Book excerpt: THE BLACK ART OF MULTIPLATFORM GAME PROGRAMMING covers all the skills necessary to create amazing games. It will take you all the way from pixel plotting to full-blown game development. Written with beginners in mind, this book assumes no prior knowledge of game programming--anyone can learn how to program exciting video games using this book. Inside you'll find an introduction to game development on multiple platforms using SDL, extensive coverage of coding techniques used by programming gurus, a complete guide to game engine design and implementation, a modern approach to software architecture, and advanced programming procedures and optimizations. Downloadable files include all the source code used in this book, video tutorials for each chapter, standard tools used for game development, and the SDL standard development library.