Pocket PC Game Programming w/CD (Prima Tech's Game Development) (Paperback)

by Jonathan S. Harbour (Author), Andre' LaMothe (Editor) "This chapter will introduce the "Windows Powered" Pocket PC platform, and cover some of the history of Windows CE..." (more)
Key Phrases: button test program, creating double buffer, stylus events, Embedded Visual, Visual Basic, Pocket Air Hockey (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Pocket PC Game Programming will help you develop the tools and source code needed to write multiplayer games that can be played on wireless devices and the Internet. You will not only learn essential programming skills for the Pocket PC, but you will also create a programming resource that contains routines that will come in handy when writing a variety of games. Pocket PC Game Programming covers the history and future of the Pocket PC platform, essential programming tools, Windows messages, the game loop, loading bitmaps, drawing animated sprites, playing sound effects, advanced programming techniques, and much, much more!

About the Author
Jonathan S. Harbour has been an avid gamer and programmer for 17 years, having started with a Ti-99, Commodore PET, and a Tandy 1000. In 1994, he earned a B.S. in computer science. He has since earned the position of senior programmer with 7 years of formal programming experience. Jonathan is a member of the "Starflight III" team, working with the original designers and other volunteers on a sequel to the first two Starflight games (using Allegro), originally published by Electronic Arts in 1985 and 1989, respectively. He has professional-level experience in graphical user interface design and 2D and 3D graphics programming, as well as TCP/IP socket programming and Internet protocols. In addition, he has released the retail Pocket PC games "Pocket Trivia" and "Perfect Match". Harbour has also authored "Pocket PC Game Programming" (0761530576), "Visual Basic Game Programming with DirectX" (193184125X), "Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Programming for the Absolute Beginner" (1592000029), and "Beginner's Guide to DarkBASIC Game Programming" (1592000096), and his most recent "Game Programming All In One, 2nd Edition" (1592003834). He maintains a Web site dedicated to game programming and other topics at http://www.jharbour.com. Jonathan lives in Arizona with his wife, Jennifer, and children, Jeremiah and Kayleigh.

Product Details

• Paperback: 768 pages
• Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade; 1 edition (May 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761530576
• ISBN-13: 978-0761530572
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #929,273 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This item is part of The Course PTR Game Development Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pocket PC Game Programming, January 18, 2004

By A Customer

Excellent tutorial for becoming familiar with programming for the Pocket PC platform, but also for novices to windows programming in general. Harbour starts at the ground up, explaining the differences between the two in an easier to understand writing style. I have tried for years to grasp c++ programming after working with BASIC and countless other languages but for some reason could not. After working through the book, not only did I have a working, infinitely expandable 2D game engine for programming for PPC, but I had finally gained a much better understanding of the language.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book but typos in code on cd, June 12, 2001

By	Don R. Hanson II (Beaverton, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you know how to program and want to try out the Pocket PC then this is a great book to own. It gives you some background, spends just a little time on the "structure of a Windows app", then gets into doing cool things on the PocketPC. The chapters on getting images to the screen faster using the Game Api (DirectX precursor) were great. I've always wanted to do Sockets/Networking programming and this book is where I learned. Btw, I'm not a game programmer!

Only downside is the cd which contains a number of errors in the example code. Since the code is also in the book, its not that big of a deal (just a little shoddy). The cd also comes packed with a ton of games.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forget the *GAME* part, March 15, 2002

By	Patrick Roberts (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you wanted to write a game for a PocketPC device this would absolutly be your book. However, I've been writing utility applications I find myself using this book over other references. This is the best lightweight WinCE/PocketPC progamming book out there- games or not. Harbour covers topics in a very easy-to-understand way- from graphics and sound to networking. No matter what the issue I usually go to this book first, then then web, then one of the other WinCE books I own if need be. If you're new to WinCE (esp. coming from a non Win32 background) this book is exceptionally great.