Special Effects Game Programming with DirectX w/CD (Premier Press Game Development (Software)) [Paperback]

Mason McCuskey (Author)

Book Description

Series: Premier Press Game Development (Software) | Publication Date: December 1, 2001

Ever look at a really cool effect in your favorite game and wonder "How in the world did they do that?" This book teaches you the skills that you need to create effects that are just as awesome as the ones that first amazed you. New to DirectX? Don't worry! There are plenty of tips that will bring you up to speed quickly. Already an experienced programmer? Get ready to create some amazing effects that will get people hooked on your game! An entire section on 2D special effects shows you how to use your 3D card for effects like transitions and image warping. If it's 3D effects that you're after, this book has everything that you need to create cool effects like explosions, water, and magic spells. "Special Effects Game Programming with DirectX" is the next step in transforming your game from an application to an experience.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Game programming is without a doubt the most intellectually challenging field of computer science in the world. However, we would be fooling ourselves if we said that we are 'serious' people! Writing (and reading) a game programming book, should be an exciting adventure for both the author and the reader." Andre LaMothe, Series Editor

About the Author

Mason McCuskey is a software engineer with 8 years of commercial programming experience. He has successfully managed his own game company since 1990. In 2000, his company, Spin Studios, was one of 9 world finalists at the Game Developer's Conference 2nd Annual Independent Games Festival. He has also written dozens of articles for gamedev.net. and other Web sites. Mason is the author of "Special Effects Game Programming with DirectX" by Premier Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 960 pages
• Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade; 1 edition (December 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931841063
• ISBN-13: 978-1931841061
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,259,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #33 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Graphics & Multimedia > DirectX

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mason hits one out of the park, January 28, 2002

By 

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

This review is from: Special Effects Game Programming with DirectX w/CD (Premier Press Game Development (Software)) (Paperback)

I've been looking forward to this book for a long time now. I've attended several industry conferences with the author, and he's written numerous articles for our website, so I know him to be both an excellent game programmer and talented writer. I had high expectations for this book, and I'm happy to report that it not only lives up to them, it exceeds them.

This book does two things very well: it provides first-rate coverage of DirectX, and it provides the most extensive coverage of special effects ever put in to a game programming book. I'm going to review each of these aspects of the book separately.
The first half of this book is dedicated to covering the basics of Windows programming, 3D math, and DirectX, and it makes the assumption that you're new to all of these areas. He covers all components of the DirectX API, including DirectAudio, DirectInput, DirectPlay, DirectShow, and of course, DirectGraphics (aka Direct3D), which is where the book really shines. Before this book, I had not encountered a single Direct3D book which I could recommend without reservation. He dedicates 5 hefty chapters to DirectGraphics, including two on texture mapping and one on pixel and vertex shaders (and that doesn't count the second half of the book which provides plenty of examples and advanced techniques). Simply put, this is without question the best book currently on the market from which to learn DirectX, and for that reason alone, it's earned a place at the top of my recommendations list.

Note that even if you aren't new to DirectX, you'll probably find a lot of useful things in the first half of the book which are generally omitted from or glossed over in (most) other books, such as action mapping, DirectShow, and DirectPlay. Even the 3D math section has something to offer, with the most concise and accessible explanation of quaternions that I've come across.

The special effects section of the book is divided into two parts. The first covers 2D effects, including fire, water, image feedback, image warping, clouds, blurs, and transitions. Before you complain about 2D being a thing of the past, note that these effects are intended for use in title screens, or for generating textures to be used in 3D worlds. The second part is, of course, 3D effects, and includes particle systems, explosions, 3D water, guns and projectiles, lens flares, and vertex and pixel shader effects. All of these are presented quite well, but the particle system coverage deserves special mention. It spans almost 100, and takes you all the way from a basic system to a powerful, flexible system controlled through scripts.

Each special effect is accompanied by at least one demo program, which is thoroughly explained in the book. The only downside to this is that the author was only able to focus on a single algorithm for each effect, but he at least mentions some of the alternative approaches, as well as suggestions for improving the techniques he presents. Overall, any game programmer should be able to benefit from the special effects portion of the book, even if you've done some of these things before.

My only real complaint about this book is that it should have been two books. Experienced game programmers will probably find a lot they can use in the special effects portion of the book, but may find the DirectX portion unnecessary. Beginning programmers will definitely benefit from the DirectX portion, but may want to spend some time working on basic game techniques before diving into the special effects portion. But, it's not two books, and as a single volume, it's still worth the price. Also, you should be aware that some of the effects covered in this book require a newer video card to even be able to run the demo program. To get the most out of the book, you'll need a card that at least supports vertex shaders, and preferably pixel shaders as well. Also, if you're not pretty comfortable with C++, you may find yourself struggling with some of the code.

Overall, this book is extremely well-written and easy to read. There's so much that this book has to offer that is difficult, if not impossible, to find elsewhere, I strongly recommend it as a must-have for anyone interested in game programming.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book made me want to write my FIRST review!, January 30, 2002

By 

wetworx (tokyo) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Special Effects Game Programming with DirectX w/CD (Premier Press Game Development (Software)) (Paperback)

I've really just started reading this book, but I wanted to write a quick review so as to let others know what they're missing out.

The quality and layout of the writing is the best I've seen, especially for beginners I'd probably actually recommend this book over LaMothe's own books. Its better explained and more informitive (as well as being fast and enjoyable). Such as instead of saying "just set it to NULL you don't have to know what it does", McCuskey actually explains what "its" for and why you don't need it (I always liked to know, instead of being left clueless)

Its about 900pages of pure content, with little code to break your train of thought (its on the CD). And so far not one sentence is wasted, unlike LaMothe and his comments on what $100K car he drives or how he's some programming "god" by winning a college bet against his peers (what a braggart).

It deals with the latest version of DirectX and nVidia SDK. Its very exhaustive on many (if not all) aspects of special effects that you can think of creating. And an unexpected plus to me, was the section on incorporating an intro AVI movie into your game.

Don't just listen to me, hurry up and get this book to find out yourself!...
btw...am I the only one whose annoyed at that picture of LaMothe on the back cover of all the GD books, where does he think he's in the 'Matrix'?...he seems to take all the credit from rightfully deserving authors, and thats just wrong in my opinion.

Though I'm glad he started this series of books.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Looks like we have a winner here..., January 24, 2002

By 

Michael Cooney (Fort Wayne, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Special Effects Game Programming with DirectX w/CD (Premier Press Game Development (Software)) (Paperback)

I've been reading through this book for the past few days now and have been pleasantly and repeatedly surprised at the quality and meaningfulness of the writing. Before getting into the style, let's go through what the book covers:

Part 1: Basics
Chapter 1 - Intro to Windows Programming
Chapter 2 - Win32 API Programming
Chapter 3 - DirectX
Chapter 4 - 3D Math
Chapter 5 - 3D Concepts
Chapter 6 - Intro to DirectGraphics
Chapter 7 - Lighting
Chapter 8 - Basic Texturing
Chapter 9 - Adv. Texturing
Chapter 10 - Vertex and Pixel Shaders

Part 2: 2D Effects
Chapter 11 - Fire
Chapter 12 - 2D Water
Chapter 13 - Image Feedback
Chapter 14 - Image Warping
Chapter 15 - Clouds
Chapter 16 - Blurs and Image Manip.
Chapter 17 - Fades, Wipes, Transitions...

Part 3: 3D Effects
Chapter 18 - Particle Systems: Rain, Smoke, Magic, etc
Chapter 19 - Adv. Particle Systems
Chapter 20 - Explosions
Chapter 21 - Guns and Projectiles
Chapter 22 - Lens Flares
Chapter 23 - 3D Water

Chapter 24 - Vertex and Pixel Shader Effects

The chapter listing doesn't do the topics justice, though. For example the Chapter on Explosions takes you through sprite animation, billboarding, explosion clusters, particles sytem code, shockwaves and then finishes out with a quick few pages on adding a skybox. The breadth and scope of this book is ambitious - and well met - to say the least.

The writing style? In short, you're treated like an intelligent person. McCuskey doesn't delve deeply into a lot of the topics or spend pages on end listing function parameters. Instead you get a box off to the side telling you where in the DirectX documentation to find more information or other sources (books, mags, websites) if you want or need to explore a topic more fully. Likewise, you're not going to find page after page of code listing, just the relevant part at the relevant time. Now that I think of it, the book spends very little real estate on code listings. And it flows much better for it.

The benefit from a book like this isn't being told how to program a special effect. The benefit, of course, is finding out how it's done in the first place so you don't spend weeks going down the wrong paths. The solutions seem solid and elegant to me but it'll be interesting to see if anyone finds fault with them.

There's not much else to say. It's a well executed book and I haven't found any fault with it. I acknowledge first reviews like these are generally regarded cynically, but I'm sure others will back me up once they receive their copy. Well done, Mason.