Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just for game programmers, May 3, 2000
Great book. I really enjoyed networking chapters - there are lots of examles useful in everyday work even if you are not a game developer. Although a little obsolete (escpecially in the time I am writing this), I would recommend this book to anyone interested in game programming and/or java networking. Part one is really an easygoing and fun introduction into Java and OOP concepts. I was really suprised how authors were paying attention to OOP concepts and clean object oriented design. Part two is the where real stuff begins - networking, advanced graphics, multiplayer gaming, etc... Part three is a veru useful and interesting to study collection of games (with sources and explanations of key features and used programming techniques). Appendix E even explains some basic math background useful if you want to understand a little bit how 3D engines work.
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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great way to learn Java!, July 28, 1999
By A Customer
Although this is a VERY old book, which was published early in the life of Java 1.0, it is filled with excellent game programming examples. I found it to be a good general reference to Java as well. It is fun being able to run your programs on any computer and any environment, even from your own personal web page! I used the techniques I learned about Java graphics programming to build an entire front end to my web site in Java. No HTML links, all Java links, with animated GIFs (Java draws these automatically!), buttons that click, scrolling text, and other neat features. I was even able to create a cool scrolling news reader for my web site using techniques from this book. It's a great resource even if you are not interested in game programming, because the graphics techniques are very useful.This book is great for beginners, but does not get into any deep game programming issues. Several example games are fun to examine and play.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From Zero to 3D-combat flight sim creator, September 22, 2000
I wish my textbooks were written like this! This book is the complete package for anyone who always wanted to write a game but didn't have an idea where to start. 'Black Art' begins by assumming you >*don't even know Java*<, and teaches all about variables, methods, object construction and inheritence in the first tenth of the book with incredibly compact examples that are both fun (bouncing rectangles and a sushi chef, cool!) and encourage you to mutate the code (the sushi chef burps when he bounces off walls!) to create other effects. Building a full game is not easy, but building a Galaga-type vertical shooter is covered over several chapters, with the game increasing in complexity each time. Collison detection, animation, mouse and keyboard imput, anti-flicker techniques, multiplay over the internet..it's all there, and the examples run on my Java 2 compiler with few quibbles. For icing, the last half of the book shows how to construct several arcade classics (Asteroids, Daleks, Growing Snake and Treats, Trivia match) ending in a 3D combat sim that automatically adjusts the framerate to avoid flickering. Forget classes, get this book!
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