Strategy Game Programming With Directx 9.0 2003 [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Todd Barron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 2003 | Series: Wordware Game and Graphics Library

This book gives hobbyists and professional programmers the knowledge necessary to create a real time strategy game of their own.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Todd Barron has worked in the video games industry as a software engineer and manager of game development at Merit Industries. Currently he works for Acxiom Corporation as a lead developer in the products division. As a vehicle for his game creations, he owns and operates Lost Logic, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 538 pages
• Publisher: Wordware Publishing, Inc. (May 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556229224
• ISBN-13: 978-1556229220
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,232,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #56 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Graphics & Multimedia > DirectX

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read, easy to follow and reasonable coverage, February 29, 2004

By 

John Harpur (Trim, Meath, IRELAND) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Strategy Game Programming With Directx 9.0 2003 (Paperback)

I am generally on the lookout for books to recommend to my students on games. This is a relatively easy read and the layout is clear. In other words it is a book that you could hand to a student and expect him or her to make some progress. That's a plus in my opinion. The author takes pains to elaborate various input and manipulation strategies and there is a sense of completeness about the work (though the domain is limited). There is a good discussion of the practical use of textures in games with a supporting short appendix on Photoshop. Artifical intelligence doesn't make any appearance, unless you count the A* algorithm. D3DX is covered but not as a central theme - more of a case of fit it in because readers will expect it. In general, there is a lot of programming material in the book to keep students busy.

The book has a number of limitations. It may not be the most appealing text to anyone with game development experience. In the main the game concept in the book is a bit dated - combat strategy. Secondly, there is a large 2D dependency in the book arising from its reliance on tiled graphics. This shouldn't phase a student but a commercial developer may think otherwise. Thirdly, even though the book was published in June 2003 it relies on the older VC++ 6.0 rather than VC++ .net 2002 (obviously it couldn't use .net 2003). This is simply sloppy and suggests that the code from earlier projects was dusted off for the book. I would be more comfortable recommending the book if the publishers brought all the code up to .net 2003 standard.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Nothing to learn from this book, December 21, 2005

By 

DC "DC" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strategy Game Programming With Directx 9.0 2003 (Paperback)

In all honesty, I belive the author hardly has any knowledge of game development at all. I would say 80% of the book's text is theory about RTS game design --which isn't anything you don't know already. The rest is code that lacks basic features such as unit selection.

If you've been modding RTS games you probably know more than the author about RTS game design/development.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars WARNING! Don't buy this book based upon its title!, May 5, 2004

By 

TotalMonkey "totalmonkey" (DC Metro, United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Strategy Game Programming With Directx 9.0 2003 (Paperback)

To sum this book up in one thought: Based upon the information in the book, I have serious doubts that the author has ever written a strategy game.

The Amazon book info reads: "Text covers everything needed to create a strategy game using C++ and DirectX 9.0," and the description tells us "Strategy Game Programming with DirectX 9.0 covers everything necessary for you to create a strategy game using C++ and DirectX 9.0." This is simply not true. While this book covers many subjects, it only barely touches upon any important aspects of strategy game (either real-time or turn-based) programming. I was appalled at the absence of information on selection boxes and "picking" units, specifically (and absolutely) necessary for RTS game programming!

The main faults with the book are poor organization, absence of essential information for creating a working strategy game, and lack of topic depth where it's needed most. The majority of the book is not relevant to the subject of the book (programming strategy games with DirectX 9.0), and is already covered by books particular to those subjects. Also, while there are code samples, none of them culminate into a working sample of a strategy game (although the map editor is commendable). Finally, at the listing price of $60 US, the book is simply not worth the money - in fact, I purchased the book used on Amazon for about $25, and it's not worth even $25! (...except maybe as a lesson in how not to write a book on programming strategy games.)

If you are looking to learn to creating strategy games, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! Spend your money on a different book. I seriously do not see how other reviewers could have given this book a high rating, but everyone is entitled to an opinion. (Although I seriously wonder how many readers found it possible to build a strategy game after reading this book.) I wish there were more out there on strategy game development, but unfortunately there isn't.

[I revised this review after reading the book a second time.]

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