Introduction to 3D Game Engine Design Using DirectX 9 and C# [Paperback]

Lynn T. Harrison (Author)

Book Description

Series: Expert's Voice | Publication Date: August 20, 2003

Microsoft DirectX is an advanced suite of multimedia APIs built directly into Microsoft Windows operating systems. DirectX provides a standard development platform for Windows-based PCs by enabling software developers to access specialized hardware features without having to write hardware-specific code. DirectX was first introduced in 1995 and is the recognized standard for multimedia application development on the Windows platform. Introduction to 3D Game Engine Design Using DirectX 9 and C# will illustrate the process of creating a simple 3D game engine. During this process many facets of the DirectX 9 software will be demonstrated. The C# language is used to show the power of developing a game using a Rapid Application Development (RAD) language. During the course of the book, readers will learn to develop an off-road driving game that brings such features as management of large scenes, environmental effects, and physics into play.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lynn Thomas Harrison is both a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD), and is employed as a senior systems engineer for Diamond Visionics Company, a visualization engineering company. He lives in Binghamton, New York with his wife, Gerri, and son, Michael. Lynn has been active in the simulation and graphics industries for over 22 years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 406 pages
• Publisher: A-Press; 1 edition (August 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590590813
• ISBN-13: 978-1590590812
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,828,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #46 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Graphics & Multimedia > DirectX

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars OK, if you like to study uncommented code, January 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Introduction to 3D Game Engine Design Using DirectX 9 and C# (Paperback)

I didn't expect this book to teach me C# or DirectX, so no worries there.

The book, along with the code that you have to download from apress, shows how to design & code a game engine. Actually, it's pretty weak on the design, since there are NO diagrams, and very little doc in the code, to help me understand what I'm reading. No explanation of relationships between the various objects & classes. What's especially confusing is trying to find methods that are called by the sample code. Is the method in a base class? Do I need to override it? Is it in another object that I have to write...? If there's one thing that might save this book, it would be more diagrams, such as UML.

After reading Chapter 1 and its code (which calls game engine methods but doesn't explain them), I had to download the code and go through it line by line. I wrote out the method calls by hand, and now I finally understand the high-level structure of the engine and the sample game. But that doesn't even include AI, input, lighting, sound, and how game objects are organized inside the engine. I guess I've got my work cut out for me.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful Book, October 24, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Introduction to 3D Game Engine Design Using DirectX 9 and C# (Paperback)

Like so many other readers, I've been waiting for any book about Managed DX with C# for quite a long time since we definetely can't count on Microsoft's documentation that is only for full-time game programmers out there which I guess won't need it anyway since they're programming in C/C++ so what's the point MS???!!! Anyways, let's go back to the "book"...

But I never expected that you could just throw in some notes about some source code and call it a book, not even one single diagram that shows you where you've reached, what are you looking at, etc... I read the first sample chapter online at apress.com and it looked promising, I wish there was any other chapter that was sampled because that's the only chapter that you can read and understand. After you get to Chapter 2, you start wondering what is he talking about?! This is probably the worst technical book I ever got...

I don't mind getting the source code online and even that it does not seem to work after reading the forums at forums.apress.com but you don't learn anything useful this way, you might as well just get some source code from gotdotnet or c-sharpcorner...

I can't wait for Tom Miller's book that's being released this week I think, the table of contents and sample chapter look very promising (samspublishing.com sample chapter is 3rd chapter so you get a better idea of how the book is written) but hey, I've been fooled once, I hope this doesn't happen again!!!

Don't waste your money or your time on this so-called book!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Shattered Hopes, September 3, 2003

By 

"aialexander" (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introduction to 3D Game Engine Design Using DirectX 9 and C# (Paperback)

I had been eagerly waiting for this book for almost 6 months and was disapointed in the results. While the author does show some mastery over the subject material, he demonstrates very little attention to detail and I got a distinct impression that the author could not be bothered.

This is evident throughout the book. The cover of the book is the only place you will find anything relating to 'multiplayer'. You wont even find mention of it in the glossary. The logic flow of physics makes me think that not enough time was put in to make sure that is was a sound design before writing about it and slapping it on the shelf.

Also, The example binaries provided do not function and the source has already gone through an update post release due to bugs. Even after you manage to compile the code yourself, the examples do not work properly, feel very amateurish and are based on the examples that come with the DirectX9 SDK! (Note the cheesy file menu for an obvious example)

There is also very little error checking and things could have been structured a little more efficiently(this is obviously an opinion). And while its not related directly to the book, the author didnt even bother spelling the name of his publisher right on his tag on the APress forums(where you can go to complain the code doesnt work), which shows up on every post he makes.

In summary, you can pick up some structring techniques and also see some examples of what not to do from this book, but you might be happier spending your money and time elsewhere.