Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 Want to Make Games? -- What Are Games? -- Huizinga's Magic Circle -- Core Mechanics -- Gameplay -- Graphics -- How to Be a Game Designer -- Come Up with Your Own Game Ideas -- Write Your Ideas Down -- Game Design Step-by-Step -- Preproduction -- Production -- Postproduction -- Starting Your Own Game Company -- The Importance of Being Independent -- Review -- Chapter 2 Brief Look at 2D Games -- Where Do 2D Games Come From? -- Electronic Game Firsts -- 2D in a 3D World -- Popular 2D Game Genres -- Action Games -- Adventure Games -- Role-Playing Games -- Strategy Games -- Other 2D Game Genres -- Licensed Games -- What Makes a 2D Game Great? -- Interactivity -- Game Challenges -- The 4 Fs of Great Game Design -- Review -- Chapter 3 The Torque Game Builder -- The Torque Game Builder -- Licensing -- Torque's Features at a Glance -- Built-In Components of TGB -- Other GarageGame Products -- Torque X Engine -- Torque Game Engine -- The Torque Game Engine Advanced -- Resources -- Review -- Chapter 4 Making Game Graphics -- What Are Game Graphics? -- Bits and Bytes -- Graphics Pixels -- Graphics Coordinates -- Image Types -- What Are 2D Graphics Good For? -- Sprites -- Tiled Images and Backgrounds -- The Draw Order -- Making Vector Art -- What Is Vector Art? -- What Is Illustrator Good For? -- The Illustrator Environment -- The Anatomy of Vector Objects -- Making a Hearse -- Using Graphics in Torque Game Builder -- Making Static Sprites -- Making Animated Sprites -- Making Tilemaps -- Review -- Chapter 5 Programming with TorqueScript -- Game Programming -- Programming Languages -- TorqueScript -- Algorithms -- Flowcharts -- Torsion -- Review -- Chapter 6 Your First Game Project -- Getting Started with TGB -- Adjusting Your Workspace -- Creating a New Project -- Saving Your New Level -- Loading Your Resources.

Level Design -- Making a Level in TGB -- Designing Characters -- Making an Animated Character in TGB -- Review -- Chapter 7 Adding Game Challenges -- Game Challenges -- Common Types of Game Challenges -- Quests -- Don't Forget to Add Conflict -- One Lesson to Remember -- Creating Game Challenges in TGB -- Loading Your Resources -- Adding a Reward -- Providing Competition -- Proofreading Your Program -- Testing Your Level -- Review -- Chapter 8 Making a Shooter -- Characteristics of the Shooter -- Loading a Saved Project -- Creating Enemies to Fight -- Creating a Ghost Enemy -- Programming the Ghost Enemy -- Setting the Ghost's World Limits -- Programming the Ghost's Spawn Function -- Having the Ghost Destroy the Player -- Proofreading Your Program -- Editing the Ghost's Collision Polygon -- Testing Your Level -- Having the Player Fight Back -- Giving Batty a Ray Gun -- Creating Death Rays -- Programming the Death Rays -- Proofreading Your Program -- Testing Your Level -- Nuking the Ghosts -- Creating a Particle Effect -- Programming the Explosion -- Adding Audio -- Hollywood Sound -- Sound Basics -- Sound in Games -- Using Sound Libraries -- Mixing Your Own Audio -- Sound in the Torque Game Builder -- Review -- Chapter 9 Getting Your Game Out There -- Where to Go Now -- The Packaging Utility -- Learn to Advertise Yourself -- Learn to Advertise Your Game -- Pitch a Game Proposal to a Publisher -- Advertise Your Game Online -- Using Blogs or Online Communities to Get Noticed -- What's Next? -- Game Design Schools -- Review -- Appendix A: Keyboard Shortcuts and Operators -- Appendix B: What's on the CD? -- Appendix C: Glossary -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Appendix D: Online Resources -- 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 -- Y -- Z.