Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 A Brief History of Gaming -- A Quick Timeline -- 1958-The First Video Game Invented -- 1961-Spacewar -- 1967-Television Video Games Created -- 1971-The First Video Arcade Game -- 1972-Magnavox Odyssey Brings Games Home -- 1975-Atari Releases Pong -- 1977-Atari 2600 -- 1978-Space Invaders -- 1979-High Score -- 1980-The First 3D Game -- 1980-Pac-Man -- 1981-Hello Mario -- 1983-Video Game Crash -- 1983-Dragon's Lair -- 1985-NES and Super Mario Bros -- 1985-Tetris -- 1989-Game Boy -- 1993-Atari Jaguar -- 1993-Doom -- 1995-PlayStation -- 1996-Nintendo 64 -- 2000-PlayStation 2 -- 2001-Xbox -- Chapter 2 Becoming the World's Best 3D Game Programmer -- The Skills You Need -- Programming Skills -- Graphic Design Skills -- Team Skills -- Math -- Patience -- Communication Skills -- Grace Under Pressure -- Attention to Detail -- Creativity -- How to Get the Skills -- Play Games -- Practice, Practice, Practice -- Read -- Get Out There -- Find a Mentor -- Take a Course -- Have Other Interests -- Chapter 3 Designing a Game -- The Big Idea -- An Old Video Game -- A Book -- A Sport -- A Board Game -- An Event in Your Life -- A News Event -- A Sitcom, Drama, Game Show, or Movie -- Planning Your Game -- Type of Game -- The Story Line -- Storyboarding -- Controls -- Sounds and Music -- Creating a Design Document -- Chapter 4 Anatomy of a Game -- Programming Languages -- C++ -- Java -- Visual Basic -- Blitz3D -- 3D Modeling Software -- Maya -- 3ds Max -- Graphics Programs -- Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator -- CorelDRAW Graphics Suite -- Audio Programs -- Code Flow -- Chapter 5 Exploring Blitz3D -- Installing Blitz3D -- Launching Blitz3D -- Getting to Know the User Interface -- The Menu Bar -- The Toolbar -- Switching Programs -- The Side Panel -- Entering Code and Comments -- Chapter 6 Your First 3D Program.

The Jumping Cone Program -- Dissecting the Code -- Chapter 7 Shapes and Objects -- Understanding the 3D World -- Creating Basic Shapes -- Creating a Cone -- Creating Multiple Cones -- Creating Cubes, Cylinders, and Spheres -- Segments -- Resizing and Reshaping Objects -- Resizing or Scaling -- Reshaping -- Flipping an Object -- Coloring -- Wireframe -- Transparency -- Textures and Texture Mapping -- Applying Image Textures -- Scaling Textures -- Creating Text Textures -- Object Order -- Chapter 8 Getting Graphic -- Heightmaps -- Creating Heightmaps with Textured Fills -- Creating Heightmaps with a Brush -- Creating Heightmaps with Effects -- Creating Textures -- Walls -- Terrains and Skies -- Creating Terrains with Texture Fills -- Wood -- Creating Terrains with Effects -- Information Screens -- Welcome Screen -- Pause Screen -- Chapter 9 3D Modeling -- Creating a Bottle -- Creating the Outline -- Lathing the Bottle -- Exporting the Bottle -- Creating a Missile -- Creating the Missile Body -- Creating the Wings -- Exporting the Missile -- Importing Models into Blitz3D -- Chapter 10 Controlling Objects -- Moving Objects -- Rotating Objects -- Rotating Objects on Their Own -- Orbiting (a.k.a. Pivoting) -- Chapter 11 Lights and Cameras -- Working with Cameras -- Creating and Positioning a Camera -- Rotating a Camera -- Using Two Cameras -- Switching Cameras Virtually -- Splitting Views -- Zooming -- Camera Movement -- Following an Object -- Light -- Types of Lights -- Light Range -- Chapter 12 Setting the Stage -- Creating a Terrain -- Positioning a Terrain -- Changing the Terrain Color -- Applying a Texture to a Terrain -- Changing the Size of a Terrain -- Creating a Plane -- Applying a Heightmap -- Shapes as Environments -- Going Inside Shapes -- Using Shapes with Terrains -- Chapter 13 Collisions -- Creating a Collision -- Collision Code.

Colliding Objects -- Collision Radius -- Shields Down!-Clear Collisions -- Collision Effects -- Poof! Now You See It, Now You Don't -- Chameleon Colors -- Blowing Up Stuff -- Other Collision Commands -- Chapter 14 Sounds and Music -- Sounds -- Loading and Playing Sounds -- Adjusting Volume -- Adjusting Pitch -- Adjusting Pan -- All I Want Is Loving You, and Music, Music, Music -- Working with Channels -- Looping Music -- Chapter 15 Other 3D Game Components -- Gravity -- Simple Jumping -- Velocity -- Chase Camera -- Mirror -- Timing -- Text -- Adding and Positioning Text -- Adding Text Variables -- Setting Font Size and Appearance -- Freeing Fonts -- Math -- Random -- Guns and Bullets -- Positioning a First-Person Shooter Gun -- Bullets -- Pausing -- Welcome Screens -- Chapter 16 Programming Fundamentals -- Variables -- Integer Variables -- Floating Point Variables -- String Variables -- Inputting with Other Variables -- Global versus Local Variables -- Functions -- Arrays -- Types -- Conditionals -- Operators -- If . . . Then Statements -- If . . . Then . . . Else -- Goto -- Select . . . Case -- Looping Conditionals -- Chapter 17 Putting It All Together -- Planning the Game-''3D Gallery'' -- Files for the Game -- Creating the Water Texture -- Welcome Screen -- Setting Up the Graphic Elements and Camera -- Setting Up the Game Elements -- Creating the World -- Gallery Items -- Creating the Guns and Bullets -- Game Control and Gravity -- Moving Targets -- Firing Bullets -- Pausing the Game -- Creating Collisions -- Changing the Gallery -- Destroying Gallery Items -- Reloading Bullets -- Score -- Time Remaining -- Ending the Game -- Text -- Sounds -- Appendix -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z.