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Game Development with Lua
complex GUIs and artificial intelligence. If you're a developer just starting to use Lua, or you're considering using it, Game Development with Lua will teach you everything you need to know. And if you're new to scripting languages altogether, this book will also teach you how they can be used in game development effectively. Written by practicing
Lua game developers, the book teaches how to use Lua for commercial game development. It begins with a brief history of Lua and explains how to incorporate Lua into a C++ project. It details the key features and advantages of Lua and then takes you through the development of a rapid prototype game called Take Away. This game provides the context with which to explore the foundational C++ approaches and the Lua scripting approaches to saving and loading game data, building a modular and flexible GUI system, managing a game's real-time events through Lua scripts, and using Lua to define and control game AI. There are also several smaller games along with a full technology base, so even non-programmers can look under the hood to see what makes a game tick. If you're looking for an efficient, affordable, and easy-to-learn language for your games, Lua is the right choice and this book will teach you how to use it effectively.
CONTENTS:
Foreword; Introduction: Scripting and Lua; What is a Scripting Language?; The History of Scripting Languages and the History of Lua; Chapter 1: Quick Tour of What Lua Can Do Within a Game; Chapter 2: Introduction to Lua; Syntax, Standard Libraries, Similarities to Visual Basic, C and Other Languages, Lua is Good At . . . , Lua is Not Good At . . . ; Chapter 3: Working with a Lua Front-End; Internally Created Front End; Chapter 4: Basic Architecture of the Game Program; Implementing Lua into a C++ Project, Lua Calling C++ (The LuaGlue Concept), C++ Calling Lua (Event Driven Programming); Chapter 5: Designing a Lua Implementation; Game Design Doc, Lua Style Guide; Chapter 6: Using Lua for Game Data; Runtime Data, Save Games, Case Studies; Chapter 7: Lua-Powered GUI; Overview,DirectX, System Design,Code Walkthrough, Case Studies; Chapter 8: Game Event System; Overview, System Design, Code Walkthrough, Case Studies Using Lua to Define and Control AI, Overview, System Design, Code Walkthrough, Case Studies, Lua as a Testing Tool, Debugging Lua; Chapter 9: Deploying Lua; Compiling Scripts, License; Appendix: About the CD-ROM; Index
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