Siddharth Shekar is a game developer with over 5 years of experience in the game development industry and 11 years of experience in C++, C#, and other programming languages. He is adept at graphics libraries and game engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine. He has also published games on the app stores of iOS, Android, Amazon, and Windows.
Siddharth is the author of the books Learning Cocos2d-x Game Development, Learning iOS 8 Game Development Using Swift, and Cocos2d Cross-Platform Game Development Cookbook and the technical reviewer for iOS Programming Cookbook, all by Packt Publishing.
Currently, he is a lecturer at the games department at Media Design School, Auckland, New Zealand. He teaches graphics programming and PlayStation 4/PS Vita native game development and mentors final year production students.
To know more about Media Design School on their website. You can also find Siddharth on Twitter at @sidshekar.
I would like to thank my parents for supporting me in everything that I choose to do. I would also like to thank Media Design School for encouraging me to continue working on this book. Finally, I would like to thank Packt for putting this book together and offering me the opportunity to write this book.
Wajahat Karim is aseasoned mobile app and game developer with extensive experience in diversified technologies, as well as more than 7 years of software development experience.
Wajahat received his information and communication systems engineering degree from the NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (SEECS), Islamabad, Pakistan. He has been working on games since he was 14 years old and is skilled in many platforms, including Android SDK, AndEngine, Adobe Flash, Adobe AIR, Game Maker, and Unity3D.
He is skilled, not only in programming and coding, but also in computer graphic designing tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Flash, and Autodesk Maya. Recently, he also worked with the government of Oman in Muscat, to create a real-time election monitoring app for Android and iOS for their Shura Elections, 2015. He has run multiple startups from time to time and has also worked in a virtual reality and augmented reality startup.
Currently, besides being a full-time development manager at a multinational company, he is working with a startup that allows Android developers to boost their app growth and reward their users through in-app perks.
Wajahat has deep passion in game development, entrepreneurship, and writing. He has previously coauthored the book Learning Android Intents by Packt Publishing.
You can reach Wajahat on his personal website.
First of all, I would like to thank to ALLAH (the Almighty) for everything and this life. I would like to thank a very good friend of mine, Fazal Hayat aka Faizi, who helped me initiate this book and made me believe that I could complete this book. I would also like to thank my lovely sisters, Navera Karim and Sumera Aijaz, who have always been proud of me and have always encouraged and motivated me to pursue my dreams and focus on the book. Not to forget, I would like to thank my father, Abdul Karim Memon, and my aunt who is more than a mother to me for their unlimited prayers, unconditional love, and untiring efforts to make me what I am today. I would also like to thank my friends, Ayaz Ahmed, Sheeraz Ahmed, Fayaz Ahmed, Azizullah Memon, Mubashir Hassan, Ali Hussain, Arslan Abro, and the new one on this list, Hasan Ali, who are more than brothers to me and add color to my life, making it funny and enjoyable.
A deep, heartfelt thanks goes to my wife, Gul Sanober, for her tireless and unconditional support and cooperation, which helped me focus on this book, and for her ongoing support that allows me to do what I truly enjoy in life. I have taken away a lot of her deserved hours to author this book, and I am grateful and proud to have her in my life as my partner.
Last but not least, I would like to say a big thank you to Packt Publishing for their support, their understanding throughout the book, and with their complete cooperation, their help in setting this whole project in motion, and believing in me for this book.