Advanced Java Game Programming [Paperback]

David W. Croft (Author)

Book Description

Series: Expert's Voice | Publication Date: April 1, 2004

Advanced Java Game Programming teaches the reader how to create desktop and Internet computer games using the latest Java programming language techniques. Whereas all 7 Java game programming books published previously focused on animation using the AWT, I believe my book will be the first to cover animation using Swing. Doing animation in Swing is tricky. I have spent months diving into the details, testing, and optimizing animation in the Swing environment. I clearly explain how my code works in great detail and why I did what I did. I provide an Open Source reusable game library, a Swing animation engine that allows the reader to use these techniques and put out new games very rapidly. The Open Source game library also includes a reusable game deployment framework and a multiplayer networking library with HTTP firewall tunneling capability for applets. All of the code is Open Source including the example games. The graphics and audio libraries may also be used royalty-free for creating new games. I also identify and discuss the modern advanced techniques within the field of Java game programming and how they differ from earlier prescriptions in the literature. As the Founder of the Game Developers Java Users Group (GameJUG), I have it made my passion over the last few years to collect and assemble everything published online or in print on the subject of Java game programming.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Wallace Croft is a Java software architect with a professional background in Java game development. He formerly served as the president of the Silicon Valley Java Users Group and is the founder of the Game Developers Java Users Group. Croft earned his bachelor's degree from the United States Air Force Academy in 1990 and his master's degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1995.

After a brief career in neural network chip design, he joined an online Internet multiplayer game startup in 1996 and has been programming in Java exclusively ever since. While writing this book, Croft taught Java 2D game programming within the Institute of Interactive Arts & Engineering program at the University of Texas at Dallas. In 2004, he transitioned from faculty to student and is now pursuing a doctorate in cognition and neuroscience in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the same university. His contact information is available at www.croftsoft.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 558 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590591232
• ISBN-13: 978-1590591239
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,474,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Much filler, a little on Java game programming, December 3, 2005

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Advanced Java Game Programming (Paperback)

You would assume by the title that this book was written for the experienced Java programmer who knows a little about game programming and wants to learn a lot more. You would be wrong. Instead the author wastes your time and his book's space with chapter after chapter of information that has nothing to do with Java game programming, much less advanced material. Chapter one, for example, is all over the map talking about XML, Ant, and upgrading to Java 1.4, which is no longer even the latest release of Java. Chapter two, which is labeled "Deployment Frameworks" talks about JAR files, applets, and Java Web Start. Other off topic subjects include a chapter each devoted to persistent data, the A* search algorithm, and HTTP tunneling. In fact, there are three chapters on HTTP. The few chapters that actually relate to Java game programming are not advanced at all to the experienced Java programmer who knows anything about graphics, Swing, and Java. Instead, the author spends his time talking about his own game programming framework that does nothing special and is constructed quite awkwardly from a software engineering perspective. There are two much better titles on the market right now. One is "Developing Games in Java" by David Brackeen, written in 2003. The other is "Killer Game Programming in Java" by Andrew Davison which was released in the summer of 2005. If you are serious about game programming in Java you should probably own them both, since they are both excellent and each has their advantages. For one, both show how to use Java's own features and API's such as Java3D and Java Sound to complement your game programs rather than reinventing the wheel such as this author does. I notice that Amazon has nothing on the table of contents for this book, so I offer it here for the purpose of completeness, and to help prove my point that most of the book is not applicable to game programming:
Chapter 1 Development Setup
Chapter 2 Deployment Frameworks
Chapter 3 Swing Animation
Chapter 4 Animation Library
Chapter 5 Advanced Graphics
Chapter 6 Persistent Data
Chapter 7 Game Architecture
Chapter 8 A* Algorithm
Chapter 9 HTTP Tunneling
Chapter 10 HTTP Polling
Chapter 11 HTTP Pulling
Appendix A Source Code Index
Appendix B Introducing CVS

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book For Advanced Game Programmers, April 30, 2004

By 

Tripper T McCarthy (Chino Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Advanced Java Game Programming (Paperback)

As the title indicates, this book is for advanced Java game programmers. If you are looking for a book to introduce you to the fundamentals of Java game programming, you probably want to start off with another book first. But if you are an experienced game programmer, with a few games already under your belt, this book is a must read.

The author deals with numerous topics that are at the heart of effective game programming. The sections I found most pertinent were those covering deployment options, swing animation, frame rate issues, and http network communication. In each section the author identifies the potential problems and pitfalls, discusses several options to deal with these issues, and then proceeds to show through his framework how he addresses these problems. The writing is clear and concise, and the code samples from the author's framework illustrate the concepts well.

One thing that I don't like about a lot of Java game programming books is that they spend a lot of time talking about how to develop your game ideas. While this is important, many advanced game programmers are simply looking for sound advice to improve their underlining game design and performance. The author does a great job of speaking to this audience in dealing with the issues and problems we all face. Many of the issues discussed rang true to me as I remembered struggling to find solutions to the very same problems. The author's framework serves as a good foundation upon which to build your own games.

The only thing I wish was covered was the use of 3D in Java games. This is a huge topic with a number of pitfalls and probably would require a book of its own. This really doesn't detract from my overall view of the book though, as what the book does cover is covered very well.

Overall this book is very well done and I would recommend it to all serious Java game programmers.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Improves the viability of Java games, April 22, 2004

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Advanced Java Game Programming (Paperback)

To date, there has been little commercial game development under Java. I won't say none. But if you know anyone in a company writing games, the chances are high that it is in C++. The main problem is that the most lucrative games tend to be twitch games like Doom or Quake. For these, you need the utmost in CPU performance and screen rendering.

Java fails on both counts. Its bytecode nature has a performance penalty on a typical Intel or AMD CPU. Plus its graphic libraries, while adequate, did not easily let the programmer have direct access to the graphics memory.

But all is not lost. Croft's book will appeal to those who still wish to write Java games, despite the above caveats. For one thing, strategy or turn based games do not necessarily need the highest performance. Java is quite viable here. Plus, as he strongly points out, having a game written in pure Java, without even any JNI hooks, increases vastly the places where is can be played. Because it is far easier to install. Fewer (none!) extra libraries to drag along. And of course, there is the operating system independence.

Another point in the favour of Java games is that there can be far less danger of security risks, compared to anything written in C or C++. By running a Java game inside a JVM, you gain this safety. Not absolute, surely, but still reassuring.

Also, Croft devotes considerable space to the treatment of advanced graphics. He discards AWT, and sticks to Swing. This will be familiar to many current programmers who are not writing games. He describes how to use hardware accelerated images to improve the effective frame rate. And many other graphics techniques.

Overall, very encouraging for games in Java. You might want to try it out.