Linux Game Programming w/CD (Prima Tech's Game Development) [Paperback]

Mark Collins (Author), Martin Donlin (Author), Steve Baker (Author), Ben Campbell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Prima Tech's Game Development | Publication Date: March 1, 2002

With the growing interest in Linux on the desktop, it is only a matter of time until everyone will want high-quality Linux games. With commercial developers now setting up in-house teams for porting their titles to Linux, people are finally acknowledging that the OpenSource platform is a viable gaming platform. Linux® Game Programming is your guide to game development for Linux, covering all the APIs and methodologies you will need, as well as some more advanced techniques rarely discussed in other game development guides, such as neural networks and genetic algorithms. You will also find valuable information on 2D graphics using SDL, Xlib, and SVGAlib; 3D graphics using OpenGL; networking, lobbying, and threading; artificial intelligence and learning systems; genetic algorithms; and much, much more!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Collins, who has gained popularity for his tongue-in-cheek approach to game development, is a contributing editor for the forthcoming GameDev.net magazine . He is actively working with gamedev.net to build a Linux game development
community that is located at www.linuxgamedev.net.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade; 1 edition (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761532552
• ISBN-13: 978-0761532552
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #909,943 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:

1.0 out of 5 stars This book is..., August 1, 2001

By 

Jeffrey J. Triplett (Lawrence, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Linux Game Programming w/CD (Prima Tech's Game Development) (Paperback)

I've bought every book in the series so far, this is by far the worst book I've ever owned. I'm tired of picking up game programming books that claim to teach game programming but they don't even create a working game. I bought this book for Linux game programming exposure and because it promised to having in-dept coverage of AI. Major areas of AI are basically defined and the only source code that is mentioned / supplied on the cd is for a template for creating a counter-strike bot. The author has a very good writing style because I was lured into reading most of the book; however, the book should actually do what it says and at least create a 2D / 3D shooter of some sort rather then just a hand full of demos. This book should have never been published on the basis that it tries to cover way too much which results in chapters that do nothing more then just cover a broad definition of the topic at hand.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Programming or theory discussion?, July 11, 2001

By 

Jamin W. Collins (New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Linux Game Programming w/CD (Prima Tech's Game Development) (Paperback)

I've never been so disappointed with a computer book purchase. This book claims to be about programming games for Linux. However, it falls woefully short of this mark. I will admit it does have some code snippets, but these are very few and extremely buggy. To top things off, the author rapidly skims over most topics in a manner that is more akin to a theoretical discussion than instructional guide. I highly recommend saving your money.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lacks depth, too short, plagued by syntax errors., December 17, 2001

By 

"brainstatic_com" (Gainesville, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Linux Game Programming w/CD (Prima Tech's Game Development) (Paperback)

This book is a good overview of what gaming libraries are out there for programming in linux and some fundamentals on getting several of those gaming libraries. But that's it...

I've found the book to be extremely lacking in depth or finished code samples. It gives snippets on how to accomplish something then leaves you hanging. Plus there are quite a bit of syntax errors in the code that can leave a beginner quite frustrated. Nothing is worse than cutting and pasting code from a book word for word and not having it compile because of poor book editing.

The author tries to cover everything from sound, to video, to AI, to networking - with several different libraries - in a 300 page book. And a good fifty of those pages are concerning the gpl and other licenses. Knowing about the GPL and about open source is great, but not when I spent money on game programming (video, sound, ai). What this results in is less than 10 pages on one particular topic.

To sum up: browse this book in the bookstore and then keep moving. Buy yourself a better C++ or OpenGL book instead. Or just go online - better information exists out there.