Contents -- Introduction -- PART I: BUILDING BLOCKS -- Chapter 1 Getting Started -- What Is Game Programming Really All About? -- On Creativity, Talent, and Hard Work -- Taking a Look at Celtic Crusader -- Level Up! -- Chapter 2 Visual Basic Primer -- What Is Visual Basic? -- Writing Your First Visual Basic Program -- Variables of All Types -- Branching/Conditional Statements -- Subroutines and Functions -- Mathematical Operators -- Relational Operators -- Looping Statements -- Arrays -- Structures -- Object-Oriented Programming -- Level Up! -- Chapter 3 Forms and Controls -- Dice War -- Block Buster -- Tic-Tac-Toe -- Level Up! -- Chapter 4 Drawing with GDI+ -- Drawing Lines -- Drawing Rectangles -- Drawing Text -- Level Up! -- Chapter 5 Bitmaps: Our First Building Block -- Dissecting Bitmaps -- Creating a Game Class -- Level Up! -- Chapter 6 Sprites and Real-Time Animation -- What Is a Sprite? -- Animating a Sprite -- Sprite Drawing Demo -- Level Up! -- Chapter 7 Collision Detection -- Reacting to Solid Objects -- Collision Demo Program -- Level Up! -- Chapter 8 Playing Sound Effects and Music -- Programming Audio -- Using the Media Player Control -- Level Up! -- PART II: GAME WORLD -- Chapter 9 Designing the Game of Celtic Crusader -- The Quest-Based Storyline -- Designing the RPG World -- The Player's Character -- Non-Player Characters -- Weapons and Armor -- Magic -- Communication -- Combat -- Level Up! -- Chapter 10 Creating the Level Editor -- Designing Our Own Level Editor -- Level Up! -- Chapter 11 Rendering a Game Level -- Mapping the Game World -- Introduction to Tiled Scrolling -- Per-Tile Scrolling -- Per-Pixel Scrolling -- Level Up! -- Chapter 12 Adding Objects to the World -- Adding Scenery to the Game World -- Adding an Animated Character -- Level Up! -- Chapter 13 Using Portals to Expand the World -- Updating the Level Editor.

It's a Data-Driven Game World -- Adding Lua Scripting Support to the Game -- Level Up! -- PART III: GAMEPLAY -- Chapter 14 Creating the Character Editor -- Character Classes and Attributes -- The Character Editor -- Loading Character Files -- Level Up! -- Chapter 15 Dialogue: Talking with NPCs -- Talking with NPCs -- Creating the Dialogue System -- Level Up! -- Chapter 16 Fighting, Getting XP, and Leveling Up -- Preparing for Combat -- Character Templates -- Creating the Combat System -- Facing Your Enemies -- State-Based Combat -- Dealing Permanent Damage -- Level Up! -- Chapter 17 Creating the Item Editor -- Item Editor Design -- Level Up! -- Chapter 18 Looting Treasure and Managing Inventory -- Looting Treasure -- Managing Inventory -- Level Up! -- Chapter 19 Creating the Quest Editor -- Quests as Data -- Quests as Story Driver -- Level Up! -- Chapter 20 So You Want to Be a Hero? -- Rolling Your Player Character -- Scripting -- Loading and Saving the Game -- Level Up! -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Z.