Game Development With LUA (Game Development Series) [Paperback]

Paul Schuytema (Author), Mark Manyen (Author)

Book Description

Series: Game Development Series | Publication Date: August 5, 2005

complex GUIs and artificial intelligence. If you're a developer just starting to use Lua, or you're considering using it, Game Development with Lua will teach you everything you need to know. And if you're new to scripting languages altogether, this book will also teach you how they can be used in game development effectively. Written by practicing Lua game developers, the book teaches how to use Lua for commercial game development. It begins with a brief history of Lua and explains how to incorporate Lua into a C++ project. It details the key features and advantages of Lua and then takes you through the development of a "rapid prototype" game called Take Away. This game provides the context with which to explore the foundational C++ approaches and the Lua scripting approaches to saving and loading game data, building a modular and flexible GUI system, managing a game's real-time events through Lua scripts, and using Lua to define and control game AI. There are also several smaller games along with a full technology base, so even non-programmers can look under the hood to see what makes a game tick. If you're looking for an efficient, affordable, and easy-to-learn language for your games, Lua is the right choice and this book will teach you how to use it effectively.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Paul Schuytema (Monmouth, IL) has been a professional game developer for over ten years and in that time spoke at the previous ten GDC conferences. He has produced and designed over twenty games. Schuytema wrote more than 200 professional articles and authored or co-authored over a dozen books. He teaches college-level creative writing and journalism, and he received the Governor's 2002 Entrepreneurial Success Award in Illinois. He is the primary scriptor for Magic Lantern. Mark Manyen (Monmouth, IL) is the technical director for Magic Lantern and has directed the technology on more than 25 games. He incorporates Lua into Magic Lantern's J5 technology suite and creates all "Lua Glue" hooks into the J5 codebase.

Product Details

• Paperback: 314 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media; 1 edition (August 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584504048
• ISBN-13: 978-1584504047
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #868,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hardly Worth the Price, February 25, 2006

By 

Psychonaut_1968 (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Game Development With LUA (Game Development Series) (Paperback)

The best thing about this book is that the CD contains an environment where you can script projects -- like the example game -- in Lua. The example game itself is not stellar. In fact, it ran very poorly on my PC, which is a new state-of-the-art game development system. The actual scripting presented in the book is not particularly elegant. That is, the title is written more from a hobbyist's perspective than the POV of a professional developer. In order to really learn Lua, you would be better off purchasing _Programming In Lua_ and talking to other Lua programmers on the Lua forums (http://www.icynorth.com/forums/index.php?c=8).

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazingly insightful!, April 8, 2011

By 

khaos - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Game Development With LUA (Game Development Series) (Paperback)

As a developer new to Lua, this book serves as a great introduction and reference guide. It started with the basics, explaining the history of Lua and what it was originally designed for. I was able to ramp up my Lua Development after reading this book.
For anyone looking to develop games with Lua, this book is a must have. I highly recommend it for everyone from the seasoned developer to the noob with aspirations to build games.

8 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A blend of activities and instructions on key game development features, January 2, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Game Development With LUA (Game Development Series) (Paperback)

Paul Schuytema and Mark Manyen's Game Development With Lua discusses a program which uses complex artificial intelligence to enhance the game environment. While Game Development With Lua may seem like a guide for only the most advanced programmers, developers will be pleased to note it may be written by practicing Lua game developers for commercial development, but assumes little prior knowledge, providing both a history of Lua and how to blend it into a C++ development project. The focus is a blend of activities and instructions on key game development features which uses the game programmer's C++ basics to explain Lua links and applications.