Computer Book Reviews
Game Creation and Careers by Marc Saltzman
New Riders, June, 2003Trade Paperback, 707 pages
ISBN: 0735713677
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Gaming is one of the few industries doing
well during the current, ongoing recession. If you have
an interest in the industry (even if you just love playing
games) you have a good chance of finding a career --
if you acquire the right skills. In addition to
acquiring skills, it will also help to read this book
which lays out the available career options and includes
numerous ideas, interviews with experts and information
to help you learn more about the gaming industry.
The book covers all types gaming, including
the leading gaming systems (Playstation,
GameCube and Xbox), PDA games, computer
games and massively multiplayer games.
Many chapters in the book are devoted to
game design, including design for specific
game genres, character design, storyboarding,
level and mission designs, programming theory,
animation, user interfaces, sound engineering
and music. Examples of actual design document
templates are provided and hundreds of interviews
with gaming experts are given to help readers
understand more about a particular gaming design
concept. By learning more about each type of game
and the many different aspects of game design, readers
can learn which niche they might be best suited for.
The book also provides information about
creating your own shareware game, game
conventions, courses and schools related to
game creation, and game-related links and
resources.
Game Creation and Careers is highly
recommended for anyone interested in a game-related
career or a comprehensive overview of the
rapidly developing game industry.
PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites by Larry Ullman
Peachpit Press, May, 2003Trade Paperback, 572 pages.
ISBN: 0321186486
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
This book provides a solid introduction to PHP and
MySQL. The book follows the style of the Visual
QuickPro series, which uses pictures and screenshots
along with text to explain the two languages and
help readers learn what to do. The book begins
by explaining the fundamentals of both PHP and
MySQL, followed by a couple of chapters on SQL,
and then a chapter explaining how to
link PHP and MySQL to create
dynamic webpages. The rest of the book
provides instruction for using the two languages
for databases, web applications, e-commerce, cookies,
security, content management and user registration.
A companion website includes source code and
demonstrations of techniques used in the text.
The book is written for a wide range of experience levels, but some prior experience using XHTML or HTML and some basic programming knowledge is recommended. If you have a little HTML knowledge and at least a minimal programming background this book can help you to quickly learn how to use PHP and MySQL -- two powerful languages that can be used to create unique database-driven websites.
Return on Design by Ani Phyo
New Riders, May, 2003Trade Paperback, 284 pages.
ISBN: 0201756072
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
In Return on Design, Ani Phyo, a veteran web designer
who founded her own web consultancy service,
offers strategies for developing
usable and popular websites.
Now that the dot-com boom days are over, savvy designers
must focus
on a website that can bring solid and steady
results. And to do that they need to apply solid
web design methods and techniques. Phyo's
book offers advice, methods, suggestions and
real-world examples to help the website
development team accomplish goals and learn
more about the
value of user-centered design.
Phyo takes readers through seven steps for developing and launching a website. The steps include deciding what goes in the website by determining what the users need, developing menus, site maps and navigation schemes and testing prototypes. Readers will learn about web design, usability, and usability testing and how to apply these skills to develop websites that cut costs, save time and are popular with customers, clients and business partners. The book also includes a brief foreword by David Siegel, author of Creating Killer Web Sites. Highly recommended for web developers new to user-centered design.
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Return to the October 2003 issue of The IWJ.
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