Introduction to Computer Game Programming With DirectX 8.0 [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Introduction to Computer Game Programming with DirectX 8.0 provides beginning programmers with the foundations of computer game programming using Microsoft’s DirectX 8.0 software. Computer science professor Ian Parberry details the construction of a game demo in sequential stages using DirectDraw, DirectSound, and the Windows API, including a detailed explanation of the program’s C++ code. The appendixes discuss changing resolution and color depth and adding multimedia in the form of AVI movies and MIDI music.

On the CD: Complete source code in PDF format Image and sound files and executables for Ned’s Turkey Farm, a game demo developed in the UNT Laboratory for Recreational Computing DirectX 8.0 SDK

About the Author

Ian Parberry is a professor of computer science at the University of North Texas, where he has established a unique curriculum focusing on the computer game development industry. Parberry is internationally recognized as one of the top academics in his field of computer game programming. He is also the author of Learn Computer Game Programming with DirectX 7.0.

Product Details

• Paperback: 281 pages
• Publisher: Wordware Publishing, Inc. (March 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556228104
• ISBN-13: 978-1556228100
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,370,799 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not really about DirectX 8, April 19, 2001

By	Glenn Watson "deepdene" (Mooroolbark, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

DirectX 8 herald a new era of the API. It was a complete re-write. DirectDraw and Direct3D were combined into a easier and more powerful API called DirectX Graphics. This release also means that you'll be able to take your programming beyond the PC, to the Dreamcast and the X Box.

Unfortunately this book doesn't take advantage of the new API at all. Basically it's just a rehash of the author's previous work Learn Computer Game Programming with DirectX 7.0. Apart from having a few less chapters this book touches on nothing in the significant upgrade. It would of been better if they called this book "Re-released book about DirectDraw 7 with just a few chapters missing".

If you want a real book on DirectX 8 Graphics get "Beginning Direct3D Game Programming" by Wolfgang F. Engel.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Yet another worthless book., March 26, 2001

By	Dave Eberly (Chapel Hill, NC United States) - See all my reviews

I was hoping that some day we would see the demise of the long list of books of the form "Tricks of the Computer Game Experts Written for Dummies and Learnable in 7 Days" (subtitle: You want to be a game programmer; we want your money). Add this book to the end of that list, soon to be followed by other worthless books that also have little content, but apparently catch the eye of aspiring game programmers. The first warning is on the cover page: "Ian Parberry, Ph.D. / Foreward by Melanie Cambron, Game Recruiting Goddess". Be wary when an author must flaunt his degree, as if somehow that makes the book good. And "Game Recruiting Goddess"? Give us a break. Well, the preface is entertaining--ramblings about life in academia with an argument to support why the author is qualified to write a book on game programming. Not convincing. Having experience working for a game company would be more convincing.

The second warning on the cover is the phrase "Condensed and updated version of Learn Computer Game Programming with DirectX 7.0". When you get to Chapter 1 "Read This First", here is where you get your surprise. From the book: "This book is a short, inexpensive version of the author's book Learn Computer Game Programming with DirectX 7.0. If you already own that book, then don't buy this one. (*) This book does not contain Chapters 13-15." The new appendices "Now What", "High Color and Resolution" (new BMP file reader), and "AVI Movies and MIDI Music" (play an AVI, play MIDI music) are not significant. The CD includes DirectX 8.0 SDK (it is downloadable from Microsoft...). Nothing to warrant purchasing the book.

Regarding the content, this book has nothing to do with anything 3D; it is a simple presentation of a few basic DirectDraw concepts. Chapter titles: Read This First, Displaying the Background, Page Flipping, Full-screen Animation, Sprite Animation, Sprite Clipping, Parallax Scrolling, Artificial Intelligence (not even close to what real game programmers call AI), The Game Shell, Sound (play .wav files), The Mouse, The Joystick. The fact that the book has DirectX 8 is irrelevant. There is no discussion of old things such as camera models, lighting, texture effects, etc. There is no discussion of new things such as pixel shaders and state blocks.

Given how well the book appears to be selling, I suspect a lot of aspiring game programmers believe they are getting a good buy; that is a shame. For those who have not yet bought it, save your money and purchase something with real content from a book company with a reputation for delivering quality computer texts.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars How to bitblt in directx 7 (don't buy), July 3, 2001

By	S. Peleg (Israel) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this book hoping to learn a bit about DirectX and game programming, and I received a complete book about how to BitBlt.

Searching for DirectX 8 stuff.... Not found.

Important points:

1. The book wastes many chapters on how to use a bitmap in DirectX. This matter should occupy one chapter (two at most).

2. There is nothing else beside bitmaps, no graphic methods (2D drawing).

3. He teaches how to use the joystick with API calls, when there is direct input, a god gift for using user controls, and improved (simplified and enhanced) in DirectX 8.

4. Silly algorithms.

5. Although almost every one have a powerfull computer with a lot of memory (since it got so cheap) the auther takes many sentences to explain why to use low-resolution images and (for god sake) MONO 8bit 22khz wave files. This will make you game very very ugly.

I'm not an advance programmer yet most of the information this book provides in intuitive and should not take a complete book.

There are articles all over the Internet on most of this stuff, and bit hard work with the MSDN tutorials and examples (yes there are examples with the DirectX SDK, check them out!).