Using DirectX 8.0, this book and CD-ROM covers every aspect of a game project cycle including developing music, sound effects, 2D and 3D graphics, and the programming of a first person shooter game. Written for beginner to intermediate level programmers and/or designers, this invaluable resource provides models, complete source code, and all the tools needed to create a complete game. The program used throughout is DirectX 8.0, an engine that can be used by Visual Basic developers and still maintain excellent frame rates. The book explores the creation of graphics and provides the skills and software needed to complete a project, so it is a ?must-have? for anyone with the desire to design 2D or 3D games with DirectX 8.0.

Most game programming books seem to focus on a specific topic like DirectX or OpenGL. This book includes everything necessary to build a complete game, including source code, tutorials, and third party software for creating models, sound effects, character animation and more. Using Visual Basic as the preferred language, the projects may be converted and built using C++, C#, VB.net or others.

Key Features
* Create game components using Microsoft DirectX 8.0 Software Development Kit, Milkshape 3D, Paint Shop Pro, Cool Edit 2000, TrueVision 3D, and ACID
* Create a Half-Life MDL viewer for testing new models
* CD-ROM is loaded with source code, tutorials, and third-party software

On the CD! The CD-ROM includes all of the necessary tools (with the exception of Visual Basic) to write the programs that are developed in each chapter. It also includes full color images of all of the figures in the book and the source code and executable files for the sample projects.

APPLICATIONS AND DEMOS:
* Microsoft DirectX 8.0 Software Development Kit
* PaintShop Pro 7.0 (Evaluation Copy)
* Milkshape 3D version 1.5.9 (Evaluation Copy)
* TrueVision 3D 5 Engine (Shareware Copy)
* Acid 2.0 d (Evaluation Copy)
* Cool Edit 2000 (Evaluation Version) FIGURES:
* The full color version of all the figures in the book

TUTORIALS AND SAMPLE FILES:
* 2D sample textures
* Milkshape 3D created models
* A design document template/sample
* Music and sound effects

SOURCE CODE:
*Arranged by chapter and includes the source code and executable files for every sample in the book

Not perfect, but good.

While there is a little less programming than I would have liked, the book is pretty good overall. It teaches a great deal about other things such as modelling and graphics. Maybe a different title would be fitting for 2nd edition.

Game Programming it is not...

Pre-ordered this book after reading editorial but was a waste of money.

1. I’m half way through the book and not 1 like of DX code yet

2. Majority of book is screen shots - I counted over 50 pages of screen shots showing the setup wizard for the various tools!

3. Up to page 220 is simple tutorials for using the shareware tools: much better tutorials supplied in online help for the tools themselves.

4. Another load of pages dedicated to showing up how to put together a VB Form.

Don’t buy it without previewing some of the content first.

Good Game Development

I normally don’t spend time rating books. Getting time to read them is enough of a problem! After reading this over, I decided to list its strong and weak points:

Strong:
1) It’s a good overall guide to game development
2) Covers a good range of software
3) Uses DirectX 8
4) Good explanations and you build several programs including a half-life model viewer and 3D shooter

Weak:
1) Wish there was more information included on modeling
2) That’s it.

Hoping to see what future versions of this book will hold.

WARNING: NOT A PROGRAMMING BOOK

The title of this book is a total lie! This book does not cover programming at all. Instead, it teaches you how to use software like Paint Shop Pro or a 3D modeller. If you are reasonablly acquainted with these types of things (e.g. you know how to add noise to a grey background in Paint Shop Pro) then there is absolutely nothing you can learn from this book. True, there is a "programming" section but beware: you do not actually code anything. Instead of teaching you something the author says that building an engine is too hard and that you should give up now (isn’t the whole point of this book to learn how to?) and gives you a pre-built engine to use as a COM interface in VB. So, you basically end up writing about 5 lines of code which are calls to the COM database (TrueVision.Initialize, TrueVision.LoadModel, TrueVision.GenerateTerrain) and you’re done. Congradulations ! You’ve just learned, in this short review, how to program a game according to Crooks.

Now we know computer books also ship with bugs

The first part of the book is a nice little tutorial on creating the different parts of a computer game. However, through the programming section of the book the author continually leaves out important lines of code that you need to make the samples work. Then when you dive into the source code that was provided on the CD he has changed the names of his variables and functions so that trying to find the error between your code and his extra difficult. If you are new to programming this can be extra frustrating. This is a perfect example of having someone write a book to cash in, without that person actually having the talent and determination that is need to put out a helpful and educational product.