Think sinister alien skin, rotting wood, dripping blood. Imagine twisted metal, dungeon corridors, charred spaceship panels, back alley walls, bullet holes, and blast marks. Wallow in that kind of mire, and you’ll appreciate The Dark Side of Game Texturing. This book is permeated with dozens of graphics examples dedicated to what I’ll call “negative artwork.” If you’re like me, you’re a big fan of creepy 3D First-Person-Shooter (FPS) games like Quake, Unreal, Half-Life, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Max Payne, and Undying. Take a stroll through these games, and you’ll see this book smeared over many of the 3D objects, walls, and floors of their levels. It’s my intention to analyze the textures in these games, as well as the graphics in some of my favorite movies, and demonstrate how to create many of them, equipped only with a decent PC, Photoshop, and a digital camera. There are no pretty textures in this book. I think the coolest textures in the world are those found in junkyards, haunted houses, and medieval castles, and I’ll bet most serious artists will agree. Movies are great reference points, too. Check out any of the Alien series, Blade Runner, Resident Evil, The Matrix, Saving Private Ryan, or Reign of Fire, and you can easily spot this book (scratched and gouged, edges torn and charred) resting comfortably amidst a heap of rubble. However, I think one of the most important aspects of this book is the fact that if you can create the textures within, you can create any texture for any game.