Academy of Art University GAP Homepage

Recommended Books
Resources
Tools

This is a repository of knowledge for the GAP program at AAU. One day, the hope is to replace this with a Wiki. Everything is in one giant page with hand-written HTML because I am not web developer. ;) Enjoy.

Here's a list of books we recommend, sorted by class. If the class is not listed, if means we don't have any specific recommendations.

GAP 125 / GAP 120

• Beginning C++ Through Game Programming - Good for learning, not great as a reference
• C++ Primer - Good for reference, not great for learning

GAP 225

• Effective C++
• More Effective C++
• Effective STL
• Effective Modern C++
• Scott's Suggested Reading From the Scott Meyers Books

GAP 255

• Refactoring
• Note: There's a popular book called Clean Code which I (Rez) personally recommend against buying. It teaches actively bad practices in my opinion.

GAP 235

• Introduction to Algorithms, 3rd Edition (required)

GAP 275

• Game Programming Patterns

GAP 295

• Performance Analysis and Tuning on Modern CPUs

GAP 301

• Game Engine Architecture, 3rd Edition
  • Guide for how to use Game Engine Architecture
• Game Coding Complete, 4th Edition (if you can find it)

GAP 321

• AI for Games
• Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
  • Note: This is a very challenging book and not specifically about game AI, but it forms the basis of a lot of advanced techniques.

GAP 391

• Procedural Generation in Game Design

Here are some additional online resources that aren't books.

• Programming Language References:
  • CPP Reference - The most accurate and up-to-date C++ reference site.
  • C# Reference
  • A Great Intro to x86 Assembly
  • x86 Assembly Lanauge Reference
  • Lua 5.4 Reference Manual
  • Lua 5.3 Reference Manual
• Online Tools:
  • Compiler Explorer - An online compiler for testing out code snippets and disassembly.
  • C++ Insights - A tool to unravel syntax sugar and see how things like Lambdas actually work.
• General Programming:
  • The Programmer's Process
  • Design Patterns Reference
  • Another Design Patterns Reference
  • Stack Overflow Article About Callback Functions in C++
  • Cheat Sheet for Asymptotic Complexity
  • Red Blob Games - An excellent resource for various techniques (lots of PCG)
  • Game Mechanic Explorer - A series of demonstrations of some simple game mechanics
  • An article on delta time and how time is used in games
• AAU Resources:
  • GAP Coding Standards
  • Study Guide for Every GAP Class
  • Plagiarism Guidelines
  • Student Guidelines for the Games Department
  • Joining the AAU Discord Server

These are tools of the trade. Some are required, others are optional. Required tools will list a version; you must be on that version. If there is an x in the number, it means any value is fine there. For example, version 1.2.x means you can have 1.2.1, 1.2.2, etc.

Last Updated for Fall 2022.

Required:

• Visual Studio 2022 Community, version 17.3.x
• Visual Studio Code, version 1.70.x
• Unity 2021.3.x (LTS)
• Unreal Engine 4.26.x (note that we are not yet using UE5)
• Helix Vixual Client (P4V) version 2022.2 - This is the Perforce client

Optional:

• Windows Terminal
• HxD - A Hex Editor
• Lightshot - A really handy screenshot tool