Tricks of the Game-Programming Gurus [Paperback]

Andre Lamothe (Author), John Ratcliff (Author), Denise Tyler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1994

This book explains the concepts and ideas behind the development of a flight simulator, a 3-dimensional walk-through game, and the utilities used to manipulate video, audio and input devices.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This comprehensive book explains the concepts and ideas behind the development of a flight simulator, a 3-dimensional walk-through game, and the utilities used to manipulate video, audio, and input devices. "Unveils hundreds of secrets, tips, tricks, and techniques . Teaches readers about advanced bitmap graphics, synthetic intelligence, 2-D graphics, I/O basics, and how to build an authentic flight model and user interface . CD-ROM includes all of the sour". Covers IBM & Compatibles. -- Sams Pub.

Product Details

• Paperback: 768 pages
• Publisher: Sams Publishing; Fourth Edition edition (July 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672305070
• ISBN-13: 978-0672305078
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.2 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,098,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Where once I was blind, now I can see!, May 8, 2000

By 

Chris Miller (Brisbane, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tricks of the Game-Programming Gurus (Paperback)

After reading this book cover to cover, I felt confident that I could both grasp and program the essentials of what went into a game from the DOS-era. Though familar with C, it took two months to read the volumous book, but it really is a delight to read. The code is commented superbly (after a while, you almost don't even have to read the code to understand it) and I would recommend running the conveniently provided demo *.exe files for each example to get a better idea of how it works after reading each one.

The first few chapters on I/O and 2D and the later chapters on AI and interrupt handling provide more than enough to begin programming your own games using C in DOS (DJGPP compiler is great for this - the web of course provides the rest).

The chapters on 3d ray-castering, etc, provide a good understanding for how Wolf-3D might have worked, but falls slightly short of Doom. This is not such a bad thing if you are new (as I was) to games programming. Less forgiving though, was the disappointment to find that after reading the whole book, the final chapter does not deliver on coding a 3D game with monsters, etc. I can understand that after the effort of all the previous chapters with their carefully-coded examples, the author may have been keen to finish the book, but it was like a finishing a game without a "Hey you just won now watch this ultra-cool sequence" ending.

That aside though, this is an exceptional book for beginners to game programming. After reading it, you will be able to look at any game and start to see the cogs ticking behind the scenes. If nothing else, it will give you an appreciation of the programming effort put into games. For those seeking instant gratification with Windows/directX games, this book can be skipped. But for those with an interest in learning games programming, I couldn't think of a better place to start.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb., August 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tricks of the Game-Programming Gurus (Paperback)

Although dated now, this book is still one of the books I love the most in my collection.

Lamothe starts in each chapter with a new topic and gradually solves the problems as they arise with summaries and other notes. A basic knowledge of C and how to work computers obviously will stand you in good stead but even an amature, with determination can pick this book up and really learn from it. Lamothe tends to spring little details on you at the last moment so be sure to read every chapter at least twice.

As I said it is a bit old but helps you understand the basics of the VGA card mode 13h, yadda yadda.... Graphics and all other games aspects are covered, even 3D has a little coverage.

The Video Games Industry is an impossible thing to follow as advances are every where and a new book is an old book overnight but Lamothe has made a brilliant stab at this.... and succeeded.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great book, June 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tricks of the Game-Programming Gurus (Paperback)

I thought this book was good. It was easy to understand and it didn't bore me. The only problem I had was that before I bought the book I didn't know that you had to know C. So then I had to buy a book to teach me C. Other then that I thought the book was good. But if you don't know C then you should read Absolue Beginner's Guide to C, then Teach Yourself C in 21 Days. Then you should know C good enough to get this book.