Download or read book Anachronist written by Andrew Hastie and published by Infinity Engines. This book was released on 2017-03-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Josh had no future until he discovered he could travel back into the past One step away from prison, 17-year-old Joshua Jones breaks into the house of the local eccentric, the Colonel, and finds himself transported back to Hitler's war rooms in 1944. The Colonel rescues Josh and introduces him to a secret society of time travellers sworn to protect the future, taking him on an epic adventure into the alternate histories and guilds of the Oblivion Order. But Josh struggles to escape his broken past and the death of his best friend. Caught between a magical world of possibilities and a life of crime, will he use his new-found powers to alter his timeline? Can the Order help him to find the future he never dreamed he could have? The Anachronist is the first novel in The Infinity Engines Series. If you're a fan of time travel, fantasy and history, then you'll love this fast-paced adventure!

Download or read book The Beginning of Infinity written by David Deutsch and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2011-03-31 with total page 571 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Science has never had an advocate quite like David Deutsch ... A computational physicist on a par with his touchstones Alan Turing and Richard Feynman, and a philosopher in the line of his greatest hero, Karl Popper. His arguments are so clear that to read him is to experience the thrill of the highest level of discourse available on this planet and to understand it' Peter Forbes, Independent In our search for truth, how far have we advanced? This uniquely human quest for good explanations has driven amazing improvements in everything from scientific understanding and technology to politics, moral values and human welfare. But will progress end, either in catastrophe or completion - or will it continue infinitely? In this profound and seminal book, David Deutsch explores the furthest reaches of our current understanding, taking in the Infinity Hotel, supernovae and the nature of optimism, to instill in all of us a wonder at what we have achieved - and the fact that this is only the beginning of humanity's infinite possibility. 'This is Deutsch at his most ambitious, seeking to understand the implications of our scientific explanations of the world ... I enthusiastically recommend this rich, wide-ranging and elegantly written exposition of the unique insights of one of our most original intellectuals' Michael Berry, Times Higher Education Supplement 'Bold ... profound ... provocative and persuasive' Economist 'David Deutsch may well go down in history as one of the great scientists of our age' Scotsman

Download or read book The Difference Engine written by William Gibson and published by Spectra. This book was released on 2011-07-26 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1855: The Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven cybernetic Engines. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time. And three extraordinary characters race toward a rendezvous with history—and the future: Sybil Gerard—a fallen woman, politician’s tart, daughter of a Luddite agitator Edward “Leviathan” Mallory—explorer and paleontologist Laurence Oliphant—diplomat, mystic, and spy. Their adventure begins with the discovery of a box of punched Engine cards of unknown origin and purpose. Cards someone wants badly enough to kill for…. Part detective story, part historical thriller, The Difference Engine is the collaborative masterpiece by two of the most acclaimed science fiction authors writing today. Provocative, compelling, intensely imagined, it is a startling extension of Gibson’s and Sterling’s unique visions—and the beginning of movement we know today as “steampunk!”

Download or read book Game Engine Black Book DOOM written by Fabien Sanglard and published by Software Wizards. This book was released on with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was early 1993 and id Software was at the top of the PC gaming industry. Wolfenstein 3D had established the First Person Shooter genre and sales of its sequel Spear of Destiny were skyrocketing. The technology and tools id had taken years to develop were no match for their many competitors. It would have been easy for id to coast on their success, but instead they made the audacious decision to throw away everything they had built and start from scratch. Game Engine Black Book: Doom is the story of how they did it. This is a book about history and engineering. Don’t expect much prose (the author’s English has improved since the first book but is still broken). Instead you will find inside extensive descriptions and drawings to better understand all the challenges id Software had to overcome. From the hardware -- the Intel 486 CPU, the Motorola 68040 CPU, and the NeXT workstations -- to the game engine’s revolutionary design, open up to learn how DOOM changed the gaming industry and became a legend among video games.

Download or read book Beneath a Starless Sky written by David L Craddock and published by . This book was released on 2019-11-08 with total page 682 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dungeons & Dragons became a cornerstone of gaming culture by providing players with dice, sheets of paper, and guidebooks that teased the imagination-all the tools they needed to build their own worlds. Influenced by all-night D&D sessions, the video game developers at Black Isle Studios and BioWare had a thought: Leave the dice-rolling to computers, letting players focus solely on creating characters and embarking on unforgettable adventures.The result was Baldur's Gate, a computer roleplaying game (CRPG) featuring breathtaking scenes, compelling characters, dozens of quests, and deep tactical battles. As financial turmoil plagued their parent company, a small team of developers broke away from Black Isle and set out to create unforgettable adventures of their own.From the early days of Fallout and Baldur's Gate, to the formation of Obsidian Entertainment and the company's fateful crowdfunding campaign that averted financial ruin, Beneath a Starless Sky explores the making of the Infinity Engine CRPGs and the critically acclaimed Pillars of Eternity franchise.-Based on over 40 hours of interviews with developers from Black Isle and Obsidian-Go behind-the-scenes to witness the creation of the celebrated Infinity Engine CRPGs: Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate II, and Icewind Dale II -Relive the dramatic moments that led to Obsidian's record-setting Kickstarter, and the making of 2015's Pillars of Eternity and 2018's Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire-Sit in on a discussion of the past, present, and future of roleplaying games with Obsidian's co-founders, writers, and directors

Download or read book Infinity s Shore written by David Brin and published by Spectra. This book was released on 2010-01-13 with total page 689 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nebula and Hugo award-winning author David Brin continues his bestselling Uplift series in this second novel of a bold new trilogy. Imaginative, inventive, and filled with Brin's trademark mix of adventure, passion, and wit, Infinity's Shore carries us further than ever before into the heart of the most beloved and extraordinary science fiction sagas ever written. For the fugitive settlers of Jijo, it is truly the beginning of the end. As starships fill the skies, the threat of genocide hangs over the planet that once peacefully sheltered six bands of sapient beings. Now the human settlers of Jijo and their alien neighbors must make heroic--and terrifying--choices. A scientist must rally believers for a cause he never shared. And four youngsters find that what started as a simple adventure--imitating exploits in Earthling books by Verne and Twain--leads them to the dark abyss of mystery. Meanwhile, the Streaker, with her fugitive dolphin crew, arrives at last on Jijo in a desperate search for refuge. Yet what the crew finds instead is a secret hidden since the galaxies first spawned intelligence--a secret that could mean salvation for the planet and its inhabitants...or their ultimate annihilation.

Download or read book Game Engine Architecture written by Jason Gregory and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2017-03-27 with total page 1042 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hailed as a "must-have textbook" (CHOICE, January 2010), the first edition of Game Engine Architecture provided readers with a complete guide to the theory and practice of game engine software development. Updating the content to match today’s landscape of game engine architecture, this second edition continues to thoroughly cover the major components that make up a typical commercial game engine. New to the Second Edition Information on new topics, including the latest variant of the C++ programming language, C++11, and the architecture of the eighth generation of gaming consoles, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 New chapter on audio technology covering the fundamentals of the physics, mathematics, and technology that go into creating an AAA game audio engine Updated sections on multicore programming, pipelined CPU architecture and optimization, localization, pseudovectors and Grassman algebra, dual quaternions, SIMD vector math, memory alignment, and anti-aliasing Insight into the making of Naughty Dog’s latest hit, The Last of Us The book presents the theory underlying various subsystems that comprise a commercial game engine as well as the data structures, algorithms, and software interfaces that are typically used to implement them. It primarily focuses on the engine itself, including a host of low-level foundation systems, the rendering engine, the collision system, the physics simulation, character animation, and audio. An in-depth discussion on the "gameplay foundation layer" delves into the game’s object model, world editor, event system, and scripting system. The text also touches on some aspects of gameplay programming, including player mechanics, cameras, and AI. An awareness-building tool and a jumping-off point for further learning, Game Engine Architecture, Second Edition gives readers a solid understanding of both the theory and common practices employed within each of the engineering disciplines covered. The book will help readers on their journey through this fascinating and multifaceted field.

Download or read book Dark Intelligence Transformation Book 1 written by Neal Asher and published by Tor UK. This book was released on 2015-02-01 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first volume in a no-holds-barred adventure set in Asher's popular Polity universe One man will transcend death to seek vengeance. One woman will transform herself to gain power. And no one will emerge unscathed... Thorvald Spear wakes in hospital, where he finds he's been brought back from the dead. What's more, he died in a human vs. alien war which ended a whole century ago. But when he relives his traumatic final moments, he finds the spark to keep on living. That spark is vengeance. Trapped and desperate on a world surrounded by alien Prador forces, Spear had seen a rescue ship arriving. But instead of providing backup, Penny Royal, the AI within the destroyer turned rogue. It annihilated friendly forces in a frenzy of destruction, and, years later, it's still free. Spear vows to track it across worlds and do whatever it takes to bring it down. Isobel Satomi ran a successful crime syndicate. But after competitors attacked, she needed more power. Yet she got more than she bargained for when she negotiated with Penny Royal. She paid it to turn her part-AI herself, but the upgrades hid a horrifying secret. The Dark AI had triggered a transformation in Isobel that would turn her into a monster, rapidly evolving into something far from human. Spear hires Isobel to take him to the Penny Royal AI's last known whereabouts. But he cheats her in the process and he becomes a target for her vengeance. And as she is evolves further into a monstrous predator, rage soon wins over reason. Will Spear finish his hunt, before he becomes the hunted? PRAISE FOR THE TRANSFORMATION SERIES "One of his best works so far ... Asher is a modern master of Sci-Fi" Starburst magazine "Beautifully paced ... does just as well as at slam-bang action scenes as at painting frightening pictures" Publishers Weekly, starred review "Blends large portions of horror and mystery into an SF tale of revenge and redemption ... a complex and satisfying work" Library Journal, starred review "Hardboiled, fast-paced space opera epic ... Asher's books are similar to the world of Iain M. Banks' Culture universe, but the Polity is arguably a much darker and more vicious environment - and all the better for it" TheRegister.co.uk

Download or read book Lynn Hershman Leeson written by Rudolf Frieling and published by Hatje Cantz. This book was released on 2019-06-17 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the center of this publication is Lynn Hershman Leeson's installation The Infinity Engine, modeled after a genetics laboratory. The artist demonstrates that the boundaries between natural and artificial life are dissolving at an increasingly rapid pace in the age of synthetic biology, and that today life itself can be artificially shaped. This includes DNA manipulation, artificial human organs manufactured via 3-D-bioprinting, antibody research, and use of DNA as a biological storage medium. Leeson presents these achievements as works of art embedded in an inimitable aesthetic. Documenting these work cycles in photographs of the exhibition at the HeK Basel, this volume also contains numerous essays that offer both a scientific context and insight into this trailblazing media artist's oeuvre and her current focus on biotechnology.

Download or read book Timelike Infinity written by Stephen Baxter and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-01-24 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Timelike Infinity: the strange region at the end of time where the Xeelee, owners of the universe, are waiting... The second novel in Stephen Baxter's Xeelee sequence. First there were good times: humankind reached glorious heights, even immortality. Then there were bad times: Earth was occupied by the faceless, brutal Qax. Immortality drugs were confiscated, the human spirit crushed. Earth became a vast factory for alient foodstuffs. Into this new dark age appears the end of a tunnel through time. Made from exotic matter, it is humanity's greatest engineering project in the pre-Qax era, where the other end of the tunnel remains anchored near Jupiter. When a small group of humans in a makeshift craft outwit the Qax to escape to the past through the tunnel, it is not to warn the people of Earth against the Qax, who are sure to follow them. For these men and women from the future are themselves dangerous fanatics in pursuit of their own bizarre quantum grail. Michael Poole, architect of the tunnel, must boldly confront the consequences of his genius.

Download or read book Archive Everything written by Gabriella Giannachi and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2023-09-19 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the archive evolved to include new technologies, practices, and media, and how it became the apparatus through which we map the everyday. In Archive Everything, Gabriella Giannachi traces the evolution of the archive into the apparatus through which we map the everyday. The archive, traditionally a body of documents or a site for the preservation of documents, changed over the centuries to encompass, often concurrently, a broad but interrelated number of practices not traditionally considered as archival. Archives now consist of not only documents and sites but also artworks, installations, museums, social media platforms, and mediated and mixed reality environments. Giannachi tracks the evolution of these diverse archival practices across the centuries. Archives today offer a multiplicity of viewing platforms to replay the past, capture the present, and map our presence. Giannachi uses archaeological practices to explore all the layers of the archive, analyzing Lynn Hershman Leeson's !Women Art Revolution project, a digital archive of feminist artists. She considers the archive as a memory laboratory, with case studies that include visitors' encounters with archival materials in the Jewish Museum in Berlin. She discusses the importance of participatory archiving, examining the “multimedia roadshow” Digital Diaspora Family Reunion as an example. She explores the use of the archive in works that express the relationship between ourselves and our environment, citing Andy Warhol and Ant Farm, among others. And she looks at the transmission of the archive through the body in performance, bioart, and database artworks, closing with a detailed analysis of Lynn Hershman Leeson's Infinity Engine.

Download or read book Fifty Years of Dungeons Dragons written by Premeet Sidhu and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2024-11-19 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the fiftieth anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, a collection of essays that explores and celebrates the game’s legacy and its tremendous impact on gaming and popular culture. In 2024, the enormously influential tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons—also known as D&D—celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. To mark the occasion, editors Premeet Sidhu, Marcus Carter, and José Zagal have assembled an edited collection that celebrates and reflects on important parts of the game’s past, present, and future. Each chapter in Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons explores why the nondigital game is more popular than ever—with sales increasing 33 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite worldwide lockdowns—and offers readers the opportunity to critically reflect on their own experiences, perceptions, and play of D&D. Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons draws on fascinating research and insight from expert scholars in the field, including: Gary Alan Fine, whose 1983 book Shared Fantasy remains a canonical text in game studies; Jon Peterson, celebrated D&D historian; Daniel Justice, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture; and numerous leading and emerging scholars from the growing discipline of game studies, including Amanda Cote, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, and Aaron Trammell. The chapters cover a diverse range of topics—from D&D’s adoption in local contexts and classrooms and by queer communities to speculative interpretations of what D&D might look like in one hundred years—that aim to deepen readers’ understanding of the game.

Download or read book Torment written by Ray Vallese and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An eternal war The endless Blood War rages, a never-ending battle between the fiends of the planes. Amid this horrific conflict, a single hero with no memory of his past seeks to discover his true identity. Of course, this being the planes, his companions on his quest are ... unusual. But if you can't trust a floating skull, an eccentric investor, and a succubus, who can you trust? Practically no one. Based on the best-selling computer game from Interplay.

Download or read book Extraordinary Engines written by Nick Gevers and published by Solaris. This book was released on 2008-09-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology assembles original stories by some of the genre's foremost writers. Edited by Nick Gevers, this collection includes brand new stories by Stephen Baxter, Eric Brown, Paul Di Filippo, Hal Duncan, Jeffrey Ford, Jay Lake, Ian R. MacLeod, Michael Moorcock, Robert Reed, Lucius Shepard, Brian Stableford, Jeff VanderMeer and more.

Download or read book Performance and the Medical Body written by Alex Mermikides and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-02-25 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited collection focuses on performance practice and analysis that engages with medical and biomedical sciences. After locating the 'biologization' of theatre at the turn of the twentieth century, it examines a range of contemporary practices that respond to understandings of the human body as revealed by biomedical science. In bringing together a variety of analytical perspectives, the book draws on scholars, scientists, artists and practices that are at the forefront of current creative, scientific and academic research. Its exploration of the dynamics and exchange between performance and medicine will stimulate a widening of the debate around key issues such as subjectivity, patient narratives, identity, embodiment, agency, medical ethics, health and illness. In focusing on an interdisciplinary understanding of performance, the book examines the potential of performance and theatre to intervene in, shape, inform and extend vital debates around biomedical knowledge and practice in the contemporary moment.

Download or read book Playing to Win written by Robert Alan Brookey and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-12 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this era of big media franchises, sports branding has crossed platforms, so that the sport, its television broadcast, and its replication in an electronic game are packaged and promoted as part of the same fan experience. Editors Robert Alan Brookey and Thomas P. Oates trace this development back to the unexpected success of Atari's Pong in the 1970s, which provoked a flood of sport simulation games that have had an impact on every sector of the electronic game market. From golf to football, basketball to step aerobics, electronic sports games are as familiar in the American household as the televised sporting events they simulate. This book explores the points of convergence at which gaming and sports culture merge.

Download or read book Honoring the Code written by Matt Barton and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you want to be successful in any area of game development-game design, programming, graphics, sound, or publishing-you should know how standouts in the industry approach their work and address problems. In Honoring the Code: Conversations with Great Game Designers, 16 groundbreaking game developers share their stories and offer advice for anyone