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

Kevin Hawkins (Author), Dave Astle (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0761533303 | ISBN-13: 978-0761533306 | Publication Date: May 1, 2002 | Edition: 1

This robust CD contains source code from the book as well as examples of OpenGL games in the online game development community. Also included are a variety of tools such as the OpenGL libraries, GLUT, Paint Shop Pro shareware, and sound editing software. This book is a complete guide to game development using the OpenGL graphics API. It also covers how to integrate the non-graphical elements of Microsoft's DirectX into OpenGL games so that users can incorporate sound, music, and network functions. Teaching users how to use OpenGL to create dynamic 3D environments and effects for use in game development.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kevin Hawkins received his Master’s degree in Software Engineering and his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Embry-Riddle University. He is currently a software engineer at Raydon Corporation where he is part of the Software Architecture team, developing new software architectures and techniques for the company’s simulation product-line. He is the cofounder of GameDev.net and is also the coauthor of "OpenGL Game Programming" (Premier Press, 0761533303).

Product Details

• Paperback: 808 pages
• Publisher: Course Technology PTR; 1 edition (May 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761533303
• ISBN-13: 978-0761533306
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #164,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Graphics & Multimedia > OpenGL

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, June 8, 2001

By 

Steve Jordan (Washington) - See all my reviews

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

I've read several OpenGL books, and this one ranks with the best of them. The best thing about it, though, is that it's not just an OpenGL book, it's a game programming book, so not only will you learn OpenGL essentials, you're learn how to specifically apply them to games.

The book is very easy to read and understand. It's been written in such a way that I think even someone with no experience programming games will be able to pick it up and soon be able to create a simple 3D game.

In addition to the OpenGL coverage, the coverage of DirectInput and DirectSound is some of the best I've ever seen. The chapters on special effects and physics were of particular interest, as were the chapters on engine design and the final creation of a game.

Whether you're just getting interested in game programming, or have been doing it for a while but don't know OpenGL, you need this book.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Accessible, but Sloppy and Rather Windows Specific, January 2, 2003

By 

"microtherion" (Sim City, CA (Somewhere in the Bay Area)) - See all my reviews

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

This book covers a broad range of game programming areas, with specific sample code provided both in print and on a CD.

What the book cover and abstracts fail to emphasize is that despite the "OpenGL" in the title, this is a rather Microsoft Windows specific book in many aspects. A considerable portion of it is spent talking about Windows specific APIs like DirectSound, and most of the examples use Windows event handling. It's probably hard to avoid the former issue, as there are no platform independent APIs for high quality sound, but many of the examples would not have suffered from being written using GLUT event handling.

Overall, the book is written in a sensible style that may be more accessible to some readers than the "official" OpenGL manuals. However, the areas that I had independent knowledge on (Math and Physics), I noticed numerous mistakes and sloppy reasoning, which may or may not extend to the areas that I can't verify independently.

Not overly valuable to me as a non-Windows programmer who has read the "official" tutorial volume, probably quite a bit more valuable to a Windows based programmer with little prior OpenGL experience.

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A few words from the author, June 12, 2004

By 

Dave Astle (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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

I'm pretty thick skinned, so most of the negative reviews of this book haven't bothered me. In fact, I agree with quite a few of them, and I've taken all constructive criticism into account in the writing I'm doing now.

However, after the last few reviews, I feel obliged to say something. If you look at all of the reviews, you'll see that most of them are positive. In most cases, even people with well-substantiated criticism still gave the book a good rating overall. So to have 4 people in a row give the book a 1 star rating, with little more than brief, vague accusations to support them, smells to me like someone (and I'd guess it really is just one person, considering most of the reviews are anonymous) with an axe to grind. The author of a competing book, perhaps? Whoever it is should be ashamed.

The reality is I think most of the people who have read this book have found it useful, if not perfect. That's the feedback I've received via email, web forums, and in person. People who have had problems with the book or the code who contacted me or Kevin will tell you we were more than happy to help them out.

That said, don't buy this book. We've written another book, Beginning OpenGL Game Programming, which updates most of the material in this book, correcting things that were wrong, providing information about the additions to OpenGL that have been made in the past 3 years, and providing much more information about important topics like texturing and extensions. It's a much better value than this book, so I'd recommend looking at it instead.

I've read dozens of game development and graphics books, and speaking as objectively as possible, I'd give this book 3.5 to 4 stars. But I'm ranking it 5 to offset the real fraud that has appeared in the last several reviews.