Java Game Programming for Dummies [Paperback]

Wayne Holder (Author), Doug Bell (Author)

Book Description

Series: For Dummies (Computer/Tech) | Publication Date: March 1998

This reference guide provides information on how to create games, add graphics and sound and more using the properties of the programming language Java. As well as technical information, the book also describes the logic behind a game and the attached CD includes sample game codes, HTML Web pages and Java applets from the book.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Wayne Holder entered the computer revolution by building his own small computer from one of Intel's first microprocessors, the 4040, and went on to personally write the first spelling checker for Microsoft Word (later licensed to Microsoft) as well as supply spelling and grammar checkers to Kaypro, WordStar International, Philips, Xerox, Symantec, and many others. The computer game bug bit Wayne in 1983, and he jumped in by founding FTL Games. FTL Games went on to create and ship over a million units of different game titles worldwide on everything from Sega game consoles to Macs and PCs. Realizing that the Java tsunami would reshape the face of computing, Wayne and coauthor Doug Bell paddled out to meet the wave in late 1995 and have never looked back. With the arrival of the Holders' first child, daughter Belle, in October of 1996, Wayne shifted to telecomputing and now works at home with his novelist wife, Nancy, who has published over 25 novels and is currently writing several original books based on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.; Doug Bell is a recovering game junkie. When Doug was growing up, his parents worried about his obsession with not only playing games, but with winning them. Fortunately, about this time the first personal computers that you didn't have to build yourself became available, which rescued Doug from a certain career as a lawyer. In 1981, Doug cofounded PVC Dragon with a college buddy and entered the computer game market to pursue his passion for games. In 1984, Doug joined forces with Wayne Holder and FTL Games where he led the development of several number-one selling games, including the groundbreaking best-seller DungeonMaster. In late 1995 -- after years of cross-platform development in Pascal, C, and assembly -- Doug and Wayne jumped into Java with both feet. Doug's passion for Java quickly became an equal to his passion for games. He has written articles for JavaWorld; appeared on an industry panel on Java Games at Sun Microsystems's annual JavaOne conference; developed courseware and taught classes in Java programming; and, of course, coauthored this book. Doug is Vice President of Development at FTL Games, but his most important job is raising his sons, Steven and Sean, with his wife, Kathy, an accomplished Windows programmer and mother.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc (Computers) (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764501682
• ISBN-13: 978-0764501685
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,584,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice Job!, February 21, 2000

By 

Rick - See all my reviews

This review is from: Java Game Programming for Dummies (Paperback)

Most game programming books focus on teaching experienced game programmers the advanced tricks of the trade. This book fills a gap.

A variety of game types are explained with small easy to digest code examples. It's not the authors' purpose to teach you Java; something they make clear from the start. The focus of the book is game design. Those who program in other languages can benefit from the book after familiarizing themselves with Java syntax.

The book nicely covers animation, game design, modeling the world with basic physics, etc. The writing is straightforward and concise.

Also appreciated is, unlike many other 'For Dummies' writers, these authors don't waste half the book auditioning as comedy writers.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction to the principles of game programming, October 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Java Game Programming for Dummies (Paperback)

This book was exactly what I hoped it would be. I've been learning Java for the last couple months in my spare time and was looking for something interesting to do with my new skills. The numerous examples in the book are well written and thoroughly explained. But the real bonus was the straight-forward explanations of game design and techniques. I even gained some better insight into how to structure an object-oriented program. So not only did I get a clear and concise book on game programming, but I also got some of the best examples of object-oriented programming in Java. I highly recommend this book!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strong on mechanics, weak on "soft" issues, November 4, 2000

By 

David Matuszek "Dr. Dave" (Malvern, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Java Game Programming for Dummies (Paperback)

My copy (with the same ISBN number!) does not have the "five bonus chapters on the fundamentals of programming with Java", so I can't comment on those. My copy jumps right in to advanced techniques (drawing offscreen, MediaTracker, etc.).

This is a "techniques" book--it does a very good job of explaining the simple physics you need in order to do realistic animation, and explains things like how to shuffle cards and how to create mazes. It then uses mazes to explain drawing in 2D, 3D, and with texture mapping. It does NOT cover multiplayer games and network play, and barely touches on the use of artificial intelligence in games. These omitted topics are important ones.

If you want to know something about designing an original computer game, look elsewhere. This book is for coders, not designers. The chapter on "Making Fun Games" is a mere six pages long, and the advice, though good, is extremely shallow.

The book uses the Java 1.0 event model, which works everywhere but is outdated technology. All the examples are applets (though the techniques apply equally to applications). In my copy (I hope this has been fixed!), all the string quote marks have disappeared from the printed code--easy to fix if you know Java. Besides, the code is also on the CD.

In summary, this book is more limited in scope than the title suggests (and possibly more than the authors realize). I give it four stars because it does a very good job with the topics it covers. But due to some rather serious omissions, it shouldn't be the only book on your game programming shelf.