These days, the games industry is a multi-billion-dollar business. In this competitive marketplace, developers seek to gain an advantage over the competition by using ready-made, third-party tools and engines that enable them to quickly design high-powered games. One such tool is the Unreal Development Kit, or UDK, created by Epic Games. With the freely downloadable UDK, game developers can turn their existing graphics, sounds, ideas, concepts, and plans into fully working and cohesive games. UDK (TM) GAME DEVELOPMENT is written with newcomers to the UDK in mind. It is arranged so that each of the core foundational UDK components is considered in depth and one by one, in the best order in which to tackle them. Reading this book, you'll explore such key topics as meshes, materials, textures, sounds, and lights. As you do, you'll discover how to build a number of levels, or mini-games, that feature music, animated characters, weapons, destructible scenery, lighting effects, particle systems, and more. After reading this book from cover to cover, you'll have a firm grasp of UDK essentials. A companion Web site contains all the UDK levels constructed in this book, source code for the UnrealScript language, and material and mesh files.