From: fastgraph@aol.com (Fastgraph)
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
Subject: Action Arcade Adventure Set
Date: 25 Aug 1994 16:35:04 -0400

As requested, here is information about a new book. 

Title:     Action Arcade Adventure Set
 Author:    Diana Gruber
 Editor:    Keith Weiskamp
 Publisher: The Coriolis Group, Inc.
 ISBN:      1-883577-06-04
 Audience:  All C programmers
 Misc:      544 pages, soft cover, $39.95
 
Synopsis:  Action/arcade games, also called platform games or
side-scrollers, are characterized by tile-based scrolling backgrounds
inhabited by animated bitmapped figures called sprites. Such games are
built using a "game engine", consisting of the tools used to process
artwork and build levels, and a template of the game itself.

Processing artwork is done using a visual game editor, which includes
a level editor, tile editor, tile ripper, sprite editor and file
manager. A palette manager may be used to reduce/match/merge color
palettes in multiple PCX files. The tools generate a set of data files
which may be easily imported into a game. 

The example game, Tommy's Adventures, is examined in detail. Fast
four-way scrolling is achieved by resizing a Mode X video mode and
blitting tiles in sequence with emphasis on optimizing for frame
rate. Sprite animation is designed around data structures and action
functions, which are executed in linked lists. Frames are generated
by organizing objects and redrawing them in off-screen video memory
using both video-to-video and RAM-to-video blits. Page flips are
simulated by moving the screen origin. Other topics include collision
detection, timing considerations, character fonts, special effects,
debugging, finishing, and marketing games.

The programming techniques are discussed at the high level. The
game engine is designed to use Fastgraph as the underlying graphics
library, therefore a knowledge of assembly language programming, while
helpful, is not required.
 
 Table of Contents:
 
 Introduction
 Chapter 1.  The Adventure Starts Here!
 Chapter 2.  Let the Games Begin
 Chapter 3.  Using the Game Editor
 Chapter 4.  The Art of Creating Levels
 Chapter 5.  The Magic of Side Scrolling
 Chapter 6.  Inside the Level Editor
 Chapter 7.  Inside the Sprite Editor
 Chapter 8.  Color Considerations
 Chapter 9.  Wrapping Up the Game Editor
 Chapter 10. Birth of a Computer Game
 Chapter 11. Supporting Game Levels and Scrolling
 Chapter 12. On the Road to Sprite Animation
 Chapter 13. Unlocking the Mysteries of Sprite Animation
 Chapter 14. It's Show Time
 Chapter 15. Creating Special Effects
 Chapter 16. Debugging Games
 Chapter 17. Putting It All Together
 Chapter 18. Tips for Marketing Games
 Appendix A. The Games on the Companion Disk
 Appendix B. Resources for the Game Developer
 Glossary
 
The Companion disk for the Action Arcade Adventure Set contains all
the source code, artwork, and tools discussed in the text, as well as
two other example games created with game editor, and the shareware
version of the Fastgraph programmer's graphics library.

Contents of the companion disk:
 
 EXC.ARJ      Example programs from the Fastgraph User's Guide
 FADE.ARJ     Palette fade program from Eric Lund
 FGE.ARJ      Fastgraph Game Editor program and data files
 FGESRCE.ARJ  Source code for Fastgraph Game Editor
 FGLIGHT.ARJ  Fastgraph/Light libraries, driver and utilities
 FILELIST.TXT List of files
 HEDGE.ARJ    Game: Hedge Row with source code
 INSTALL.EXE  Installation program--run this first!
 LEVEL.ARJ    Level Editor and source code from Chapter 6
 MAKEFONT.ARJ Utility to make a character font header file
 MANUALS.ARJ  Fastgraph User's Guide and Fastgraph Reference Manual
 ORDER.FRM    Order form for Fastgraph and special offers
 PALETTE.ARJ  Palette matching and reduction utility
 PCX.ARJ      Display any PCX file
 QF.ARJ       QuickFire demo


 READ.ME      Release notes
 RIPPER.ARJ   Tile Ripper program with source from Chapter 4
 TOMMY.ARJ    Game: Tommy's Adventures
 TOMSRCE.ARJ  Source code for Tommy's Adventures
 UNARJ.EXE    Unarchiving program
 XTRA_ART.ARJ Additional artwork to play with

You may order the book, or a registered version of Fastgraph, from
the Coriolis Group at (602) 483-0192.