Most of the mathematics you have looked at up to now has been quite general. It has related to real-world physics and geometry and how to simulate it on the computer. But for the final part of the book, you will look at some mathematical ideas specific to computing, and games in particular. As before, I’m going to cover these concepts briefly, since each is a huge topic in itself. Still, this introduction should help you to know where to look when you encounter these issues in your work.

You’ll begin by looking at some techniques for optimization and simplification of physics calculations, particularly collisions. Then you’ll spend two chapters on game level design, looking at tile-based games and mazes. This leads into a discussion of pathfinding algorithms, which in turn takes you to the topic of artificial intelligence. Finally, you’ll look at some techniques for using the computer as a problem-solving tool, for searching through data, and creating puzzles.