Dan here, just wanted to let you know that the book "Creating 3DGamestudio Games That Succeed" is now in progress. I will update this topic to say how far along with the book I am. So far everything up to and the table of contents is complete. I have begun the introduction. Here is the basic table of contents :
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INTRODUCTION
PART 1 -CHAPTER 1
OVERALL HOW A GAME IS CREATED
WHO MAKES THE GAME?
WHAT SKILLS ARE NEEDED?
WHAT HARDWARE IS NEEDED?
IS GAME DESIGNING RIGHT FOR YOU?
-CHAPTER 2
CREATING IDEAS
DOCUMENTING IDEAS
DESIGN DOCUMENT
-CHAPTER 3
ASSEMBLING A TEAM ONLINE
MANAGING THE TEAM ONLINE
RECEIVING WORK FROM THE TEAM ONLINE
COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR TEAM
-CHAPTER 4
ESTABLISHING A COMPANY
ESTABLISHING A WEB PRESENCE
PART 2 -CHAPTER 5
INTRODUCTION TO THE 3DGAMESTUDIO SOFTWARE
INTRODUCTION TO MED
INTRODUCTION TO WED
-CHAPTER 6
MAKING YOUR FIRST MODEL
MAKING YOUR FIRST SKIN
ANIMATING YOUR MODEL
-CHAPTER 7
MAKING YOUR FIRST LEVEL
TEXTURING YOUR LEVEL
LIGHTING YOUR LEVEL
-CHAPTER 8
ADDING A GUN
ADDING ENEMIES
ADDING SPRITES
-CHAPTER 9
CREATING TERRAIN
CREATING A SKY
CREATING A POND
CREATING THE ENVIRONMENT
EXTERIOR DETAILS
-CHAPTER 10
MORE ADVANCED LEVEL DESIGN
MORE ADVANCED TEXTURING
MORE ADVANCED LIGHTING
-CHAPTER 11
CREATING A VEHICLE MODEL MESH
SKINNING YOUR VEHICLE MODEL
MAKING YOUR VEHICLE GO
DRIVING YOUR VEHICLE
-CHAPTER 12
ADDING PHYSICS TO YOUR GAMES
ADDING PHYSICS TO OBJECTS
ADDING PHYSICS TO VEHICLES
ADDING PHYSICS TO CHARACTERS
-CHAPTER 13
INTRODUCTION TO SED
INTRODUCTION TO WDL SCRIPTING
SCRIPTING SOME EXTRAS FOR YOUR LEVEL
-CHAPTER 14
USING MED TO CREATE A SMALL HUT
USING WED TO POSITION THE HUT IN THE LEVEL
USING SED TO SCRIPT SMOKE FROM CHIMNEY
-CHAPTER 15
CREATING A LARGE INDOOR LEVEL
INDOOR LIGHTING
INTERIOR DETAILS
-CHAPTER 16
CREATING THE HUD
CREATING MENUS
-CHAPTER 17
FINISHING OFF THE GAME
MAKING AN INSTALLER
PART 3 -CHAPTER 18
TESTING THE GAME OUT
POSTING DEMOS ON WEBSITES
-CHAPTER 19
SEARCHING FOR PUBLISHERS
CONTACTING A PUBLISHER
-CHAPTER 20
SETTING UP YOUR ONLINE STORE
SELLING GAMES, PLUGINS, AND SOFTWARE ONLINE
PART 4 -CHAPTER 21
SETTING UP A 3DGAMESTUDIO TEAM
MANAGING THE TEAM
-CHAPTER 22
LEVEL DESIGNING TIPS INTERIOR
LEVEL DESIGNING TIPS EXTERIOR
-CHAPTER 23
MODELLING TIPS WEAPONS
MODELLING TIPS VEHICLES
APPENDIX A – SAMPLE DESIGN DOCUMENT
APPENDIX B – 3DGAMESTUDIO RESOURCES
ABOUT THE CD
INDEX
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The book would also come with a CD with tutorials, resources, example levels, plus the A6 Trial Version. It would also have a bunch of stuff not available for free anywhere else.
So I will continue to update this saying how far along the book is, then when it's done, if we're getting a publisher or not. If we don't get a publisher, then I can sell the book on CafePress, and you can have an option to buy the CD for an extra 5-10 bucks or so.
The book would be for noobs or for more advanced users of 3DGamestudio, it would be a good book for every 3DGS user to have layin around the house somewhere if you need it for reference, better than any online 3DGS manual.
Let me know who's interested