Game Programming Book Geeks !

None.

All I have is:

OpenGL Shading Language
The CG Tutorial
Real-Time Rendering 2nd Edition

And a bunch of hardcore 3d graphics techniques papers I printed
The Internet

Quote:

Original post by Drew_Benton Beginning Direct3D Game Programming, 2nd Edition

Nice book. Uses the D3D Application Framework, so it flat out does not cover D3D initialization. This lets it get to the point and cover more advanced stuff sooner. There's no hundred page block on how to code windows apps. It's unfortunately a bit short, and tends to gloss over some topics a little.

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The Zen of Direct3D Game Programming

I liked it, anyway. A lot of people seem to say that his example code is really bad. I wouldn't know -- I never tried his samples or book code. It goes through a lot of D3D in good detail. Unfortunately, it also features a hundred pages on coding Windows GDI, and the engine he designs at the end is painfully simplistic.

Focus on SDL
Roleplaying Games with DirectX

By the time I am done spending my Christmas cash I will have:

OpenGL Red Book
The CG Tutorial
Real-Time Rendering 2nd Edition
Design Patterms

Got to love that teachers discount at Borders. (My dad is a teacher)

In my humble opinion, most of what the Prima Tech/Premire Press Game Development Series books have to offer is limited, solely oriented towards beginning programmers (to be expected), and often available on the net nearly word for word (such is obviously the case with numerous, other books). Thusly, I haven't purchased any recent ones within the last couple years.

That's just my opinion, though; without doubt, I believe they are well-suited for many programmers. To say the least, I bought OpenGL Game Programming, Beginning Direct3D Game Programming, Focus on 3D Terrain Programming, and Focus on 3d Models a few years ago! So, I believe that my opinion has some basis.

While we are listing programming-related books, here are some that I've purchased over the last few years:
OpenGL Programming Guide, 3D Games: Real-Time Rendering and Software Technology, Game Programming Gems 1 + 2 + 3, Real-Time Rendering 1st ed. + 2nd ed., C++ For You, Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus, Advanced 3-D Game Programming With DirectX 7.0, Code Complete, Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice, OpenGL Superbible, The Complete Reference to C++, Practical C++

Nearly all of these have been well-worth their costs.

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AI Techniques for Game Programming

I would pruchase AI Game Programming Wisdom, edited by Steve Rabin. While you'll probably only use one to three chapters for any game your making, it goes much more in-depth than the Prima books and it helped me find information that really isn't available on the web. I'm currently reading this book as my AI was horrible in my current project but now it has improveved quite a bit.

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Beginning Direct3D Game Programming, 2nd Edition

I read this book, and it was mostly about setting up DirectX so you could do vertex and pixel shaders using HLSL. I didn't really like the author's writing style (Wolfgang Engel), but it may have been a matter of personal taste. You can find most of this information about shaders on the web quite easily.

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Focus On 2D in Direct3D

Very sad. Glad I got it out from my university library :). All the information in this book can be found from a google search in less time than it takes you to go to Borders to buy the book. The demos included were very sad.

As far as the Data Structures one, its good if you haven't studied Data Structues yet. I read this book as I was taking Data Structures, and the only thing new that I learned was the pathfinding which wasn't covered in my university's course. It also teached you how to tie in Data Structures to Game Programming, but I have not found much of a use for data structures yet in any of the games I have worked on.

I would agree with masterg that the Prima Tech/Premire Press have quite a bit a "Intro To C++" in them as well. I think half of them I picked up use the first 3 chapters as a intro for C++ programming.

Thank you all for the feedback! Much appreciated [wink].

Infinite Game Universe: Mathematical Techniques (Lecky-Thompson)
3D Game Programming All-In-One (Finney)

I'd suggest the former if you can really concentrate on what the author is saying. It's very abstract, but interesting nonetheless.

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Original post by Drew_Benton Focus on 3D Terrain Programming

My book sucks. 'Nuff said.

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Original post by Drew_Benton P.S. Does anyone know when "Windows and Linux Game Programming Integrating Sdl, Opengl, and Directx" will come out?

Unless Premier found another author to pick up where I left off, I don't believe that book is due out any time soon. I wrote about nine chapters of that book, then left the project about fifteen months ago. They did ask to keep the material I wrote, so I'm really not sure what the current status of the project is.

Oh, and Data Structures for Game Programmers is a very good book. Ron (dunno if he still posts here anymore) did an amazing job with the book.

Game Programming Gems 1,2,3,4
ShaderX2

I also have a bunch of Computer Science books left over from my University classes.

Quote:

Original post by mittens Quote: Original post by Drew_Benton Focus on 3D Terrain Programming My book sucks. 'Nuff said.

Aww don't be so modest - it's great! [wink]

Quote:

Quote: Original post by Drew_Benton P.S. Does anyone know when "Windows and Linux Game Programming Integrating Sdl, Opengl, and Directx" will come out? Unless Premier found another author to pick up where I left off, I don't believe that book is due out any time soon. I wrote about nine chapters of that book, then left the project about fifteen months ago. They did ask to keep the material I wrote, so I'm really not sure what the current status of the project is.

Darn! I was recently looking up a list of the entire series and I saw that one at bottom. Thanks for the info. I will definitly have to get that data-structure book - I've been eyeing it since it first came out- but couldn't afforf it [lol].

I have gems 1 and 3, I need to get 2 and 4 before 5 comes out! Thanks!

- Drew

[Edited by - Drew_Benton on May 25, 2005 9:46:59 PM]

Good game progging (specifically) books : my recommendations are:

Anything by Charles River Media (Game programming gems, ai game programming wisdom, etc.) - I've found their quality to be consistently high and full of info. My problem was getting too many at once and still not absorbing it all!

C++ for game programmers - noel llopis
Game Coding Complete - mike mcshaffry

These are the best overall game development books that I have read - I think both are in the GameDev books section, so I haven't linked.

Jim.

I own these three books in the Premier Press series:

OpenGL Game Programming,
Data Structures for Game Programmers, and
Focus on 3D Terrain Programming

And they were all very good!

Quote:

Original post by mittens My book sucks. 'Nuff said.

Nah man, don't be so harsh on yourself! I thought it was a great book, it helped me a lot. *thumbs up*

These are the books I have. The ones with comments in them (ex okay) are the ones I have gone through:

• Introducing UNIX Systems V by Rachel Morgan and Henry McGilton
  
• 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9.0 by Frank D. Luna
  
• PHP for the World Wide Web by Larry Ullman (Okay)
  
• Sams Teach Yourself C in 21 Days by Bradley L Jones and Peter Aitken (Okay)
  
• Algorithms in C++ by Robert Sedgewick (Amazing)
  
• DirectX 3D Graphics Programming by Julio Sanchez and Maria P. Canton
  
• 3D Game Programming with C++ by Andre LaMothe and John De Goes
  
• PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites by Larry Ullman (Good)
  
• Practical C++ Programming by Steve Oualline (Okay)
  
• Object Oriented Programming in C++ by Robert Lafore (Excellent)
  

Quote:

Original post by Rob Loach These are the books I have. The ones with comments in them (ex okay) are the ones I have gone through: Introducing UNIX Systems V by Rachel Morgan and Henry McGilton 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9.0 by Frank D. Luna PHP for the World Wide Web by Larry Ullman (Okay) Sams Teach Yourself C in 21 Days by Bradley L Jones and Peter Aitken (Okay) Algorithms in C++ by Robert Sedgewick (Amazing) DirectX 3D Graphics Programming by Julio Sanchez and Maria P. Canton 3D Game Programming with C++ by Andre LaMothe and John De Goes PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites by Larry Ullman (Good) Practical C++ Programming by Steve Oualline (Okay) Object Oriented Programming in C++ by Robert Lafore (Excellent)

[[smile]]
Ohh so you want to compare "book" huh!?!
...
Lists over 100
...

[/[smile]]
Thanks for the info! I'll take a look at them.

- Drew

[Edited by - Drew_Benton on May 25, 2005 9:48:10 PM]

Quote:

Original post by Drew_Benton Random topic [wink].

Random response [wink].

What is the ratio of your time spent in the lounge to that which you spend reading those books and programming?