5 comments about Game Coding Complete.

1. I'm old enough to remember awful books with titles like "Graphics Tips from Game Gurus". From the cover I was worried that this was that type of book. But there is wisdom in the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover". This is a very serious book about both the technical aspects of the job, and the serious non-technical process aspects of the job. As the author says in the first chapter "game programming is freaking hard."
   
   There are well written sections on 2D and 3D programming, including an excellent section on basic trigonometry. There is also some good timely material on working within the Windows framework. I would have liked some more material on 3D engines, but that's a minor flaw.
   
   There are two very solid chapters on process and testing. And a very good chapter on techniques that you can use to survive the death march.
   
   Game programming sounds fun and sexy but it's a very tough gig where the odds are stacked against you. Schedules are necessarily tight. Performance concerns are paramount. And the requirements are prone to change as the game play is refined. This means that all three points of the software project (quality, schedule, requirements) are in play. To survive you need knowledge, tools, wisdom, and a little luck. This book provides you with at least three of those four.



2. This is one of those books that you need to be able to read some of it first to understand it's value. I've read some unflattering reviews that said the book was entirely inadequate for an experienced developer and they are right. This is not a Code Complete that encapsulates an entire discipline's wisdom. This is a book that talks about the rest of game programming, all the other stuff unrelated to what most DX/OGL/most graphics "games" programming books talk about. Here's a tidbit, why would a physics system be related to the refresh rate of your display?
   
   Another example, using a debugger and interpreting things by a combination of memory addreses, and assembly is pretty arcane fare these days compared to the early days when most programmers needed to do this to micromanage their allocs and stack calls. Neverthenelss this knowledge is invaluable, and even Mike himself mentions he coded for 4 years before running across a debugger (and I don't mean the common step through, step into stuff). There are all kinds of weird but essential (and interesting) wisdom here that cover issues that you can only really run into on a commercial product.
   
   This is essentially game dev mentor in a book. Highly recommended



3. Game Coding Complete will teach you how to be a professional game programmer. It assumes that you already know how to program in C++. The tone of the book is conversational, and the author does an excellent job of explaining complex ideas.
   
   This book is filled with practical knowledge hard-won from years of experience. I prefer getting advice from someone who has shipped games, someone with a MobyGames entry. Mike McShaffry qualifies on both counts.
   
   Chapter 18, Debugging Your Game, is a gem. It contains many practical tips that could only have been learned by someone who has worked "in the trenches" on numerous shipped games. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book.
   
   At first, some of the topics included in the book may seem random or unrelated, but by the end of the book you realize that every topic covered is relevant to being an effective game developer.
   
   I know of no better introduction to all the topics that are important to a professional game developer. I use this book in the UW Game Development Certificate class that I teach.



4. although i did not read all the book thorougly, from the topics covered in the book. i can say that it is a very good book and a good reference for almost all your requirements



5. As a hobbyist, this book has been immensely useful. I would especially recommend it to anyone at an intermediate level of programming skill making small or medium-size games. In particular, the chapters on initialization, the main loop, and events give a good big-picture view of what a game's structure looks like. If your ideas about game architecture are a bit mushy, this book will likely help you sort them out.

5 comments about Cutting-Edge 3d Game Programming With C++.

1. 3D game programming is about concepts and applications rather than code and code. The modules that form part of the engine that half the book is dedicated to seem to come from nowhere, at least if you're reading about 3D game programming for the first time. No-one likes reading code that comes from some mysterious library. Therefore it is not an opening text on 3D game programming. But if you are an experienced programmer, reading lines and lines of code that WAS meant for beginners would seem redundant to me. Maybe computer science lecturers and game debuggers will find it helpful.



2. Good, but you'd better know C++ and the basis of trigonometry (it's 3D).You can learn 3D programming, but I think you'd better read another book first, like Lamothe's Black Art, if you are a beginner and don't know anything about 3D, before this one. Currently outdated, basically DOS , but interesting. Teach you how to make a 3D-Engine, not a game. I have port the source code to work in DJGPP, v.2.8. for the flat and gouraud demos (Up to chapter 9).



3. I bought this book in a fit of ambition. The first reading was slow going, and the theoretical explanations were a bit lacking. However, I bought it nearly a year ago, and I'm still finding it useful. Don't expect miracles from this book - it's an excellent companion when making your own 3d engine, but you're going to have to sweat for it. Excellent for DOS, but the Windows chapter is dire.



4. an excelent book but i need it now .. becuese i dont have it now .. some of my freind's got it and do not return it to me ..



5. You need to be an avid programmer to appreciate the way the code is organized into C++ objects. This is an older book and all the examples are in DOS until the last example which is in Windows (fun little game). The 3D engine renders to a block of memory so it makes no real difference where the example renders. Unlike books about DirectX or OpenGL, this teaches you the "Under the hood" mechanics of 3D. Keep in mind, DirectX and OpenGL are interfaces and what you are learning is how to talk to DirectX or OpenGL. That doesn't mean you will understand the "Under the hood" mechanics of 3D because there are a lot of math algorithms being used. If you want to understand, or at least try to understand 3D on it's lowest level, you will need to read this book many times over. 3D is just that hard unless your a math wizard. The biggest plus to this book is that you have a full 3D, texture mapping, light shading, 4 point polygon rendering engine to play with. There are no libraries here, it's all in C++ for you to see. I have taken the engine and expanded on it and made a tool for applying textures to polygons and animating the polygon objects for my own projects. That's not to say I completely understand everything in the book because 3D math is that hard. You will gain the most knowledge by trying to use and expand the code for your own use. This is not something you will accomplish over a few week ends. Understand this book, then go to DirectX and/or OpenGL and you will have a far better understanding of 3D and what's really happening. ...

5 comments about The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning (Prima Official Game Guide).

1. I got my book today with the game and I couldn't beleive how small it was. It's like half the size of a normal book and when I was playing the game and needed to look at the book, I had to pause the game open the book read what I needed and then go back to the game and if I didn't get what the book told to do and needed to go back to the book, I still had to pause the game to try to find the right page. The book just doesn't work for me...still gives good hints to get through the stages but a hassel to try to keep looking at the book and then get right back to the game. Still recommend it for getting everything within the game!



2. I always buy these guide books because I am an older adult and need the extra help. I do not like the format of this book because it is long and skinny, rather than the usual 8 1/2X11 or larger size. That being said, it is a beautiful, very helpful guide. I wish it had had more of an explanation on the various weapons and combinatins.
   I'd buy it again, but hope all guide books don't take this fomat.



3. This guide is very hard to use. It's hard to keep the book open if you force it, it will tear apart the book. Maybe it's the size of the book or the quality of the gluing.



4. I read the reviews about this item and started not to order it, but I do need the walk through so decided to get it anyway. It's much smaller than I expeted it to be. I certainly hope they will redo it and make it the size of the other Prima Official Guides!!!



5. The book is nice looking and has all the helpful hints you need to play the whole game without missing anything, but it's awkward to deal with due to the size. It doesn't just stay open so you can look at it while you play - if they want to make it smaller like this then they need to also make it spiral-bound so it will stay open. Still a good purchase though.

No comments about Mortal Kombat 3 Pocket Kodes (Official Strategy Guides).

1 comments about Superman Returns(tm): The Videogame Signature Series Guide.

1. Wonderful guide filled with pictures, suggestions and even a full map. Fun reading and does a good job explaining what the objectives are. High quality guide.

1 comments about Final Fantasy IX: Official Strategy Guide (Strategies & Secrets).

1. PlayOnline was a service created by Square to give hints to players. It was designed originally for Final Fantasy X, but was first used for IX. Unfortunately, this means that the strategy guides frequently refer the reader to PlayOnline using keywords. While this was merely annoying at the time, PlayOnline as it once was ceased to exist long ago. This renders the Brady guide more or less useless because of its particularly frequent use of the service. The Piggyback version features fewer "keywords", and some of the information referred to in PlayOnline keyword boxes is covered elsewhere in the book. This strategy guide covers everything it should: sidequests, items, and all, but some of the sidequest rewards can only be viewed on PlayOnline. The PlayOnline boxes are still distracting, but all of the bases are covered, and the guide is actually useful.

1 comments about Internet Hold'em Poker: Plus 7-card stud, Omaha, and other games.

1. I'm fairly new to poker, being more of a blackjack guy, so I figured I should try out some reading material before going online and losing all my money. I read a few books that weren't very good and then in the bookstore I found this one. Right now on Amazon the cover is wrong, I know because that's what drew me to the book. It's a great cover (hands coming out of a laptop holding poker chips, you have to see it). I flipped through the book and saw that it actually had some good advice, starting from the basics of poker, which was very helpful. There's also a lot of stuff in the book geared toward experienced and advanced players but I'm not going to get into those parts.
   
   The book showed me how to play the game and what differences there are online. Even online tells! I didn't think those existed but now I seem to have a pretty great advantage everytime I play. It even has diagrams to show you exactly what to do. It has so many example plays and tells you what to do for specific hands, flops, and opponents. The book is easy to read and navigate through and the writing is very clear and concise (the book is short but has a lot of information). It also has some information on non-hold'em games, like omaha and 7-card stud.
   
   I've read a lot of poker books now that I started playing and this one was definitely one of the most thorough and helpful. I now win money almost every time I play hold'em online. I'm really glad I found this book.

5 comments about Metroid? Prime Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides).

1. This is supposed to be a cheat book right? I mean, come on if your going to help me finish this game, at least give me coherant pictures of the game. The words don't make any sense either. Come on Doug Walsh!!!



2. Just because it is a "statagy guide" I would give this one star, but if you are looking for cheats, this is a very good book, it does give away a bit too much though.However, This does diserve four stars, not three, so I'm going to counteract the three. now it's four.



3. Since it is a guide I have to give it 3 stars. But do you really need a guide??? I have found this out myself, there are 250 missiles in this game which means 50 expansions. I have personally counted the number of rooms to be 115. So if you take the number of rooms in the game(115) divided by(/) The number of missle expansions(50) 115/50 you get 2.3 so in about every other room there is a missle expansions. Of course there is the occasional room that has more than one expansion it so just look everywhere. But the missle expansions make a slight humming noise if you are any where near them. So with that in mind you don't really need a guide because Energy Tanks stick out like a sore thumb and every thing else (wave and ice beam etc.) sets out in the middle of the room in plain sight.and to get 100% in the log book you just have to put on the scan visor and look around in every room. Simple, no??



4. This isn't a bad selection for a Metroid Prime guide. It has all the essentials of the guide. A complete walkthrough with complete coverage of the game and even tells you about Samus' abilities. I don't like that they don't cover all the cheats. Not only that, but the fact that there is no other Metroid Prime guide out there besides VERSUS BOOKS that will give me an Original Metroid walkthrough! A players guide for that is hard to find. This guide only gives tips to playing Metroid but nothing more.

   Also, the guide could've used more screens in a few areas to better detail everything. There is a lot of text in this guide and not enough screens. The layout isn't bad and at least if I need some help I can quickly refer to the guide for advice. I'm still peeved that there isn't any other guide other than VERSUS BOOKS (which is already out of print by the way) that would give me an Original Metroid walkthrough.

   What I have to say to this...it's almost impossible to find a guide to Metroid Prime that won't help you through the game. This one is a great find for Metroid Prime but if you can find it, I'd highly recommend the VERSUS guide as opposed to this.




5. I finally found this guide book! i've been to 5 book stores, 4 game stores, 3 wal-marts, 2 targets, and 3 different online buying sites and ive finally found it! I think this guide book is awsome.

4 comments about MegaMan(tm) Battle Network 4: Red Sun & Blue Moon Official Strategy Guid (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)).

1. WOW!!! This book does a good job of presenting the game, the only thing that keeps it from the fifth star is the fact that both stories are intertwined in the book instead of being separated. The p.a (program advance) list is extensive and the battle chip list is great along with the soul unison list. Everything you need is in this book.



2. This is a great strategy guide but the game isn't that good. Enough said.



3. This guide gave me the tools I needed to beat the 'final' boss, Duo. And since I hadn't played any of the other Battle Network games, it provided good explanations for the Program Advances and how all of that worked, which definitely was a big help. By the way, my name is in the end credits--I'm the guy who won the contest from Washington, DC, but they left the 'o' out of my first name. That's okay, Capcom, I forgive you... I highly recommend the guide. Absolutely.



4. This strategy guide is very specific, and very helpful. It helps explain the whole game, even after you pass the final boss. It helps alot with both games, Red Sun and Blue Moon. One should really get it.

1 comments about Gauntlet?: Seven Sorrows(tm) Official Strategy Guide (Bradygames Official Strategy Guide).

1. If you loved the older Gauntlet games, you'll HATE this one.
   
   If you miss something on a level, you can not go back and replay the level once it is done. There are only limited upgrades to armor and weapons. You can only see what level your character is once you complete a level. You can only purchase attack combinations (and only a few at that) with your gold. We were able to complete the game in 4.5 hours. For $50 I expect a lot more game play.
   
   A message to true gamers: DO NOT BUY