What s Different About This Book


What's Different About This Book

There are lots of beginning game programming books. In the end, the question everyone asks is, "What's special about this book in particular?"

I'm glad you asked.

The short answer to your question is that this book is unlike 99 percent of all beginning game programming books in several respects.

It Doesn't Assume You Know How to Program Computers

Most people who want to get started in game programming don't know how to program at all. They are bright, creative, and innovativeand they like games. But they can't yet write computer programs.

Virtually every beginning game programming book I've ever seen assumes you know a programming language like C or C++. That means that most beginning game programmers have to spend months or years learning to program before they can even start a game.

What a waste.

If you want to be a game programmer, but you have little or no programming experience, this book is for you. As I mentioned earlier, the tools available for writing games make the whole experience much easier than when I started in the industry more than 25 years ago. There's no reason that a bright and creative person like you should have to jump through a lot of silly hoops learning to program before you learn to write games. You can learn to program computers and write games at the same time. Unfortunately, that thought hasn't occurred to most authors of beginning game programming books.

It Teaches You Real Game Programming Skills

There are a few, very rare, beginning game programming books that are written for nonprogrammers. To try and make things easy, they teach you to write games in a programming language called Basic. Unfortunately, no games are written in Basic. It's far too slow for real games. Instead, game programmers use a language called C++ (pronounced see-plus-plus). So if you read one of these books, you'll have to start from scratch in a new programming language if you want to write a real game.

Unlike any other book on the market, this book teaches nonprogrammers how to write games in C++. When you finish reading this book, you'll be reasonably proficient with the programming language that real game programmers use.

Also, I explain and demonstrate the techniques used by professional game programmers for animation and sound. In addition, I demonstrate that it is surprisingly easy to add essential physics to your games.

It Teaches You How to Build A Real Game

Many beginning programming books give you lots of nifty little sample programs that demonstrate the concepts they're teaching. However, very few show you how to pull all of those concepts into a complete game. That's a skill in itself. And the process of building a complete game often stumps people who clearly understand how to write the individual pieces.

By the end of this book, you'll see how to write a complete game. The game we'll be building is called "Invasion of the Slugwroths." It's a simple side-scroller (I'll explain that term later) similar to many games that were popular in the 1980s and '90s.

Aren't most games today written in 3D?

Well, yes. But writing 3D games is much harder. If you start with a side-scroller like Invasion of the Slugwroths, you'll learn fundamentals of game programming before you have to deal with 3D concepts. It makes the learning process much easier and much more fun.

It Provides Everything You Need to Write Games

Not only does this book teach you everything you need to get started in game programming, it provides you with all of the tools as well. To write computer programs, you need a compiler, linker, and debugger. These can easily cost $500. Have no fear. You don't need to cough up your hard-earned cash. You'll find them all on the CD that comes with this book, at no extra cost.

To save themselves from having to write program code that nearly every game uses, many game programmers use a game engine. A game engine supplies program code that performs the most common tasks in games. Professional game engines typically start at about $100. But don't go out and buy one. I've supplied one for you for free on the CD.

In addition, I've provided programs for making music, creating a game's graphics, and testing your animations. With the development tools and the game engine you get on the CD, the CD alone is well worth the cost of the book.

Both Teens and Adults Can Use This Book

I have been asked for years by parents what book they should buy to get their teenaged son or daughter started in game programming. Adults in their twenties and thirties also often ask me how they can get started. I have difficulty recommending most books because they are really too technical. They're often too hard to understand for people who don't have a college degree in math, engineering, or computers.

Although this book is not written specifically for teens, it is usable by everyone. If you're 15 or over, you can use this book. Both teens and adults will find everything they need right here. This book explains the terms and ideas it uses. It provides you with a lot of the essential program code (programs are built from program code) you need to write games. It teaches programming, computer graphics, and games. It's one-stop shopping.



Creating Games in C++(c) A Step-by-Step Guide
Creating Games in C++: A Step-by-Step Guide
ISBN: 0735714347
EAN: 2147483647
Year: N/A
Pages: 148

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