Software Engineering and Computer Games [Paperback]

Rudy Rucker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201767910 | ISBN-13: 978-0201767919 | Publication Date: December 27, 2002

"This book should be a requirement of anyone that wants to write games - period"
André Lamothe, author and CEO of Xtreme Games

There are many books on the art of games programming but now acclaimed author Rudy Rucker has gone a step beyond and transformed it into a science.

Software Engineering and Computer Games uses an object-oriented (OO) approach throughout, incorporating UML for OO analysis and design and discussing software patterns and how to incorporate them into the design process.

The book covers nine topics:
1) Basic software engineering principles and techniques.
2) How to organize and complete a substantial software project
3) Practical examples of object-oriented design and programming.
4) The design of computer games.
5) Simulating physics inside our computer-generated worlds.
6) Artificial life, or how to simulate live creatures inside a computer program.
7) How to use two and three-dimensional computer graphics.
8) Windows programming with the Microsoft Foundation Classes, or MFC.
9) How to develop a project using Microsoft Visual Studio(Either Version 6.0 or .NET)

The game engine accompanying the book is an open source C++ framework (the POP Framework), available together with other accompanying material from the website.
The book can be used for self-study, with readers encouraged to use the POP Framework as a starting point for creating their own games.

Software Engineering and Computer Games was developed as the primary textbook for an undergraduate software engineering course and can also be the main book for courses on software projects or computer game design and programming.

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book should be a requirement of anyone that wants to write games - period. -- From the Foreword by Andre Lamothe, author and CEO of Xtreme Games

From the Inside Flap

There are many books on the art of games programming but now acclaimed author Rudy Rucker has gone a step beyond and transformed it into a science.

Software Engineering and Computer Games was written with four broad goals:

* To teach a lively style of object-oriented software engineering.

* To show how to bring a complete program to the level of a commercial release.

* To provide a "game engine" framework of linked classes for game development.

* To help students create computer games that are interactive, rapidly executing, and visually beautiful.

It uses an object-oriented (OO) approach throughout, incorporating UML for OO analysis and design and discussing software patterns and how to incorporate them into the design process. The book covers nine topics:

* Basic software engineering principles and techniques.
* How to organize and complete a substantial software project.
* Practical examples of object-oriented design and programming.
* The design of computer games.
* Simulating physics inside our computer-generated worlds.
* Artificial life, or how to simulate live creatures inside a computer program.
* How to use two and three-dimensional computer graphics.
* Windows programming with the Microsoft Foundation Classes, or MFC.
* How to develop a project using Microsoft Visual Studio (Either Version 6.0 or .

The book can be used for self-study, with readers encouraged to use the POP Framework as a starting point for creating their own games. Software Engineering and Computer Games was developed as the primary textbook for an undergraduate software engineering course and can also be the main book for courses on software projects or computer game design and programming.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 648 pages
• Publisher: Addison Wesley (December 27, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201767910
• ISBN-13: 978-0201767919
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,356,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Software Engineering and Computer Games, February 14, 2003

By 

daman (Atlanta,GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Software Engineering and Computer Games (Paperback)

This is the guy who taught LaMothe at California State University, San Jose.
The book is about 608 pages thick (small size). For beginners, this is the perfect introduction.The author published the source code utilized in the book as Open Source.
So anyone can download it from his website for free.
Getting back to the book:
Negatives: Code is sprinkled with small bits of MFC and OpenGL.(instead of the industry standard Direct X).
Positives: Rudy Rucker does a better job of teaching game programming inside of the c/c++ framework.
Read a good c++ book first,then read (SE&CG).
After that you can read LaMothe: Game Programming for dummies.
This book covers object oriented programming,2d,3d techniques,UML,physics.
This is cgp101: computer game programming(intro to game programming).
All of the programs run inside of a MFC created window(frameset). But if you read the book,cover to cover, you will have the skills-set to "break out of this window".
I couldn't get the picture out of my mind during the whole time I was reviewing this book of thinking back to a past Star Wars episode when Luke was fighting Darth Vader with the "lightening swords". And Luke is trying his best to kick Darth arse. And Darth looks at Luke and says: "Give up Luke, you are but a learner, but I am the Masta".
If you really want to "get it", buy the book.

6 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Outdated, not relevant and Padded up, February 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Software Engineering and Computer Games (Paperback)

This book is written by a person who has no idea in which direction the game industry has been heading in the last 8 to 10 years. It is a ridiculous attempt at writing a book on a subject the author is singularly inept.

The traditional practices of Software Engineering are usefull in game development but you should take a look at some articles at www.gamasutra.com written by REAL game developers to understand the amazing amount of misinformation in this book.

In my opinion it is impossible today (with current technology in mind) to write a book about game development without considering the usage of DirectX which is the most fequently used development platform. The author has based his work on MFC (when was the last time you saw that in a game???) and a miniscule amount of work on OpenGL, which is impossible to understand.

I believe the author should do a lot more reading about game development before he writes about it and actually learn what on earth is going on today in the world!!