as a college student i know the struggle of paying for tuition, rent, food and and other living costs while making zero income. textbooks add to the struggle with absurd prices by asshole publishers. here’s how you can get quite a lot of your textbooks for free. you may not find all of them but if you can get a few it’ll still save you hundreds in the long run. good luck and study hard!
First thing to try is the easiest: Simply go to google and type this in: filetype:pdf “name of text book"
You can put the title of the book in quotes for more narrowed results and maybe put in the last name of the author or edition to help you find it. For example: filetype:pdf chemistry silberberg
this helped me find my chem book titled “Principles of Chemistry” by an author with the last name Silberberg.
General public ebook/textbook resources
http://gen.lib.rus.ec[2] (Use a proxy if you are having issues connecting)
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=380[10]
http://www.alleng.ru/[11] russian site
http://www.eknigu.com/[12] russian site
http://ishare.iask.sina.com.cn/[13]
http://www.freebookspot.es/Default.aspx[15]
http://www.freeetextbooks.com/[16] need to signup
http://www.downeu.me/ebook/[18]
http://forums.mvgroup.org[19] (need to register)
http://theaudiobookbay.com/[20] (audiobooks)
Here’s a custom search engine for ebooks: http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=000661023013169144559:a1-kkiboeco[21]
Sites it indexes:
http://www.freebookspot.es/*[30]
http://www.ebooklink.net/*[35]
http://www.free-ebook-download.net/*[38]
http://www.ebook3000.com/*[40]
For this step, irst off learn how to torrent. DO NOT DO THIS ON CAMPUS YOU CAN VERY EASILY GET CAUGHT!!! You can learn how to torrent by googling around but basically you use one of these websites that have the textbook file torrent then you use software to download it for you. Pretty simple. Start by downloading Transmission for mac or uTorrent for PC.
Academic Torrents (new site)
http://academictorrents.com[43]
Public Trackers (for torrents)
http://thepiratebay.se/browse/601[44]
http://bitsnoop.com/browse/other-ebooks/[46]
There are a lot more public torrent trackers, see here for more.[48]
These last few are sort of specialized eBook private trackers, google them for some info.
You can also try googling phrases like
'textbook/book title .torrent'or'textbook/book title .pdf'or'textbook/book title ebook'or anything along those lines if you are getting desperate, but beware of malware, viruses, etc.
Private ebook trackers (Feel free to make a request for any of these in the Consolidated Invite Thread (see the no movement list in the OP)[53]
http://bitme.org[55]
http://myanonamouse.net[56] (see reddit offers[57] for invite)
http://www.ebookvortex.com[60]
http://abtorrents.com[63] (audiobooks)
lastly i’d like to give 100% credit to my sources. i did not compile this list and just wanted to share the good stuff with my friends here.
Tag: free
For The Masses:
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=380
http://ishare.iask.sina.com.cn/
http://www.freebookspot.es/Default.aspx
no one coulda reblogged this a month ago when i spent 500
Look at KB coming through
Every time you see this, reblog it. There is always someone in college that will see this.
lets make a videogame how hard can it be
nevermind you have to know shit about computers
hey!! sorry to hijack this post, but there are a bunch of ways you can make videogames without knowing shit about computers!!
for starters, there’s Twine, which is fucking great for making all kinds of interactive experiences (it’s what Crystal Warrior Ke$ha was made in so you KNOW it’s good) at all skill levels (i picked it up and made a game in two minutes a few nights ago)
if you want a bit more involved experience there’s Inform 7 which is a simple language for text-based adventure games that reads like slightly-weird English and also relatively easy to learn
you can do some pretty fucking cool stuff with Unity (my personal engine of choice) but you may need to dig a bit farther to get at the good stuff. there’s lots of really good presets though (i made an entire game just mixing and matching pre-existing templates and adding in my own art, won an award at a game jam for that one) and if you want help the community’s pretty dang friendly from what i’ve seen!
this is just a taste of what’s out there from what i’ve seen, but there’s so many cool resources out there. if anyone wants help getting started, i’m around to give you a leg up on making something in the coolest, most unexplored art medium around!
I’m addin’ to this post because lowering the barrier to entry for making games is super important to me!!!! If y’all have any questions about making games, you’re welcome to come and ask! I made this list a while back with some friends, so it has some of the programs John already mentioned.
2D Editors:
GameMaker : Potential for pure drag-and-drop “programming”. It is recommended to read-up on the program’s functions to make good use of it. Good for prototyping. Uses its own language called Game Maker Language (GML) that is similar to a C language (e.g. C++ or C#). For both Mac and PC; free version available.
Construct2 : Drag and drop level editor that uses an “If-Then” event sheet structure for programming. Good for prototyping and for beginners. For PC; free version available.
GameSalad : Drag and drop with no code requirement. Good for programming. For both Mac and PC; free version available.
Solpeo : HTML5 based game engine for 2D and isometric game development. Some programming knowledge needed. Platforms supported: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer 9+. Free version available.
Stencyl : Drag and Drop “programming,” templates you can edit the variables/values for.
Scratch : Lego-block-style coding platform by MIT; totally free and a great intro to thinking in code. Very kid-friendly and comes with a community site. Browser version available.
3D Editors:
Unity : 3D editor that creates 3D games. Can build games for browser, as an app, or for mobile devices (iOS and Android). For both Mac and PC; free version available.
UDK (Unreal Development Kit) : Full-fledged, highly advanced editor. Features a complete set of tools that go from level design to visual scripting to cut-scene creation. Uses it’s own programming language called Unreal Script that can be arranged with Kismet, a visual code editor. For Mac and PC; free.
2D Art/Animation Software:
GIMP : Free photo editing and digital painting software.
Easy Paint Tool SAI : Free digital painting software with a UI similar to Photoshop.
Mischief : Free digital painting software with an endless canvas.
3D Art/Animation Software:
Sculptris : From the company that created Zbrush, this free software is ideal for beginning 3D sculptors.
Maya : Animation, VFX, lighting, and rendering software.
Magical Voxel : Voxel Art (3D Pixel Art). Very intuitive and quick to pick up.
SketchUp : Architectural modeling software, great for creating 3D environments and buildings. Free version available.
Text-Based Games:
Twine : Create interactive text stories using Twine’s visual map system that links your game together. Easy to learn and use. End result is browser-based. For Mac and PC; free.
Quest : Interactive text stories that you can build in-browser.
Ren’Py : Create visual novels using a modified version of Python that reads like a combination of stage directions and a CYOA novel. For PC, Mac, and Linux; free.
Audio Resources/Editors:
Indie Game Music : This site offers free indie music with no need to worry about royalties or licenses.
Audacity : A free, open-source, cross-platform sound editor that allows you to record and arrange sound.
Super Flash Bros. : This site allows you to record theremin-like (8bit) sounds and export them as .wav files for your games.
FL Studio : Free music composition software.
Miscellaneous Tools:
Donjon RPG Tools : Randomly generates maps, items, XP, etc.
W3Schools : Web-code tutorial database: HTML, CSS, Javascript+.
Debut Video Capture : Video screen capture to record Let’s Play videos, showcase your game on Youtube, etc.
Korsakow : Free tool for creating interactive and database films.
Processing : Flexible programming language used for visual and interactive artworks and simulations.
From Student to Designer, Part 2 : Tips for making a well-rounded, solid portfolio
Places to Publish/Share:
Itch.io : Platform for self-publishing games
Philome.la : Place to share Twine Games
@slimetony how does it feel to have your shitpost be turned into a helpful resource
It feels like a betrayal of every tenant of humor I subscribe to. Helping people is an alien concept to me. It makes me upset.
HOLY FREE ART PROGRAMS BATMAN
I’ve had this list sitting around for a while (in case I ever want to try something new) and I thought I’d share it, because why the hell not, everybody loves free stuff. I’ve only used a couple, so for all I know these could be complete shit. BUT YOU NEVER KNOW, RIGHT?
*= available for both windows and mac os
GIMP * – Does a lot of the same stuff as Photoshop.
FireAlpaca * – Similar to Paint Tool Sai, so it’s a good alternative for Mac users.
Autodesk Sketchbook Copic Edition * – Simulates the look of copic markers.
MyPaint * – Basic stuff, nothing fancy.
Pinta * – Drawing program modeled after paint.NET.
Inkscape * – Vector/drawing program meant to be similar to Illustrator.
ArtRage * – Digital painting program; you can get the trimmed down version for free or buy the full version with more features.
Sumo Paint * – In-browser drawing app.
DAZ Studio * – Some sort of 3D model poser thing.
Pencil * – Software for animating.
SketchUp * – Tool for making 3D models. Looks handy for stuff like architectural drawings.
Blender * – Pretty popular 3D software.
escape motions * – Some browser apps, fun to fiddle with when you’re bored (the fluid fire simulation is pretty cool imo).
Twistedbrush (Pixarra) – Seems to be meant for replicating the look of traditional media.
Pixia/Phierha – A popular program in Japan, according to the website.
Krita – This was originally made for Linux and it looks like the developers haven’t ironed out all of the kinks in the Windows installer.
Artweaver – Another trimmed down free thing if you don’t want to buy the full program.
paint.NET – Pretty basic kit, probably good for simple stuff.
Project Dogwaffle – I’m not sure what this one is all about because I couldn’t stop laughing at the terrible website.
Speedy Painter – Lightweight digital painting program.
mtPaint – Originally made for pixel art; simple enough to run on older computers.
Chasys Draw IES – Supposed to be some sort of drawing+image editor thing.
PaintRibbon – Seems to be another plain old basic image editor.
DrawPlus – Looks like it’s made for graphic design and vector stuff.
SmoothDraw – I’m guessing this is a basic thing for people who don’t want to bother with complicated stuff.
refessence 