Developing Games in Java [Paperback]

David Brackeen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1592730051 | ISBN-13: 978-1592730056 | Publication Date: August 31, 2003 | Edition: 1

If you already have Java programming experience and are looking to program games, this book is for you. David Brackeen, along with co-authors Bret Barker and Lawrence Vanhelsuwe, show you how to make fast, full-screen action games such as side scrollers and 3D shooters. Key features covered in this book include Java 2 game programming techniques, including latest 2D graphics and sound technologies, 3D graphics and scene management, path-finding and artificial intelligence, collision detection, game scripting using BeanShell, and multi-player game engine creation.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

"During the course of writing Developing Games in Java, I would inform friends that I secured the movie rights to the book. My sister kept saying that I was going to end up on Oprah's book club. On breaks I would get a head rush from standing up too fast, and have hallucinations of 3D vectors, anonymous inner classes, and graph algorithms implemented in Java. I would walk into the living room and say "I can see in 3D!" and my roommate would just nod politely.

But I try to keep the blatant lies out of this book. Instead, Developing Games in Java is filled with tons of useful game programming information. And not just because New Riders chained me to my desk - mostly because people wouldn't stop bothering me until I told them everything I know. Which is a good thing, because I tend to forget everything I know, but now that I've written it down, I can re-learn stuff I've forgotten. If it's too confusing, you can always wait for "Developing Games in Java: The Movie" coming in 2004.

From the Back Cover

If you already have experience programming games with Java, this book is for you. David Brackeen, along with co-authors Bret Barker and Lawrence Vanhelsuwe, show you how to make fast, full-screen action games such as side scrollers and 3D shooters. Key features covered in this book include Java 2 game programming techniques, including latest 2D graphics and sound technologies, 3D graphics and scene management, path-finding and artificial intelligence, collision detection, game scripting using BeanShell, and multi-player game engine creation.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1008 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Games; 1 edition (August 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592730051
• ISBN-13: 978-1592730056
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #249,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great coverage of the basics of GAMES, not just Java, September 10, 2003

By 

gerryg (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Developing Games in Java (Paperback)

I've reviewed a few other Java game programming books and they're pretty much all stinkers. This one is head and shoulders and feet above the others. And it assumes you know at least some Java and don't have to be hand-held through a dozen chapters of the language basics before they think you're competent enough to get a peek at writing a lame card game or bouncing-ball applet like the other books do. I've only spent a day with this book and have not attempted to compile any code, so keep that in mind while reading the rest of this review. Speaking of code, this is not a code-listing book. It definitely has code in it and dissects it, but the ratio of text to code is very appropriate.

Right off the bat in chapter 1 David starts with a chapter on Threads! Then he moves on to several chapters of 2D graphics and animation and builds a complete 2D scroller in chapter 5! You're probably liking what you're hearing so far if you've read any of the other java game programming books. The next several chapters spend some time on understanding and then programming 3D graphics (great chapters, BTW), then moves on to collision detection, AI and pathfinding, game scripting (using BeanShell - excellent choice), optimization, and more. Somewhere in there is a chapter on multiplayer networking.

All chapters build on the previous ones. The examples all seem worthwhile and demonstrate the concepts and techniques. This is real meat & potatoes game programming, and as the author points out, just happens to be implemented in Java. It looks to me like this guy really knows Java well (I'm a professional Java/J2EE programmer) and points out everything you need to know about using it to implement the game programming concepts.

A few minor nits and notes. The focus of the book is on full-screen applications, not applets or windowed games. You can apply what you've learned to those two, but they're not covered (which is a good thing, but be forewarned). The book is printed with a relatively large font, IMO, especially the code listings, so it's a bit heftier than it should be, but I don't feel like they're over-charging, so I'll live. Also, almost no time was spent talking about writing tools like map editors, assest editors, etc. I feel like those items are important enough to spend a bit more time on, but I can understand why they are only mentioned in brief. The only items other items I would have liked to see some brief coverage of were 2D isometric tile-based maps and 3D terrain.

This is a great intermediate level book on writing games in Java. I'd love to see the author or other writers build on this book to cover more advanced topics like those mentioned above, but you can use the information in this book and other great game programming references (like the Game Programming Gems series, AI Game Programming Wisdom, Strategy Game Programming in DirectX 9.0 (EXCELLENT BOOK), Game Coding Complete, 3D Game Engine Design, Physics for Game Developers, and others) to get where you need to go.

For anyone disappointed with other Java game programming books, this is a must-have. Highly recommended.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent intermediate book on Java game programming, December 21, 2005

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Developing Games in Java (Paperback)

This is one of two excellent books on the subject of game programming in the Java programming language, the other being "Killer Game Programming in Java" by Davison. If you are serious about programming games in Java you should probably own them both, but start with this one since it starts out slower with simpler concepts. The book is divided into three parts. The first part "Java Game Fundamentals" discusses threading, 2D graphics and animation, interactivity and user interfaces, and sound effects and music. These chapters are good for anyone interested in Java multimedia programming in general. Part one of the book finishes up with chapters on 2D platform games and multi-player games in Java using the tools learned in the previous chapters. Part two moves the discussion from 2D to 3D gaming. There are chapters on 3D graphics, texture mapping and lighting, 3D objects, 3D scene management, and collision detection. All of these chapters are written more from a general algorithmic standpoint for 3D graphics rather than going into details on Java3D. The next chapters in the 3D section are not really about 3D graphics at all, instead they are about artificial intelligence in the context of games, algorithms, and Java implementations. The final part of this book, "Tuning and Finishing Your Game" has chapters on the odds and ends of game programming such as optimization, creating art and sound for your game, debugging, deployment, and finally the future of game programming. This book is very thorough and accessible and stays on the subject of game programming in Java, all the while not coddling the reader and expecting the reader to already be a Java programmer who wishes to apply his/her talents to game programming. Amazon does not show the table of contents so I do that here:
PART 1- JAVA GAME FUNDAMENTALS
Chapter 1 - Java and Object-Orientation Basics
Chapter 2 - Java Threads
Chapter 3 - 2D Graphics and Animation
Chapter 4 - Interactivity and User Interfaces
Chapter 5 - Sound Effects and Music
Chapter 6 - Creating a 2D Platform Game
Chapter 7 - Multi-Player Games
PART 2- 3D GRAPHICS AND ADVANCED TECHNIQUES
Chapter 8 - 3D Graphics and Software Rendering
Chapter 9 - 3D Scene Management
Chapter 10 - Creating 3D Scenes with a Level Editor
Chapter 11 - Path Finding and Collision Detection
Chapter 12 - Creating a 3D Shooter
Chapter 13 - Artificial Intelligence
Chapter 14 - Game Scripting
Chapter 15 - Persistence - Saving the Game
PART 3 TUNING AND FINISHING YOUR GAME
Chapter 16 - Cross-Platform Issues
Chapter 17 - Optimization Techniques
Chapter 18 - Using Tools to Create Images, Sounds, and Models
Chapter 19 - I've Made My Game, Now What?
Chapter 20 - The Future

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interested in some FUN Java programming? Don't miss this one, March 3, 2005

By 

Riccardo Audano (Chiavari, Italy) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Developing Games in Java (Paperback)

There are many, many book for the amateur or beginning game programmer around, but most of them stink, and for some reason the Java game programming ones stink even more! This book is an exception to the rule, and it is way over the average, especially compared with the other books in this very sloppy and superficial New Riders's game programming series. No tome fattening explaining the fundamentals of Java, just the raw meat of useful game programming techniques. Threading, full screen, Swing, double buffering, animation, a little 2D scroller, up to date NIO game networking, fundamentals of 3D graphics, BSP trees, AI, scripting...you will find all these cookies inside the book! The "level of detail" of course varies from subject to subject, do not expect a through , complete, super-extensive treatment, but all the subjects are covered in more than decent depth. I have only one critique: The author's code doesn't use any form of 3D acceleration. I understand that this way the code can be more interesting.. as you are forced to learn more about what it takes to put a 3D object on the screen, but still software rendering is history now. The author is definitely too young and inexperienced to be a game programming guru, and sometimes his explanations are a bit vague and too "code-oriented", but he is definitely a very talented programmer and a good technical writer... on his way to gurudom! ;)