Beginning Game Programming (Premier Press Game Development) [Paperback]

Jonathan S. Harbour (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1592005853 | ISBN-13: 978-1592005857 | Publication Date: October 13, 2004 | Edition: 1

Learn the essential skills needed to demystify game programming and harness the power of Windows® and DirectX®. "Beginning Game Programming" teaches you everything you need to know to write 2D and 3D games with C and DirectX 9 without any complex mathematics. Ease your way into this exciting new world by learning to write simple Windows programs, and then tap into the power of Direct3D! Each chapter teaches important new skills (such as basic 3D programming with vertices, polygons, and textures), culminating in a simple DirectX game library - great for your own game projects! Learn the basics of 3D modeling with the Anim8or modeling program and then learn how to load and use 3D models in your own games. The complete game project in this book runs in fullscreen or windowed mode, and features mouse support, sound effects, 3D models, texture-based sprites, and 3D collision detection. Brace yourself for an exciting introduction to game programming!

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Part 1: Introduction to Game Programming with Windows and DirectX
Chapter 1: Getting Started With Windows
Chapter 2: Listening To Windows Messages
Chapter 3: Initializing Direct3D

Part 2: The Game Programming Toolbox
Chapter 4: Drawing Bitmaps
Chapter 5: Getting Input with the Keyboard, Mouse, and Controller
Chapter 6: Drawing and Animating Sprites
Chapter 7: Transforming Sprites
Chapter 8: Detecting Sprite Collisions
Chapter 9: Printing Text
Chapter 10: Scrolling The Background
Chapter 11: Playing Audio
Chapter 12: Learning The Basics of 3D Rendering
Chapter 13: Rendering 3D Model Files

Part 3: Game Projects
Chapter 14: Anti-Virus The Game

Part 4: Appendices
Appendix A: Configuring Visual C++
Appendix B: Resources For Further Study
Appendix C: Chapter Quiz Answers
Appendix D: Additional Examples


Source code for the projects in this book may be downloaded from these book resource locations:

• jharbour.com/forum (must create a free account first)

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Jonathan S. Harbour is an Associate Professor of Game Development at the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Arizona. His current game project is Starflight: The Lost Colony (www.starflightgame.com). He lives in Arizona with his wife, Jennifer, four children (Jeremiah, Kayleigh, Kaitlyn, Kourtney), a dog (Lucy), a cat (Missy), and six temperamental computers (ages 1 to 8). He can be reached at www.jharbour.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Course Technology PTR; 1 edition (October 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592005853
• ISBN-13: 978-1592005857
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,245,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jonathan S. Harbour was born in Sacramento, CA, grew up in Redding, and now resides in the Phoenix area with his wife and four children. Now a freelance writer, he recently spent five years developing and facilitating the Bachelor and Master degree programs in game development at UAT (Tempe, AZ). His books cover many languages (C++, C#, VB, Basic, Lua, Python, Java), libraries (DirectX, Allegro, XNA), and hardware (GBA, Xbox, Xbox 360, cell phones).

For fun, he enjoys reading books on physics, cosmology, metaphysics, anthropology, and game development (of course) from authors such as S. Hawking, M. Kaku, H. Ross, A. George, C. Yarbro, with a personal library of over 500 books. He also enjoys bike riding, long hikes, and mind-expanding TV shows and movies of the futurist variety.

On a personal note, I wish there really was a Night Elf Mohawk character class.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beginning Game Programming Third Edition, November 10, 2010

By 

EddieV223 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beginning Game Programming (Paperback)

Most of the reviews on this book are from the first and second editions which are from different writer and/or different language C. This review is of the Third Edition by Jonathan S. Harbour, for C++.

The book is really good, it starts into the basics of windows programming but only goes far enough so you know how to get a program running to start making directx games, which is good cause that stuff is confusing and not much fun. But the rest of the book is a blast to read and the information is priceless. As you go through the book you start building a library of your own for directx that you can use in all your projects and games even after the book is read, which gives it lasting value. The writing style is excellent and interesting, the example code just works everytime if you type it in correctly. Overall this book is perfect for me and perfect for anyone who understands C++ and wants to make games with directx.

10/10

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad., December 7, 2008

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beginning Game Programming (Paperback)

[N.B.: This is a review of the first edition, not the second.]

Jonathan Harbour, Beginning Game Programming (Thompson, 2005)

Beginning Game Programming has been kind of the holy grail of programming books for me for years. I can't even remember how it got such stature in my head, but over the last year or two it became one of the books at the very top of my wish list. When I found a copy for sale (relatively) cheap earlier this year, then, I jumped on it. Unfortunately, I had hyped it up so much in my head some disappointment was likely inevitable, but I tried to keep as even-keeled as possible when thinking about what to put in this review. After all, it's not a bad book, I've just read a number of intro-to-game-programming books that are better in at least one sense (comprehensiveness, readability, number/length/quality of code samples, or what have you).

One of the oddities of the book, and one which a number of novices will likely appreciate, is that the book focuses on C, rather than one of the more popular languages featured in books of this sort (C++, C#, or VB). For someone experienced in one of the other languages, that can be either a blessing or a curse, so take it into consideration. Aside from that, however, the main thing to note here is that the book dives right into game programming in C and DirectX (which version will depend on which version of the book you're reading; my copy is first edition, not second, and so the book's examples use an older version of DirectX than currently advertised). Code examples and discussions on the theory of game design start right up in the first chapter. Once again, this is something that some readers will find a strong point, while it will be a drawback to others. There's something to be said for some overview and nuts-and-bolts stuff (at least one of the book's reviewers complains about the lack of instructions for installing the software that comes with the book, for example), but if you kick things off from page one, you have room to cover more material in the same number of pages than you otherwise would. Can't call that a bad thing under any circumstances.

The book is also very small for this type of thing, only 337 pages, which limits the amount of space there is to cover material. Once again, something that could be seen by different readers as a good (not as imposing as doorstop-sized tomes) or a bad (not room to go into anything in depth) thing.

So, basically, it's up to you and what you're looking for in an intro-to-game-programming book. This could be it. It might not be. Check it out before shelling out the dough. ***

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Valuable and Worthwhile Book, July 11, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Beginning Game Programming (Premier Press Game Development) (Paperback)

I liked this book. Don't be fooled by the author when he says in the beginning that "This is a book all about game programming". It seems like its goal is to do everything with DirectX but make games. You spend the first 9 chapters making neat little programs to demonstrate basic Windows code and the various components of DirectX. However, the games come eventually; you make a sort of Pong clone in chapter 10, and a 3D version of Breakout to finnish the book. You also walk away with a fully functional game "framework" you can apply to your projects for a while to come. BE WARNED: the compiler included with this book is Dev-C++, an environment I have found very difficult to use with DirectX. Your better off using MSVC (the compiler that is actually covered in the book). To sum up: I gained a knowledge of how to make games with C and DirectX from this book, so I'm satisfied. Definitely valuable, worthwhile, and a great place to start for the novice game programmer.