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Looking for some books

Started by shadowayex Jul 4, 2011 at 4:09 PM 2 replies 1k views

Original Post

Jul 4, 2011 at 4:09 PM

I want to work on building my own engine to build some games on top of. I know there are many engines out there, but I've got a vision for my engine and the games I build on it. Anywho, I'm wanting to start with 2D graphics, then work up into 3D when I get the foundation of game programming down. Also, I want to add the option for network gaming as well. I've decided to go with Java, as it's the language I'm most familiar with. I've built many different types of Java applications already, including GUI with Swing and client-server communications with Java Sockets.

What I'm looking for is some books that cover the above topics. I want to learn about the theory and algorithms that go into games, including graphics (2D and 3D), physics, network gaming, and pretty much everything. I'm wanting to stay within the realms of Java, but if there are general books that I can easily apply to Java, I'd be willing to get those. I have the OpenGL Red Book already, but I haven't cracked it open yet. I've located some books, including Beginning Java SE 6 Game Programming, Third Edition, Killer Game Programming in Java, Advanced Java Game Programming, and some others, but reviews for these books vary. I'm wanting some opinions on some books that I can pick up to help me learn.

nfries88

Jul 4, 2011 at 4:15 PM

Java's actually not bad for getting the fundamentals of game programming down. The first and most difficult (for me) game I've ever made was 2-player checkers in Java. ;)

I would recommend grabbing a book on Android game development while you're at it. It's a different API, but there's much more money in it.

Serapth

Jul 4, 2011 at 4:31 PM

I know I sound like a shill for this service, but I highly recommend you check out Safari Books Online.
Basically it's an online book service that gives you access to 10's of thousands of books, for a monthly fee. The fee is about the same as 75% of a physical book, so if you are learning tons of different subjects at once, its pretty damned handy/economical. Plus, you can search across all volumes and inside an individual one.

I think there might be a trial available; you can use this to decide for yourself which books to check out. For example, every single book you just mentioned in your post is available on Safari.

All8Up

Jul 4, 2011 at 8:44 PM

I want to work on building my own engine to build some games on top of. I know there are many engines out there, but I've got a vision for my engine and the games I build on it. Anywho, I'm wanting to start with 2D graphics, then work up into 3D when I get the foundation of game programming down. Also, I want to add the option for network gaming as well. I've decided to go with Java, as it's the language I'm most familiar with. I've built many different types of Java applications already, including GUI with Swing and client-server communications with Java Sockets.

What I'm looking for is some books that cover the above topics. I want to learn about the theory and algorithms that go into games, including graphics (2D and 3D), physics, network gaming, and pretty much everything. I'm wanting to stay within the realms of Java, but if there are general books that I can easily apply to Java, I'd be willing to get those. I have the OpenGL Red Book already, but I haven't cracked it open yet. I've located some books, including Beginning Java SE 6 Game Programming, Third Edition, Killer Game Programming in Java, Advanced Java Game Programming, and some others, but reviews for these books vary. I'm wanting some opinions on some books that I can pick up to help me learn.

I would actually suggest the Safari item also for starting out as there are going to be a LOT of different things you want to read about as you learn. I wish I had that option early on, it would have saved me lots of money on many books when I was starting out.

Now, on the other side of things, I *HIGHLY* suggest picking just one of the above items and concentrating on it for a while. I.e. choose the 2D graphics to start with for instance. The reason is that you will branch out into a lot of other things as you go simply out of requirement to get anything done. Just learning one thing will end up taking you through IO, file formats, basic math issues, organization of the code, how to properly build the main loop etc. You will have plenty to deal with before you get into network, physics, sound etc. So, I highly suggest keeping a sharp focus on one obviously complicated item at a time. (And don't touch networking till you get some decent experience with the rest of the engine. )

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