Get on the fast track to creating computer games


Ever want to develop your own computer game? Learn the practical concepts of object-oriented programming for game design using Python(r) in this easy-to-follow, content-filled guide. Whether you’re a student, aspiring game developer, or veteran programmer, you’ll gain skills as you progress from station to station in a series of clear-cut tutorials on different styles of games. The last stop will be a finished game program for you to show off. Start your journey today on The Express Line to Learning and see where it takes you!
* Learn the basics of programming and 2D graphics as you go
* Plan programs, write and test code, and manage data
* Create text-based games, racing games, arcade games, and more
* Add sound, set up scorekeeping, and design avatars

All aboard for valuable online extras

Visit The L Line Web site at www.wiley.com/go/thelline for valuable online supplementary materials:
* Test bank with challenging review questions
* PowerPoint(r) slides with chapter outlines
* Programming code from the book

Along The L Line
* Complete tutorial coverage
* Ample illustrations and examples
* Real-world applications and hints for avoiding pitfalls
* Practice exams that help evaluate your progress

Get on the fast track to creating computer games


Ever want to develop your own computer game? Learn the practical concepts of object-oriented programming for game design using Python(r) in this easy-to-follow, content-filled guide. Whether you’re a student, aspiring game developer, or veteran programmer, you’ll gain skills as you progress from station to station in a series of clear-cut tutorials on different styles of games. The last stop will be a finished game program for you to show off. Start your journey today on The Express Line to Learning and see where it takes you!
* Learn the basics of programming and 2D graphics as you go
* Plan programs, write and test code, and manage data
* Create text-based games, racing games, arcade games, and more
* Add sound, set up scorekeeping, and design avatars

All aboard for valuable online extras

Visit The L Line Web site at www.wiley.com/go/thelline for valuable online supplementary materials:
* Test bank with challenging review questions
* PowerPoint(r) slides with chapter outlines
* Programming code from the book

Along The L Line
* Complete tutorial coverage
* Ample illustrations and examples
* Real-world applications and hints for avoiding pitfalls
* Practice exams that help evaluate your progress

Get on the fast track to creating computer games

Ever want to develop your own computer game? Learn the practical concepts of object-oriented programming for game design using Python(r) in this easy-to-follow, content-filled guide. Whether you’re a student, aspiring game developer, or veteran programmer, you’ll gain skills as you progress from station to station in a series of clear-cut tutorials on different styles of games. The last stop will be a finished game program for you to show off. Start your journey today on The Express Line to Learning and see where it takes you!
* Learn the basics of programming and 2D graphics as you go
* Plan programs, write and test code, and manage data
* Create text-based games, racing games, arcade games, and more
* Add sound, set up scorekeeping, and design avatars

All aboard for valuable online extras

Visit The L Line Web site at www.wiley.com/go/thelline for valuable online supplementary materials:
* Test bank with challenging review questions
* PowerPoint(r) slides with chapter outlines
* Programming code from the book

Along The L Line
* Complete tutorial coverage
* Ample illustrations and examples
* Real-world applications and hints for avoiding pitfalls
* Practice exams that help evaluate your progress

Get on the fast track to creating computer games

Ever want to develop your own computer game? Learn the practical concepts of object-oriented programming for game design using Python(r) in this easy-to-follow, content-filled guide. Whether you’re a student, aspiring game developer, or veteran programmer, you’ll gain skills as you progress from station to station in a series of clear-cut tutorials on different styles of games. The last stop will be a finished game program for you to show off. Start your journey today on The Express Line to Learning and see where it takes you!
* Learn the basics of programming and 2D graphics as you go
* Plan programs, write and test code, and manage data
* Create text-based games, racing games, arcade games, and more
* Add sound, set up scorekeeping, and design avatars

All aboard for valuable online extras

Visit The L Line Web site at www.wiley.com/go/thelline for valuable online supplementary materials:
* Test bank with challenging review questions
* PowerPoint(r) slides with chapter outlines
* Programming code from the book

Along The L Line
* Complete tutorial coverage
* Ample illustrations and examples
* Real-world applications and hints for avoiding pitfalls
* Practice exams that help evaluate your progress

Get on the fast track to creating computer games

Ever want to develop your own computer game? Learn the practical concepts of object-oriented programming for game design using Python® in this easy-to-follow, content-filled guide. Whether you’re a student, aspiring game developer, or veteran programmer, you’ll gain skills as you progress from station to station in a series of clear-cut tutorials on different styles of games. The last stop will be a finished game program for you to show off. Start your journey today on The Express Line to Learning and see where it takes you!

• Learn the basics of programming and 2D graphics as you go
• Plan programs, write and test code, and manage data
• Create text-based games, racing games, arcade games, and more
• Add sound, set up scorekeeping, and design avatars

All aboard for valuable online extras

Visit The L Line Web site at www.wiley.com/go/thelline for valuable online supplementary materials:

• Test bank with challenging review questions
• PowerPoint® slides with chapter outlines
• Programming code from the book

Along The L Line

• Complete tutorial coverage
• Ample illustrations and examples
• Real-world applications and hints for avoiding pitfalls
• Practice exams that help evaluate your progress

Get on the fast track to creating computer games

Ever want to develop your own computer game? Learn the practical concepts of object-oriented programming for game design using Python® in this easy-to-follow, content-filled guide. Whether you’re a student, aspiring game developer, or veteran programmer, you’ll gain skills as you progress from station to station in a series of clear-cut tutorials on different styles of games. The last stop will be a finished game program for you to show off. Start your journey today on The Express Line to Learning and see where it takes you!

• Learn the basics of programming and 2D graphics as you go
• Plan programs, write and test code, and manage data
• Create text-based games, racing games, arcade games, and more
• Add sound, set up scorekeeping, and design avatars

All aboard for valuable online extras

Visit The L Line Web site at www.wiley.com/go/thelline for valuable online supplementary materials:

• Test bank with challenging review questions
• PowerPoint® slides with chapter outlines
• Programming code from the book

Along The L Line

• Complete tutorial coverage
• Ample illustrations and examples
• Real-world applications and hints for avoiding pitfalls
• Practice exams that help evaluate your progress

Get on the fast track to creating computer games

Ever want to develop your own computer game? Learn the practical concepts of object-oriented programming for game design using Python® in this easy-to-follow, content-filled guide. Whether you’re a student, aspiring game developer, or veteran programmer, you’ll gain skills as you progress from station to station in a series of clear-cut tutorials on different styles of games. The last stop will be a finished game program for you to show off. Start your journey today on The Express Line to Learning and see where it takes you!

• Learn the basics of programming and 2D graphics as you go
• Plan programs, write and test code, and manage data
• Create text-based games, racing games, arcade games, and more
• Add sound, set up scorekeeping, and design avatars

All aboard for valuable online extras

Visit The L Line Web site at www.wiley.com/go/thelline for valuable online supplementary materials:

• Test bank with challenging review questions
• PowerPoint® slides with chapter outlines
• Programming code from the book

Along The L Line

• Complete tutorial coverage
• Ample illustrations and examples
• Real-world applications and hints for avoiding pitfalls
• Practice exams that help evaluate your progress

• Through a progression of well-organized tutorials, this book provides a clear path to subject mastery
• Offers thorough coverage of object-oriented game development in Python with code conversions for other languages
• Each chapter includes chapter objectives, a pre-assessment exercise, a tutorial on the topic covered, a terminology overview (including real-world lingo), case studies and real-world applications, an examination of common pitfalls, review questions, and practice exercises
• Features two online components: the instructor-only (password protected) Web site provides a test bank with hundreds of questions, PowerPoints with course and book outlines, and course syllabi and code; the consumer Web site provides a test bank with a small set of questions, PowerPoints with sample outlines, and code

• Through a progression of well-organized tutorials, this book provides a clear path to subject mastery
• Offers thorough coverage of object-oriented game development in Python with code conversions for other languages
• Each chapter includes chapter objectives, a pre-assessment exercise, a tutorial on the topic covered, a terminology overview (including real-world lingo), case studies and real-world applications, an examination of common pitfalls, review questions, and practice exercises
• Features two online components: the instructor-only (password protected) Web site provides a test bank with hundreds of questions, PowerPoints with course and book outlines, and course syllabi and code; the consumer Web site provides a test bank with a small set of questions, PowerPoints with sample outlines, and code

As rigorous and content-filled as any college course or seminar, Game Programming: The L Line offers the content to developing the skill set needed to be a game programmer, or learn programming skills.  The series uses a subway motif to guide readers from point A to subject mastery. Each title offers a set of online tools including test banks, additional tutorials, and question and answer sessions.

Series features include:

-Chapter objectives

-Pre-assessment exercise

-Tutorial coverage

-Terminology overview (Street jargon)

-Case studies/real world applications of skills

-Application and topic pitfalls

-Review questions

-Practice examples

The book will provide an introduction to game programming suitable to students, aspiring game developers and programmers.   Focus will be on the concepts of game development.  Each chapter focuses on one topic that will be useful to game developers.  Chapters are grouped into units, with each unit focusing on a particular style of game. All programming will be in a modern object-oriented style.

Game snakes, great shakes!

Let me join the chorus here, this is a really well written book. The focus on free and current software tools (Stanti’s Editor especially) makes following along easy. It may be a testament to the ease of use when it comes to python in general (just beware your use of the tab key!), but I had no problems getting the results described and learned buckets as a result.

A very thourough guide for the beginner and a great referenece for the novice

If you’re new to game programming (or even programming in general) Andy Harris’ book is certainly a great place to start. I am by no means an "expert" in the programming field, in fact, I only picked up programming again for the first time in about 10 years. Python is a very powerful, user-friendly environment to program in and coupled with what you’ll learn in this book, you have the tools and potential to become almost an expert in no time. Game programming is a great place to start if you’re looking to pick up programming in general.

"Game Programming: The L Line" is very excellently and comprehensively written. In my opinion, Harris has made a very useful guide to game programming and I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have!

The best of the Python game programming books.

Andy Harris did a great job on this book. I sponsor a computer programming club for high school students and this book is the best at getting to actual game creation. The first three chapters go over basics of programming, but then graphics and pygame are used early and well.

This book is a bargain at 570 truly helpful pages.

Don’t judge this book by it’s cover!

Don’t judge this book by it’s cover! For some reason,
this book is part of a series of Wiley books, and they
all have the same cover.

This is a book about learning how to program computer
games using the Python programming language and the
PyGame package. PyGame is a Python wrapper around the
SDL library. This book offers step-by-step tutorials
that introduce game programming with complete Python
programs. All the programs work on several platforms:
MS-Windows, Mac, and GNU/Linux. Chapters 1-3 introduce
the Python programming language. Starting with Chapter
4, you begin to learn about graphics programming. In
Chapter 6 the programs begin to use OOP/classes. Then,
in Chapter 7, you begin to learn how to make 2D games
with sprites, sound FX, and keyboard and mouse control.
Game programming is a fun way to learn how to program
a computer, and Python with PyGame makes it relatively
easy as well.

This book has detailed information on creating graphics
and sounds for your games, using free, open source
third-party tools that are available on all platforms.
The GIMP is used for graphics, and Audacirty is used
for sounds. So unlike many other game programming books
which require expensive third-party programs in order
to make games, ALL the programs in this book are free.

The book has an easy-going, conversational style of writing
that makes it seem that the author is looking over your
shoulder, helping you to learn game programming. I’m really
glad I bought this book. It is worth many times its cover
price considering the amount of information it contains.

Things I like about this book:
1. Easy to read and understand with step-by-step tutorials.
2. Helpful reference tables throughout the book.
3. Complete example game programs.
4. All the third-party programs required are free and open.
5. Source code and extra appendices available for download.

Happy Programming!

how to use pygame, for beginners

For someone who has never coded a game before, and who perhaps is also new to the entire field of programming, this can be daunting. Commercial games are usually coded in C++. Which is quite an intricate language, especially for the neophyte. Harris furnishes a plausible alternative, where the scripting language Python is used to teach an introductory course in game programming.

You do need some earlier exposure to Python. Though if you still feel awkward in it, you can use this book for the extra reason of gaining experience in Python. Harris explains that there is an open source Python gaming site, [...], that offers the eponymous pygame. You download and install this on your machine. It gives a simple, very bare bones Integrated Development Environment for game coding. If you have used more general purpose IDEs, like Microsoft’s Visual Studio, then you can certainly learn pygame. It is much smaller.

Within pygame, you can code small games. Yes, small. But the pedagogy is important. The games elucidated in the text have properties common to many, much larger games. As in how to write event driven code, for example. Or drawing geometric figures on the screen. And using sprites.

The flavour of the games is like those games of the early 80s. Or the current games for cellphones.