The title says it all! I have been informed by PacktPub that almost all their ebooks are going for $5 or less until January 6th. The main link for the campaign is HERE.

     This is where I got the jMonkeyEngine 3.0 CookBook from. PacktPub has a huge game development library, so if there are any books you want to pickup, now is the time!

     PacktPub has also told me that they are willing to sponsor up to 3 free ebooks ! Therefore, I'll be holding a giveway for the ebooks (consider it a late Christmas gift from us)! Send us an email at indiebynight at elrel.com with

• subject: "Giveaway"
• body: your name (please don't be greedy and pull any silly tricks).

     I'll draw three names out of a hat (meaning a random draw, with no repeats) and announce the three lucky winners, as well as email them. The winners can then email me back telling me which book they want. I will then email them the free code to use on PacktPub to get the ebook. There has been

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     College has been quite hectic, but in the midst of it all, I got an email from Packt Publishing, asking if I could review the recently published jMonkeyEngine 3.0 Cookbook. Let me tell you, nothing has ever made me happier while trudging through the midterm storm than to get a new book about game development. Well, that and the fact that I was contacted to review a book on game development involving jMonkeyEngine got me going. But enough of that. Here are my thoughts:

     Disclaimer: I have not finished reading the book yet, but as I dig deeper, I will update this post to fully reflect my impressions about the book.

First, the "at a glance", or tl;dr, version.

Pros:

• A ton of recipes.

• All the code for all the recipes to use in the jMonkeyEngine.

• Full application in real games, across a wide spectrum of games (RTS, RPG, FPS, platformer, etc).

Cons:

• Few pictures. Could use a few more to help explain concepts and ideas more concretely.

• Requires a solid grasp of several math-related concepts (trigonometry, vectors, etc.).

Now, in more depth.

The jMonkeyEngine 3.0 Cookbook

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     This is the first of, I think, three "Games in Review" posts I'll be doing to quickly assess the games I played at IndieCade. Now, I'll be looking at these as a game developer as well as gamer, all the while trying to keep each review to a mere paragraph. So let's jump right to it!

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Sportsball

     Ahh, the nostalgia. When I was a kid, my brothers and I used to play a game called Joust for hours. As soon as I stepped up to fill in as the fourth player for this game, those memories of Joust flooded my head. This is a great party game, with lots of action. Putting the balls in the net is no easy feat, but the fun of the game comes from having to bop your opponents on the head to get those balls. Soon, there are four balls from each team whizzing around, and you don't know if you should be scoring them or watching your precious little head. Even though I had the experience of Joust backing me, I still lost, which leads me to the conclusion that Sportsball is a

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     Here is the promised post-a detailed look at how my time at IndieCade went. I'll discuss what I did in great detail as well as outline my objectives and see if I managed to achieve them. Obligatory warning, it's 1700+ words, so make sure to read this while your code compiles or some similar long-winded process.

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Objectives

     I had three things I wanted to do while at IndieCade:

1. Meet as many game developers as possible.
2. Play as many games as possible.
3. Have as much fun as possible.

     These may seem like somewhat trivial objectives, but to someone who has just started down the indie road, these objectives are all very important. They would essentially guide me during IndieCade, and if I couldn't accomplish them, then it begs the question, would I be happy being an indie game developer now? After all, to make it in the indie world, you have to immerse yourself in it.

Day 1

     I got off the bus at 8:55 am and made my way to the production tent where all the volunteers checked in.

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    As most of you know, IndieCade 2014 has come to an end. This past weekend was a blast, and I wish I could have spent more time volunteering. I met tons of game developers and played even more games, all the while getting free "swag," as it's called. All in all, I would say that I accomplished what I set out to achieve by volunteering at IndieCade, and I think a lot of the developers who came there did as well.

    Now, I promised that I would write up how my days at IndieCade went, and I will! You'll just have to give me till the weekend to write down my thoughts and formulate them. I'll also be doing a series of short posts after that talking about some of the games I played. This is not going to turn this blog into a play-and-review blog. I just think that as a fellow developer playing indie games, it might help give better insight into the lives of other indie developers, and how tough, yet all the while rewarding, it can be to bring a game this far.

Of course, I can't just

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     I'm very excited to inform you about two very special events.

     First, you'll notice that I'm my own author! The Ghost blogging platform came out with an update for multiple author support, so now I can put that to good use!

     Second, as the title suggests, I am going to IndieCade 2014! As a UCLA student and a game developer, I could not miss out on the opportunity to volunteer at IndieCade, which is taking place in Culver City, California (about an hour by bus from UCLA). It should be quite the learning experience, and I hope to see a bunch of my fellow developers out there. If any of you still want tickets, here is a discount code:

     I'll post reviews of how the festival went after IndieCade, but you can definitely follow any action during the festival at our twitter, @Elrel_Studios (same as at the bottom of our blog).

     I'll be working the Game Tables in the morning and then the FireStation in the evening on Saturday, and the FireStation again Sunday

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