In order to understand a 2D image properly, you must learn about the basic elements that make it up.

When we talk about sights, we are obviously talking about what you see on the screen during gameplay. In any major production, from a Web site to a game, the layout of the screens and the graphic images that are used to make them are very important. In a large development team, they are usually worked...

Overview To create games, you will need to learn, and perhaps even master, the fundamental elements that make up a game—sights, sounds, and interactivity. Although interactivity (or the ability to interact with a computer to play a game) is important, the basics of interactivity are dependent on game...

In this chapter, we looked at the basic components you will need to create a development studio. Once you have assembled your game development studio and have it up and running, whether it is an off-the-shelf special or the latest and greatest system money can buy, you will have made a huge step toward...

Now that you have some ideas about the type of hardware you’ll need to purchase, there are a few common sense ideas to keep in mind: Use a credit card: You should use a credit card or find someone to do this for you, especially when buying online. With a credit card, you have the credit card company...

A network is another item that is very important. It allows your computers to communicate with each other. While this sounds like an expensive proposition and a complex undertaking, it is a very achievable goal. A good SOHO (Small Office Home Office) network system can be had for under $100 and comes...

This item is probably becoming a necessity as the prices of CD burners and media are now very low, and many systems now come with them as a standard item. There are actually two types of drives: a CD-Recordable (CD-R) drive, which can write to a given CD only a single time, and a CD-Rewriteable (CD-RW)...

Other peripherals that you will need are standard on most computers: a modem, a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and a sound card. If your system comes with a modem, it will most likely be a 56-k modem, which is the fastest modem available on a standard dial-up connection. A CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive will probably...

are the device in the computer that allows images to appear on your monitor. A video card usually controls how big the image is on your screen, how much detail it can have, and how many colors are displayed (in the next chapter, we will discuss the specific elements of an image). Recently, there has...

Like the processor, you should get as much RAM as possible. RAM stands for random access memory and is measured in megabytes or MB. (A slang term, megs, is often used.) RAM is used by the computer as temporary storage for the applications in use. When the system is turned off or the power goes out, the...