiled an archive and made them freely available here for all to enjoy. (Also check out the Game Developer section on Gamasutra for some of the best reprinted articles from these issues.) Digital Edition Archives
Patterns in nature
Natural patterns form as wind blows sand in the dunes of the Namib Desert. The crescent shaped dunes and the ripples on their surfaces repeat wherever there are suitable conditions. Patterns in nature are visible regularities of form found in the natural world.
Virtual Math Lab - Intermediate Algebra
If you need help in intermediate algebra, you have come to the right place. Note that you do not have to be a student at WTAMU to use any of these online tutorials. They were created as a service to anyone who needs help in these areas of math.
L-system
L-system trees form realistic models of natural patterns Origins[edit] 'Weeds', generated using an L-system in 3D. As a biologist, Lindenmayer worked with yeast and filamentous fungi and studied the growth patterns of various types of algae, such as the blue/green bacteria Anabaena catenula. Originally the L-systems were devised to provide a formal description of the development of such simple multicellular organisms, and to illustrate the neighbourhood relationships between plant cells. Later on, this system was extended to describe higher plants and complex branching structures.
Complex Analysis
by George Cain (c)Copyright 1999, 2001 by George Cain. All rights reserved.
How to Create a Custom 2D Physics Engine: The Basics and Impulse Resolution
There are many reasons you might want to create a custom physics engine: first, learning and honing your skills in mathematics, physics and programming are great reasons to attempt such a project; second, a custom physics engine can tackle any sort of technical effect the creator has the skill to create. In this article I would like to provide a solid introduction on how to create a custom physics engine entirely from scratch. Physics provides a wonderful means for allowing a player to immerse themselves within a game.
Guerrilla Tool Development
I have a weak spot for cool game development tools. Not the IDE, or art or sound tools – I mean the level editors, AI construction tools – those that developers develop specifically for their games. Those that you know could help you multiply your content, and craft your game just a little bit better. Unfortunately, if you work on a small team, developing sophisticated tools like that is pretty much out of the question. That does not mean you have to hardcode everything, though. Here I will give you some ideas for getting tools for your game on a tight budget.
Evolve Your Hierarchy
Refactoring Game Entities with Components Up until fairly recent years, game programmers have consistently used a deep class hierarchy to represent game entities. The tide is beginning to shift from this use of deep hierarchies to a variety of methods that compose a game entity object as an aggregation of components. This article explains what this means, and explores some of the benefits and practical considerations of such an approach.
Robert Bridson
Current Position As of August 2013 I am no longer a full-time professor at UBC, but retain adjunct status. I am now a Senior Principal Research Scientist for Visual Effects at Autodesk.
Dirty Coding Tricks
[When the schedule is shot and a game needs to ship, programmers may employ some dirty coding tricks to get the game out the door. In an article originally published in Gamasutra sister publication Game Developer magazine earlier this year, here are nine real-life examples of just that.] Programmers are often methodical and precise beasts who do their utmost to keep their code clean and pretty.
Instancing Of In-Game Entities - Procedural Content Generation Wiki
An increasingly common technique, particularly in middleware such as SpeedTree is to dynamically vary the parameters of in-game entities to create a large possible number of entities with a statistically insignificant chance of repetition. This could be the visible geometry of a tree or person, or the in-game properties of an weapon or piece of equipment. Various PCG techniques such as pseudorandom number generation can be used to instance the entities, while compressing the total amount of information required to be held by the game for each unique entity. Instancing impacts the game in a variety of ways: it should be seen as part of a continuum that has procedural generation at one end. The key difference is that instancing modifies game play, whether it be being blocked by the branches of a tree, or being able to recognise individuals in a crowd, to having a game winning object generated by chance.