Written for game developers and advanced hobbyists, this guide introduces the Lua scripting language and shows how to link the Lua API into a C++ application to create LuaGlue functions that allow Lua to extend C++ functionality. An action-shooter arcade game illustrates the foundational C++ and Lua scripting approaches to saving and loading game data, building a modular GUI system, and managing a game's real-time events. The CD-ROM contains the Lua 5.0 distribution, Microsoft's DirectX 9 SDK, and a command line Lua interpreter.

1 Diving into Game Development
2 What Is a Scripting Language?
3 Lua in the Realm of Game Development
4 Introduction to Lua
5 Deeper into Lua
6 Integrating Lua into a C/C++ Program
7 Communication between Lua and C++
8 Building the Foundation
9 Designing a Lua Implementation
10 Using Lua for Game Data
11 Lua-powered GUI
12 Game Programming with Lua
13 Using Lua to Define and Control AI
14 Lua and Graphics
15 Final Things to Consider