The Playmaker Project


Book Description

When winning at all costs becomes too expensive. Eddie Alonso, a former pro soccer star, whose career was ended by a violent and intentional assault, is now a reluctant high school science teacher and varsity coach in St. Cloud, MN. When two of his favorite student players are recruited by an upstart Finnish soccer club owned by an eccentric tech billionaire with a secretive cognitive training program run by Dr. Anna Lehtinen, Eddie is suspicious of the motives but resists the urge to get involved. But when Benny Gilbert calls Eddie from Finland to let him know of some strange personality changes of Peter Borg, his best friend, Eddie’s fears are confirmed. Eddie finally jumps into action, but not before an enigmatic, Russian investor has targeted Peter as a star recruit for his own St. Petersburg soccer club. But there are other plans beyond sports for the neuroscience experiment now embedded into Peter’s head. Eddie and Anna must unite to save Peter before he is brainwashed into cooperating with a revengeful agenda. The action races from Minnesota to Finland to Russia and back home. In the end, Eddie needs to know if his dream was lost for a reason, as he and Anna try to make sure this new technology is preserved for compassion, not corruption.




Unity 3D and PlayMaker Essentials


Book Description

In introducing new students to video game development, there are two crucial components to consider: design and implementation. Unity 3D and PlayMaker Essentials: Game Development from Concept to Publishing provides theoretical background on topics such as characters, stories, level design, interface design, audio, game mechanics, and tools and skills needed. Each chapter focuses on a specific topic, with topics building upon each other so that by the end of the book you will have looked into all the subjects relevant to creating your own game. The book transitions from discussion to demonstrations of how to implement techniques and concepts into practice by using Unity3D and PlayMaker. Download boxes are included throughout the book where you can get the version of the game project under discussion or other content to add to the project, as well as any supplementary video tutorials that have been developed. Addressing both theoretical and practical aspects, Unity 3D and PlayMaker Essentials enables you to understand how to create a game by having you make a game. By gradually completing your own design document through the course of the book, you will become familiar with core design principles while learning the practical skills needed to bring your unique game to life.




The Playmaker's Advantage


Book Description

Discover the next frontier in sports training—improving your mental game, no matter your age or experience—and how to become the Playmaker, both in your professional and personal life. Coaches search for it. Parents dream of it. Fans love it. Athletes want it. The playmaker on any sports team possesses it: an elusive, intangible quality combining anticipation, perception, and decision-making skills. This quality raises their game above the competition and allows them to pass when no one else can, anticipate the movement of opponents, avoid costly mental mistakes, and ultimately, hold the team together. Now, for the first time, cognitive science research is revealing the secrets of the playmaker’s keen sense of awareness. Just as tests of speed, strength, and agility have provided a baseline of physiological biomarkers, coaches can now capture cognitive metrics including attention, pattern recognition, anticipation, and the ability to take quick, decisive action during the chaos of competition. The Playmaker’s Advantage is a groundbreaking book that will educate athletes of all ages about this essential creative capability in an accessible, easy to understand method.




No-Code Video Game Development Using Unity and Playmaker


Book Description

In the past, not being able to program meant not being able to make video games. Now if you can draw a flow-chart you can use powerful State Machine technology to create your dream game! No-Code Video Game Development using Unity and Playmaker will teach you how to substitute flow-charts for code. As a complete course, it uses a project-based appro




Mobile Game Development with Unity


Book Description

Do you want to build mobile games, but lack game development experience? No problem. This practical guide shows you how to create beautiful, interactive content for iOS and Android devices with the Unity game engine. Authors Jon Manning and Paris Buttfield-Addison (iOS Swift Game Development Cookbook) provide a top-to-bottom overview of Unity’s features with specific, project-oriented guidance on how to use them in real game situations. Over the course of this book, you’ll learn hands-on how to build 2D and 3D games from scratch that will hook and delight players. If you have basic programming skills, you’re ready to get started. Explore the basics of Unity, and learn how to structure games, graphics, scripting, sounds, physics, and particle systems Use 2D graphics and physics features to build a side-scrolling action game Create a 3D space combat simulator with projectile shooting and respawning objects, and learn how to manage the appearance of 3D models Dive into Unity’s advanced features, such as precomputed lighting, shading, customizing the editor, and deployment




The Playmaker Project


Book Description

When winning at all costs becomes too expensive. Eddie Alonso, a former pro soccer star, whose career was ended by a violent and intentional assault, is now a reluctant high school science teacher and varsity coach in St. Cloud, MN. When two of his favorite student players are recruited by an upstart Finnish soccer club owned by an eccentric tech billionaire with a secretive cognitive training program run by Dr. Anna Lehtinen, Eddie is suspicious of the motives but resists the urge to get involved. But when Benny Gilbert calls Eddie from Finland to let him know of some strange personality changes of Peter Borg, his best friend, Eddie's fears are confirmed. Eddie finally jumps into action, but not before an enigmatic, Russian investor has targeted Peter as a star recruit for his own St. Petersburg soccer club. But there are other plans beyond sports for the neuroscience experiment now embedded into Peter's head. Eddie and Anna must unite to save Peter before he is brainwashed into cooperating with a revengeful agenda. The action races from Minnesota to Finland to Russia and back home. In the end, Eddie needs to know if his dream was lost for a reason, as he and Anna try to make sure this new technology is preserved for compassion, not corruption.




Coding as a Playground


Book Description

Coding as a Playground is the first book to focus on how young children (ages 7 and under) can engage in computational thinking and be taught to become computer programmers, a process that can increase both their cognitive and social-emotional skills. Readers will learn how coding can engage children as producers—and not merely consumers—of technology in a playful way. You will come away from this groundbreaking work with an understanding of how coding promotes developmentally appropriate experiences such as problem solving, imagination, cognitive challenges, social interactions, motor skills development, emotional exploration, and making different choices. You will also learn how to integrate coding into different curricular areas to promote literacy, math, science, engineering, and the arts through a project-based approach.




The Theatre of Timberlake Wertenbaker


Book Description

The Theatre of Timberlake Wertenbaker offers the first comprehensive overview of Wertenbaker's playwriting career which spans more than thirty years of stage plays. It considers the contexts of their initial productions by a range of companies and institutions, including the Royal Court, the Arcola and the Women's Theatre Group. While examining all of Wertenbaker's original stage works, Sophie Bush's companion focuses most extensively on the frequently studied plays Our Country's Good and The Love of the Nightingale, but also draws attention to early unpublished works and more recent, critically neglected pieces, and the counterpoints these provide. The Companion will prove invaluable to students and scholars, combining as it does close textual analysis with detailed historical and contextual study of the processes of production and reception. The author makes comprehensive use of previously undiscussed materials from the Wertenbaker Archive, including draft texts, correspondence and theatrical ephemera, as well as original interviews with the playwright. A section of Performance and Critical Perspectives from other scholars and practitioners offer a range of alternative approaches to Wertenbaker's most frequently studied play, Our Country's Good. While providing a detailed analysis of individual plays, and their themes, theatricalities and socio-historical contexts, The Theatre of Timberlake Wertenbaker also examines the processes and shape of Wertenbaker's career as a whole, and considers what the struggles and triumphs that have accompanied her work reveal about the challenges of theatrical collaboration. In its scope and reference Sophie Bush's study extends to encompass a wealth of additional information about other individuals and institutions and succeeds in placing her work within a broad range of concerns and resonances.




5 Habits to Lead from Your Heart


Book Description

In 5 Habits to Lead from Your Heart, author and coach, Johnny Covey presents a powerful new way to change how we perceive experiences; how we make decisions and how we interpret events. Often we filter experiences through a lens that does not include our hearts. Harmful habits can form when we act out of fear or self-preservation (our head) instead of using our heart. But habits can be changed. Johnny illustrates how to understand better our human nature and unleash its potential; to lead from your heart, live courageously and create the life you want. So many times we are in a reactive mode, not thinking about what we are doing. Have we ever stopped and asked: What is holding me back? Why don’t I have relationships that I want? Why am I stuck in my head, worried about what others think of me? How can I free myself from ruts and routines? How might I choose to live courageously in my heart? How can I consciously create the life I am meant to live? Johnny helps us understand the genesis of our results—our mind—and our own system of checks and balances—our conscience. By combining what we currently know with Covey’s 5 Habits, we will have everything we need to elevate our thinking, take the next step—and succeed. "5 Habits to Lead from Your Heart is a rare wake-up call in our search for meaning.” ~Greg Link, Co-author of Smart Trust, Co-founder CoveyLink “Another winner in the Covey tradition.” ~Doug Conant, former CEO, Campbell Soup and Chairman, Avon Products “ If you want a book that is bone honest, practical, personal and profound, this is it.” ~Scott C. Hammond, author of Lessons of the Lost: Finding Hope and Resilience in Work/Life “This is an extraordinary book! Journey from doing to being, from planning to achieving, and from success to significance.” ~Dr Nido Qubein, President, High Point University; Chairman, Great Harvest Company