- Paperback: 1088 pages
- Publisher: Sams; 2 edition (19 Jun 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0672323699
- ISBN-13: 978-0672323690
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 18.8 x 5.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 405,062 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Tricks of the Windows Game Programmin Gurus, 2E takes the reader through Win32 programming, covering all the major components of DirectX including DirectDraw, DirectSound, DirectInput (including Force Feedback), and DirectMusic. Andre teaches the reader 2D graphics and rasterization techniques. Finally, Andre provides the most intense coverage of game algorithms, multithreaded programming, artificial intelligence (including fuzzy logic, neural nets, and genetic algorithms), and physics modeling you have ever seen in a game book.
About the Author
Andrè LaMothe (a.k.a. Lord Necron) has been programming for over 24 years and holds degrees in mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering. He has written numerous articles on the subjects of graphics, game programming, and artificial intelligence. He is the author of Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus, Sams Teach Yourself Game Programming in 21 Days, The Game Programming Starter Kit, The Black Art of 3D Game Programming, and Windows Game Programming for Dummies, all bestsellers. In addition, he coauthored Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar I and II. Mr. LaMothe has also taught at the University of Santa Cruz Extension Multimedia Department.
Last, but not least, Andrè is the founder and CEO of Xtreme Games LLC (www.xgames3d.com) and the Xtreme Games Developers Conference (www.xgdc.com). He can be reached at ceo@xgames3d.com.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is an absolute must for anyone who is serious about learning DirectX. The only pre-requisite is that you are comfortable with C and C++. The book starts with an introduction to Win32 programming and whilst not going in to great depth gives you a good understanding of the Win32 calls and structure that you need to write DirectX applications. The remainder of the book (which is over 1000 pages in size) covers the entirity of what DirectX has to offer. The book is fantastically well written and includeds a number of clever tricks to improve efficiency, etc. The CD that comes with the book includes DirectX SDK 8.1 and source for every single example that appears in the book.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Almost every single book out there aimed at beginners teaches very little, and is cashing in on tricking people into thinking they can program the next Half Life 2. They do not teach *why* things work, but only that they do. And that is where this book comes in.
Andre LaMothe begins this book with a fully working game called FreakOut, which, it turns out, is only a taster of what is to come. He moves on to teaching you about Windows programming, then onto GDI graphics, and then onto DirectDraw7. Throughout the book, he first teaches you understandable concepts at the lowest level, always giving working examples, and then introduces a DirectX function that simplifies the given matter for you. This ensures that you understand what DirectX is doing for you, and puts you way ahead of people who have read another 'beginners' book. Everything is always easily understandable from his explanations and comments.
After graphics, he thoroughly covers input and sound, before giving a substantial chapter on algorithms, data structures and multi-threading - not at all as dry as it sounds, as it turns out.
After this, LaMothe gives two excellent chapters on AI and physics, before wrapping the book up with a complete space game which is a charm to play!
Despite the 'beginners' orientation of this book, it swiftly covers increasingly advanced topics, especially the physics section, whilst still keeping everything very understandable. LaMothe ends up covering Intermediate and even Advanced level concepts, whilst still managing to clearly explain them to you.
Finally, the two CD-ROMs are also top-notch, and this is where the author gives coverage of 3D graphics theory and development - it obviously wouldn't fit into the book! All of the source code, along with executables of demos and some trial programs are also included. The demo code runs excellently.
To use this book, you need a working knowledge of the C language. LaMothe utilises a few OOP concepts, all of which can be picked up from the Primer included with the book. If you already know C++ thats a bonus.
I really cannot recommend this book enough to you, I couldn't find one problem with it. The sheer depth of information goes way beyond any other beginners book, and leaves you with an excellent understanding of everything that is covered. Learn from the books the pro's learnt from - 5 stars!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There is a good side and a bad side about this book. The good side is that it does cover DirectX and some basic Windows programming (setting up a new window, messageloops and so on).
The bad side outweighs it by far though. The whole book is poorly written, riddled with errors (and the author's cheesy jokes), with code examples that have errors that would need fixing by a second edition, sometimes the author uses small programming tricks that IF they work now that the book is several years old don't make any sense and mess up the code. An appendix of the different flags mentioned for various variables or a more structured approach to the examples would be great, but sadly this books lack any of that.
If you want to learn about Windows programming and DirectX, I recommend you buy different books for each subject, because even if this book touches them all, it simply doesn't reach the standard that would be expected from such a book.
The bad side outweighs it by far though. The whole book is poorly written, riddled with errors (and the author's cheesy jokes), with code examples that have errors that would need fixing by a second edition, sometimes the author uses small programming tricks that IF they work now that the book is several years old don't make any sense and mess up the code. An appendix of the different flags mentioned for various variables or a more structured approach to the examples would be great, but sadly this books lack any of that.
If you want to learn about Windows programming and DirectX, I recommend you buy different books for each subject, because even if this book touches them all, it simply doesn't reach the standard that would be expected from such a book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
One of the best
Very comprehensive but some of the programs on the CD need bug fixes.
Very useful and reasonably quick to understand. Read more
Very useful and reasonably quick to understand. Read more
Published on 24 April 2009 by MR M A EMERY
Great
I'd highly recommend this book. It takes a complicated subject and simplifies it. It manages to put the fun back in whilst giving you the flexibility to make all kinds of programs... Read more
Published on 3 April 2006
It's ok.
Lamoth is a great writer but this title is not as good as his previos books. If you are commited to using DirectX then this book is ok, but if you are more interested in the... Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2004 by D. Weston
SIMPLY AWESOME!
If you are a beginner and want to start with DirectX then this is the one and only book for you. Though one should be comfortable with C\C++ before buying it. Read more
Published on 10 July 2002 by "give_me_it"
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