Meeting Graham is like walking into a sports stadium for the final game of the season. You are not quite sure how it will end, but you know it’s going to be exciting. This was the impression I had when I first met Graham. Graham’s passion for his work is evident in everything he says and does. At the same time, he remains open to new ideas and seems to be constantly looking for new ways to improve his personal skills. He is one of the most technically knowledgeable people I know, and at the same time he is able to amicably communicate ideas and concepts.

My project team was looking for some professional help on a project we were working on and Graham had been referred to us as someone who might be able to help. Our project was facing some challenges, as we had a client who was very demanding and it looked like there might not be enough resources to complete the project on time. We were hoping that someone could help us out with some of the internal tools we had developed to support the project team and help us become more efficient.

Graham employed many of the techniques discussed in this book to expedite our project, which helped us achieve many of our project goals without disrupting the team dynamics and workflow we had previously established. I do not come from a game development background, but game engine tools are essentially business software, with differing stakeholders and business rules. Business software often requires additional tools and utilities to improve workflow or produce content, and this book discusses concepts and techniques that are applicable to any .NET software project. I know firsthand the development benefits from the .NET platform and clearly see the value in using this platform to build robust and scalable game engine tools.

I expect that readers of this book will be in a similar position to mine when I met Graham. You are probably a little excited at the prospect of learning new techniques and methodologies and, at the same time, do not want to reinvent the way you have worked in the past. Graham’s ideas and concepts will enable you and, I suspect, your team to become more efficient in your projects and will do so in a way that is unobtrusive to your current working methodologies and techniques. I expect you will find reading this book to be a rewarding experience, and I hope you will be able to share in Graham’s passion for his profession.

John Eldridge

M.B.A., .Net MCSD, MCDBA, MCSE & CMC

John is a senior Solution Architect who consults on a variety of enterprise projects in North America and Asia.