Book that goes over something like Napoleon total war

Not likely, and certainly not at any level of detail. The aggregate skills required to make a game of that scope won't fit nicely into a single book.

Which particular system? The total war games are made up of dozens of gameplay systems, as well as all the technical systems...

Wow you two are the masters of the obvious.

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Original post by Fassbinderfan Wow you two are the masters of the obvious.

Well I wasn't going to be rude, but since you started it, from your question it sounds like you're the master of the facepalm.

I mean it sounds from your question (I'm just guessing here so correct me if I'm wrong) that you don't know much about programming at all. So what do you expect? You have to learn to crawl before you can walk. And you have to be born before you can learn to crawl.

I mean a commercial quality game such as NTW is ridiculously complex. Hundreds of thousands of lines of code. No book is going to even scratch the surface, you needs hundreds of specialized skills for a game like that.

In that respect, there are thousands (literally) of books that go over "something like Napoleon Total War System". Any book on graphics programming, any book on C++, any book on game programming, any book on algorithms and data structure, any book on network programming, any book on 3d math and linear algebra.

So you can basically go to amazon.com, type "programming", and just buy anything you see and it will be just as relevant as any other book if your aim is to learn how to program a system like NTW.

This probably isn't what you're looking for, but it's the answer to the question you asked. So do you have a more specific question?

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Original post by Fassbinderfan Wow you two are the masters of the obvious.

This reply doesn't make sense. If you consider Telastyn's and Hodgman's answers to be obvious, that implies you already knew the answer before you asked the question. So why'd you ask then?

Anyway, like cache_hit said, it's unlikely you'll find one book that covers this. If there are specific aspects of the game that you're interested in, someone could probably offer some recommendations though.

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Original post by Fassbinderfan Quote: Original post by Hodgman Which particular system? Wow you [are a] master of the obvious.

Uh, so... Which particular system?

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Original post by Hodgman Quote: Original post by Fassbinderfan Quote: Original post by Hodgman Which particular system? Wow you [are a] master of the obvious. Uh, so... Which particular system?

The whole thing I think. Preferably the book should include, as a final project, a game that's as complicated as Napoleon Total War. It should start from ground 0 too.

I'd just like to point out to all concerned this thread is being watched...

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Original post by Fassbinderfan Is there any book out there on game programming that goes over something like Napoleon total war system?

Yes, there is.

Just in case you also want to know which books those are:

- "The Art of Computer Programming"
- "The C++ Programming Language"
- "The C++ Standard Library"
- "C++ Network Programming"
- "What every computer scientist should know about floating-point arithmetic"
- "What every programmer should know about memory"
- "Modern Operating Systems"
- "Modern Multithreading"
- "Parallel Computing"
- "Programming Massively Parallel Processors"
- "Effective C++"
- "Physically Based Rendering"
- "Programming Game AI by Example"
- "Artificial Intelligence for Games. With CD-ROM."
- "Learning Autodesk Maya 2008"
- "Introducing Character Animation with Blender"
- "Digital Art Masters"
- "GPU GEMS"

And many more. So ...

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Uh, so... Which particular system?

because, let me tell you that e.g. PBRT, a book about physically based ray tracing, covers a < 0.5MLoC ray tracing system and consists of 1k+ pages. How many pages would you expect for NTW if it goes into every coding detail? Then, every design detail? Character modeling and animation? Scalability on modern CPU/GPU?

Begin with something simple. Build up on that, gain experience. If it becoms unextensible/unmaintainable, begin from scratch and do better, but don't build a Second System. Even TW-programmers are just cooking with water and doing nothing impossible.

cache_hit, no there are all kinds of books that teach DirectX and for the final project you create some clone of a game like Warcraft or Doom. I thought there was one that did a Sims. Well anyways shut up. Just shut up if you don't know. I was asking if anyone knew of a book that went over a 10 year old game system called Total War. You oviously don't know so rather than shut up you make a post trying to tell everyone you don't know.

Hodgman, well could you give me a choice? Or are you trying to get me to guess?

jyk, why do I call them masters of the obvious. Because the first guys post says I don't know. He didn't mention any titles he just posted I don't know. Why did he go thru all the trouble to write I don't know. I don't know ask him. I'm sure your curious.

Telastyn, not likely. I've got an idea for you too. Shut up.


Why did I post instead of Google/Amazon search? Because I was hoping to hear from someone who actually had gone thru a book that covered some part fo the Total war system.

I was allowing for the possibility I was wrong.


To answer more thoroughly:

I've been programming for 17 years. I have a good idea what it would take to write that book. I've been hanging around here, and have seen variations on this question for wow... 7 years now.

The book you're looking for does not exist.


If you want to make something like Total War, the first step is to realize how absurd/vague/unanswerable your original question was. If that part of my original post was lost on you, here's another.

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Original post by Fassbinderfan cache_hit, no there are all kinds of books that teach DirectX and for the final project you create some clone of a game like Warcraft or Doom. I thought there was one that did a Sims. Well anyways shut up. Just shut up if you don't know. I was asking if anyone knew of a book that went over a 10 year old game system called Total War. You oviously don't know so rather than shut up you make a post trying to tell everyone you don't know. Hodgman, well could you give me a choice? Or are you trying to get me to guess? jyk, why do I call them masters of the obvious. Because the first guys post says I don't know. He didn't mention any titles he just posted I don't know. Why did he go thru all the trouble to write I don't know. I don't know ask him. I'm sure your curious. Telastyn, not likely. I've got an idea for you too. Shut up. Why did I post instead of Google/Amazon search? Because I was hoping to hear from someone who actually had gone thru a book that covered some part fo the Total war system.

This is extremely rude and utterly uncalled for.

It's very poor form to ask a question, and then, when given a perfectly reasonable answer, tell people to "shut up." You seriously need to work on some tact and manners if you want to remain an active part of this community.


I'm closing this thread for now since your question has been more than well answered, and so it doesn't go even further down hill.