5 comments about Developing Games in Java (New Riders Games).

1. The good things about this book that the author modulates the basic game componets into various class such as screen manager, input manager which enhances the reusability of the game code.
   
   Also, a game can be easily built on the existing class without much tweaking of the original source code.



2. First off, this book is fairly easily to read if you have some programming background. This book is obviously not aimed at beginners, so it will require atleast a basic knowledge of Java to make any sort of sense.
   
   What I liked about this book is the rather large number of projects you have to build right from the get go. However, what was most disappointing about this book was the lack of explanations as to what, exactly, is going on in the code. For instance, his section on mouselooking basically dumps two pages of code on you, filled with new algorithms that are accompanied by zero details about how they work or why things are done that way. There aren't even comments in the code that step you through it.
   
   That aspect of the book is really saddens me because that's all that seperates it from a typing exercise and a great lessong in game programming.
   
   Having said all of that. There are some basic functional things you gather that are useful if you are brand new to game programming.
   
   What I had hoped to gather out of this book was more than just code. I hoped that there would be principles that I could extrapolate and take with me from project to project. Regretfully, I don't think this book accomplished that goal.



3. I have had this book for a couple of years. It is one of the best games programming books I have read. Be aware that over half the book is devoted to developing a software 3D engine. I found this to be quite high quality and I have even ported it to C++ with no issues. The engine supports texture mapping, shade mapping, z-buffering, collisions, pathfinding and BSP trees. As the author states, learning how things work in software helps when you later use hardware 3D rendering. To be honest, I was really impressed with the speed the 3D demo ran at, considering most people still think Java is slow.
   
   The first half of the book develops a nice game framework to help with redifining keys, choosing a screen resolution, sound effects, animation and 2D scrolling with collision detection. There is enough info here to produce a good Mario clone. There is a chapter on networking but it seems disconnected from the rest of the book (I think it was written by a different author).
   
   One of the best things though is that all the source code (available from his site) compiles straight off the bat, and works with no modifications. I cannot tell you how rare this is for a computer book. All the examples are built as Ant scripts and I simply imported them into my IDE (IntelliJ IDEA, but most other IDEs can also import Ant scripts). They all compiled with no errors and ran exactly as described in the book.
   
   In summary this is an excellent buy for the intermediate Java programmer who wants to get into 2D and 3D games.



4. Early attempts at Java game programming usually meant incorporating a foreign framework in your code. With the latest advancements in Swing, it's become easier to develop rich media applications in Java. Developing Games in Java takes this rich framework and explains thoroughly how to best utilize it for both 2D and 3D games. The book could easily be used as a primer in game and graphics techniques as well. Concepts like collision detection, path finding, scripting, and AI are well covered, making this a complete introduction to developing great games in Java.



5. Pretty darn great book!
   Chapter 1 starts with threads, locking and multithreading animation!!
   This is for serious programmers, serious game developers...you gotta have some experience in JAVA development in order to get the best from this book. Beginners will take some time, but eventually prevail.
   A must!!

5 comments about Pokemon Ranger: Strategy Guide [The Official Pokeman Strategy Guide] Nintendo.

1. My youngest daughter, who is 12, loves Pokemon! My son used to like them years ago, and he is almost 17! I feel like we get to "recycle" some of the Pokemon cards and other things that he has!
   A happy customer



2. The Guide arrived quickly and helped me get through some tricky areas. Thanks.



3. My 9 year old son has a number of the Prima Game Guides, including this one and loves to get them for all of his games. He has found that it makes the games more interesting as he finds "clues" to do new things that he was not aware of in the game (apparently there are secrets in most games that you just might never see unless you know the way to get to them). He also spots easy-to-understand help on screens that he was having difficulty with so that he does not get frustrated and stop playing the game. He and his friends all use the books, so I DEFINITELY recommend them for your favorite gamer.
   BONUS- They can spend quite a bit of time reading over them to get the most from their games, and reading, no matter what the source, is always a great thing. Though he hates to read the directions that come with the games (he says they are not worth the time and do not have any helpful information anyway...and he is right) he ENJOYS reading these and sharing tips with his buddies.



4. The guide is very helpful aven though some of you might not need it. But to find some of those hard to get secrets you might just want to give this book a chance.



5. If you're really having trouble with the Ranger game, this is worth your time. Otherwise, I wouldn't really recommend it. The maps are probably the best feature, since I tend to get turned around in the caves and forests you have to navigate through. The "Pokemon Browser" at the back helps when you're at a loss as to which pokemon you need to get past, say, a huge boulder or a fence.
   The big downer about this guide is that they dont say anything about the special manaphy mission! You can get that online if you search for it.
   
   Ultimately, other than what I listed as features, this guide is rather useless. Try to find a website that has a guide, instead.

3 comments about Game Programming Gems 6 (Book & CD-ROM) (Game Development Series).

1. Intended for the intermediate to advanced game programmer, this is a book that will literally have something for everyone. It contains fifty-two 'gems' that is, articles on how to some particular aspect of game programming. Sophisticated game programming is probably the most complex programming there is. And this book goes into some pretty sophisticated programming details.
   
   For instance:
   1.2 Using Multicore Processors - New software that facilitates programming to make the most effective use of dual/triple core CPUs.
   2.5 - Exact Buoyancy for Polyhedra - Your game character has built a raft. How does it look like it's floating realistically?
   5.9 - Practical Sky Rendering - The sky is so simple, unless, of course you want it to look real. ==There is no question that the main driving force for faster computers is to make for more realistic gaming. And the faster computers allow more sophisticated programming to be done to make the grass wave realistically.
   
   This is probably not a book you're going to sit down and read from cover to cover. You'll probably scan through and read the ones that are applicable to just what you need to do next. But then in a couple of weeks, in a couple of months....



2. This is the latest volume in the game programming gems series that is now six years old. This book, like the others in the series, is a collection of articles written by industry experts for the advanced game programmer. Because it covers so much ground with little or no background information, I doubt that one reader will be able to appreciate the whole book. The book comes with a CD that has source code for all of the articles, which is very helpful.
   I'm a multimedia programmer rather than a game programmer, and I found quite a few nuggets in this edition. Among them was the article on using OpenCV, which is the open source computer vision library, and also the article on CPPUnit, which can be used for unit testing of any type of software, not just games. The section on math and physics was the least helpful. It either set the bar too low with easy articles like "How to do floating point faster than hardware", or set the bar too high with difficult terse articles such as "Real-Time Particle-Based Fluid Simulation". However, if you are into game physics, this section might be something you really enjoy. In the AI section, it seemed like I had seen most of the material before. The last article though was really unique - "Constructing a Goal-Oriented Robot for UnrealTournament Using Fuzzy Sensors, Finite-state Behaviors and Behavior Networks". This is an outstanding article for those interested in robots in games. The whole section on scripting was worthwhile. I especially enjoyed the Script language survey at the front of the section, since this is a moving target with many languages to choose from. The graphics section is quite advanced, and unless "Realtime Rendering" seems like light bedtime reading to you, most of the articles will probably not make much sense. My favorite section of the book was the one on audio for two reasons. First, most game programming books ignor this subject entirely. Second, it is hard to find readable books or articles on the subject with the effects presented in plain language as this section did in all five articles. I notice that Amazon does not show the table of contents, so I do that here:
   SECTION 1 GENERAL PROGRAMMING
   Introduction 1.1 Game Object Component System 1.2 Closest- String Matching Algorithm 1.3 Implementing Lock-Free Algorithms 1.4 Computer Vision in Games using the OpenCV library 1.5 Using CPPUnit to implement unit testing 1.6 Visualizing Performance Data 1.7 Faster Loading with Access-Based File Reordering 1.8 Stay in the Game: Asset Hotloading for Fast Iteration 1.9 Geographic Grid Registration of Game Objects 1.10 Real-Time Continuous Profiling 1.11 Fingerprinting Prerelease Builds to Deter and Detect Piracy 1.12 The Dynamic Actor Layer
   
   SECTION 2 MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS
   Introduction 2.1 Efficient Sequence Indexing 2.2 How to do floating point faster than hardware. 2.3 Solving linear systems by using the cross product 2.4 Real-Time Particle-Based Fluid Simulation 2.5 Exact Buoyancy for Polyhedra
   
   SECTION 3 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
   Introduction 3.1 Designing a Multi-layer Pluggable AI Engine Framework 3.2 Smart Scene Load Management using Fuzzy Logic 3.3 Achieving coordination with autonomous NPC's 3.4 Using a Quantified Judgment Model for Engagement Analysis 3.5 Short-term memory using support vector machine (SVM) 3.6 Applying Model-Based Decision-Making Methods to Games 3.7 Constructing a Goal-Oriented Robot for UnrealTournament Using Fuzzy Sensors, Finite-state Behaviors and Behavior Networks
   
   SECTION 4 SCRIPTING SYSTEMS
   Introduction 4.1 A Script language survey 4.2 Managing High-Level Scripts Execution within 4.3 Automatic Function Binding for Game Scripting and Networking 4.4 Programming advanced control mechanisms with Lua coroutines 4.5 Binding C/C++ objects to Lua
   
   SECTION 5 GRAPHICS
   Introduction 5.1 Automatic Realistic Idle Motion Synthesis for Interactive Characters" 5.2 GPU Terrain Rendering 5.3 Rendering Road Signs Sharply 5.4 Interactive Fluid Dynamics and Rendering on the GPU 5.5 Spatial Partitioning using an Adaptive Binary Tree 5.6 Enhanced Object Culling with (Almost) Oriented Bounding Boxes 5.7 Fast per-pixel lighted scenes with a high number of lights 5.8 Efficient Sky Rendering Techniques 5.9 High Dynamic Range Rendering using OpenGL Frame Buffer Objects 5.10 Skin Splitting for Optimal Skin Rendering
   
   SECTION 6 AUDIO
   Introduction 6.1 Real- Time Sound Generation From Deformable Meshes 6.2 Volume Control Through Chained Busses 6.3 Faking Real-time DSP Effects 6.4 A lightweight oscillator for ambient sound generation 6.5 Cheap Doppler effect
   
   SECTION 7 NETWORKING AND MULTIPLAYER
   Introduction 7.1 Complex High-Level Systems 7.2 Reliable Peer-to-Peer Gaming Connection Penetrating Firewall and NAT 7.3 Massively Multiplayer Online Prototype (MMOP): Utilizing Second Life for Game Concept Prototyping 7.4 Dynamically Adaptive Streaming of 3D Data for Animated Characters 7.5 Generating globally unique identifiers for game objects About the CD-ROM
   Index



3. One interesting feature of this book on game programming is how graphics does NOT dominate the discussion. Most books on the subject are chock-a-block with every graphics tip you could imagine. But Dickheiser does not write for the novice. He has gathered a set of papers (chapters) that try to delineate the research boundary. It is a measure of the rising maturity of the field, and the complexity of many games, that graphics is relatively deprecated.
   
   Though I hasten to add that there are still the pretty colour plates of renderings, and several chapters on these methods.
   
   Why is the book symptomatic of the changing trends? In part because graphical methods are starting to saturate. The techniques are now good enough for near-photorealistic impressions. If you look carefully at the non-graphics chapters, you see that they tackle non-trivial problems arising from evermore intricate games. One instance is the use of AI-style decision making methods for how a game proceeds. When well coded, it can give behaviour of characters that is more intelligent, hence yielding a more interesting game. Another chapter looks at the learning process in AI, where a player might change strategies. Here, the research use of Support Vector Machines is suggested as apropos for commercial game development.
   
   Professionally, you should pay attention to the book for the trend it exemplifies. You probably got into game programming because you were attracted by the graphics. But as graphics methods peak, the value added aspect of games is starting to shift towards the story line and how elaborate is the game logic.

3 comments about AI Game Programming Wisdom 2 (Game Development Series).

1. Has Artificial Intelligence just become a catchall phrase for any advanced algorithmic programming? Because if you peruse this book, you may consider some methods it describes as just being sophisticated algorithms, and not necessarily anything to do with AI per se.

   Ok, let us not try to get bogged down into semantics. The book does have many nice, state of the art (2004) methods for handling diverse problems arising in game coding. For example, the section on speech recognition is quite well done. The main thing to take away from that section is that you need to restrict the problem so that the range of possible user responses is limited. Which may not necessarily be what that author intended. But from your point of view of easier and more robust coding, this is the pragmatic way to use speech recognition.

   Of course, an AI purist might argue that what I have just suggested is not really AI. I agree. I use the speech recognition as just one example. You may derive the greatest benefit from this book if you deprecate the AI aspect and just see what methods you can usefully cull. Always remember that true AI is really hard. You are writing games. NOT research. Leave that to others.




2. All of the books in the Game Programming Gems and AI Wisdom series have been quite useful to me as a game programmer. AI Game Programming Wisdom 2 is a continuation of the Charles River Media series devoted to gaming issues. As with the rest of the series the articles are of varying lengths and detail. Many of the articles simply reference other articles in the series rather than basic or classic works in AI. So, this series is less useful as a bibliographic source. The topics covered in the articles are usually short and written at a high-level, but nonetheless very interesting and worth further research. And therein lies some of the frustration. It is often difficult to find more information about a particular subject since most of the references simply refer to articles in other books in the series, which are themselves are rather vague.

   AI Game Programming Wisdom 2 is structured very much the same as the first book in the series. The articles are broken into similar sections, with the addition of a new section on finite-state-machines and splitting the section on learning into two. Having already covered the A* algorithm, its various optimizations, and navigation meshes in the previous books those topics are virtually absent here (though they may be buried as a secondary topic in some of the path-finding articles). I thought that the series had exhausted discussion of finite-state machines, but the editors managed to include a couple of interesting articles. The demand for more realistic AI behavior in character-based games in growing. And while a full simulation of emotions and human characteristics is unteneable, at the moment, there are some interesting ideas in the Learning section of the book e.g. "Motivational Graphs: A New Architecture for Complex Behavior Simulation.".

   I can't say that this book is indispensible from an implementation perspective. Most of the articles are simply too vague - though there are notable exceptions throughout the entire series of books. What I found most useful in these articles was that they stimulated thought and helped to generate discussion among the programmers and designers at work.




3. Honestly, I just had to submit a review to comment on this line from a reviewer of this book. "Ok, let us not try to get bogged down into semantics." What the heck does this mean? I think he/she meant, "Okay, let us not get bogged down in semantics."
   What else is wrong with this reviewer's reading/writing skills that contributed to their negative review of this book? If you can't write clearly...

2 comments about Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (Prima Official Game Guide).

1. The Armageddon guide may seem intimidating and interesting due to the number of pages it's toting - but do not be fooled.
   
   I had the chance to check this guide out at a local Walmart and after looking through the information - I couldn't buy it. Now, before you question me - I have been an MK fan since MKI, and the recent streaming of guides has been horrible. From bad to worse, and this one takes the cake.
   
   In the middle of the information, the authors decide to randomly throw in UMK3 strategies. This is an MKA guide, not UMK3. It completely throws off the flow of information the guide gives. This however, is not the worst of it.
   
   The Deception guide at least featured all of the character renders, aside from Liu Kang. This guide does not. You'd think with the page count, new renders and the character's accurate story would greet you - however, it doesn't. There are some renders for characters - again, some. However, it's reused from Mortal Kombat Deception, and Shaolin Monks.
   
   There are little to no screen shots, no pictures of the fatalities, there's no mention of the Vault, and the guide's overall composition is horrible. If you bought the Deception guide and knew why it was so horrible, get ready for another horrible guide.
   
   Do not buy this Guide. Your best bet is to contact their customer Service and tell them to just recall it and do it over - much like Brady did with their MKD guide and released a special Code Book.
   
   One Star.



2. This book was nice. It had a comprehensive walkthrough of the Konquest Mode and had tips for Motor Kombat. It had maps of every fighting stage in the game and explained all the death traps in each very thoroughly. It talked about Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 because the Armageddon premium edition lets you play that game as one of its special features. This book has an unlocking guide and complete move lists. Some of the pictures of moves are flip flopped around but that was the only thing. About renders, does a book really need good renders to be good? Overall, the book really halped me because it pinpointed all the best combos for every character in the game giving you a percentage of health that it takes. This is an excellent resource!

5 comments about Diablo: The Official Strategy Guide (Secrets of the Games Series.).

1. This book is very helpfull with Diablo. The most helpfull thing about it is the shrine listings. This book also helps alot to get through the single player game very well. It list all of the items (even unique and enchanted) and lists their stats too. In short, this is a very helpfull book for playing Diablo.



2. biadlio was a wonderful romantic comed



3. I love it, but i have a queston how do you get a trainer(AHH)? E-mail me at sportschik83@yahoo.com



4. This book is a good one to become proficient at this classic role-playing game. It's key info is needed to quickly defeat Diablo. I wrote this review after winning Diablo as all three characters; swordsman, archer, and sage, over 6 months as a single player. Diablo won the 1996 game-of-the-year by the computer mags and is phenomenal game that one grows to appreciate its complexity as you get better.

   In a nutshell, Diablo is a first person shoot-em-up game against 19 classes of enemies. Diablo stays interesting as the 16-playfield layouts change for each game and the 1000s of creatures have a complex variation of personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. The first 4 levels have sprawling layouts of Dungeon rooms; levels 5-8 have Catacombs which are smaller layouts of rough rock walls; levels 9-12 are Caves with large excavations and meandering streams; and the final 13-16 Hell levels are laid out as interstitial quadrangles. The game play is a nice blend between isometric 3D visualizations, character animations and sounds, and multimedia video clips.

   With this book, playing success is an exercise in developing strong Diablo problem-solving skills. Initially looking on the Internet for Diablo cheatz which were few as its a legacy 6-year old game. What this book provides is info and strategy that can help you defeat the myriad of creatures and quests. My book has become a much thumbed, reread, indexed, and enhanced with scrawled notes on how to defeat them.

   For example, I found that the easiest character to win was the Rogue archer-woman and won Diablo in 3 games, as archery is a distance scenario. The next easiest character to win was the Warrior swordsman, completed in 5 games, mainly because of hand-to-hand combat experience as a kid. The most difficult character, of course, was the sage Sorcerer, which took me 9 games to win because of the myriad (26) magic potions that need to be mastered. This book gives you an informal discussion and tables of characteristics without all the trial and error. Although it discusses general tactics, it is weak in overall game strategy and specific tactics on specific minions.

   This book provides details on the power of weapons and armor and strength and weaknesses of enemies. It also covers the 17 special Quests quite well. The author writes in an entertaining prose and presents key info is in complex tables. I found that Blizzard's production release of Diablo v1.04 and internet update download to v1.08 was very stable and reliable on a P5/233MMX, Socket7 PCI mobo TX chipset, ATI Rage PCI video, 64MB RAM, 52X CD, 10GB HD, and SB16 running Win98SE.

   The book is divided into 10 chapters including the making of, but has no index or glossary, which is a serious beginner's omission as the game's jargon is voluminous. There could have been a List of Tables too. And these tables could have had summaries or group breakouts so that the many character(s)(istics) are better organized. The screen shots could be larger and less dark. I bought it at a local used bookstore and the game at a garage sale. Of course, certain key subjects and data tables had erroneous or omitted information.

   Each game is saved in the game folder as single_X.SV, where X is 0 to 9; ten games max. Thus create a historical archive subfolder and keep old and partially played games there. Second, game files vary from 200KB to 3MB. So burn game files onto a CD, email, or save on a Zip to impress friends and foes. Finally, do judicious saving for replaying level(s) that eventually went sour. Use the keyboard Ctrl+Alt+Esc to toggle to Windows for making notes and performing file maintenance.

   To win maximize building experience points and accumulating gold and key special weapons. Finding, identifying, and redeeming EVERY single weapon, armor, chest, scroll, staff, book, ring, tomb, library, and shrine on every level to maximize your power. Often the first 5 levels and what you accumulate therein can give you a premonition on the final outcome of the game.

   For example, the Sorcerer is quite vulnerable in the beginning and the player must strive to play almost perfect levels. Waste the least amount of resources on the minions and don't let them touch you. Learn to run away and lead them into a trap. Accumulate and convert your operating weapons and armor from standard to special ones. Sell as many of the std weapons for health, mana, and ID scrolls from Adria, the Witch. Buy ID scrolls from her as much as possible compared to paying Cain to ID. Categorize the specials and unique weapons and armor into red and blue (fire and lightning resistant), in rows on the ground so that best combinations can be easily selected. Run a pre-level scouting expedition to find what's new on each level. Return to town near the beginning of each level and always re-visit Adria. Apparently attacking minions on a new level triggers her to provide a new list of scrolls, books, and staffs. Accumulate and deploy key fire, lightning, and mana shield spell books rapidly, compared to duplicative staffs and scrolls which are redeemed for more gold. Spell books, and their cumulative power from multiple units, will affect later quest outcomes. If it is taking too much to finish off a minion; its probably because you are doing it wrong. Finally, Quests do not have to be completed serially; do the first five levels without doing the Butcher and King Leoric. Then when stronger and with Arkaine's Valor armor, return back and efficiently finish off the buzzards. Use fKey to Holy Bolt for dealing with skeletons, zombies, King Leoric, and finally Diablo.




5. Diablo is one of the easiest games to beat.Also, its usually only fun on B.net, and on B.net people are always hacking. There is just no need for a strategy guide, only for D2, its fun on the single-player mode.

5 comments about ARCADE FEVER The Fan's Guide to The Golden Age of Video Games.

1. PROS: Enjoyed cabinet photos and art. Hit most major arcade games of the era. Contained interesting side notes on some games. Interviews were okay but more interesting subject matter could have been included. Some game memorabilia shown from the time was nice.
   
   CONS: Lacked enough interesting content to be worth it for me. Did not understand the author's potty-mouth descriptions and lame jokes in the book. - a major negative. Too much irrelevant filler text that could have been used for more info on the games. Did not include notable people who you would expect to be mentioned. Book was printed in China.
   
   FINAL CALL: Worth flipping thru twice or for a much-too-shallow overview. Those wanting to remember the era and arcade freaks should look elsewhere.



2. This book falls into the trap that many such books do which is basically that it's written from an extremely biased "I remember this sweet game..." breathless style.
   
   Don't get me wrong, I too am a fan of arcade games and I'm sure it'd be difficult for me to keep from interjecting my personal anecdotes into the narrative, but I was hoping that this book would contain a little more in depth information regarding the machines. As it is this book has some decent (but not great) pictures and some anecdotal memories of the arcade era of the early 80s.
   
   If like me you can't resist any book on this subject, then by all means pick it up and support the author. However if you are looking for the definitive encyclopedic retelling of arcade history this book is not it.



3. This book is more a photo album of memories for the author, than it is a true historical look at the games of the arcade era.
   
   "Arcade Fever" provides a nice visual layout with plenty of colorful photos and MAME screen shots, but the author's historical recounting of each arcade game remains tainted with his personal biases, jokes, and at times, factual errors.
   
   For some, the book may capture the flavor of the early 1980s thanks to the excited ramblings of the author...but most readers can do that for themselves. Tip: when it comes to Encyclopedic-style books, careful research and factual information are critical components. Pretty pictures are a bonus.



4. This is an excellent picture book showing all the classic arcade games and giving you some neat and interesting side notes about each game.
   
   LOTS and LOTS of pictures...its mostly a picture book with captions...and this is what I wanted...
   
   DEFFINATELY a must if you are an ARCADE FAN.



5. I didn't realize how many memories of old video games I had! I bought this book for my husband's birthday as more of a "filler" present than a serious gift. It turned out to be his favorite! He's not a huge reader but he reads some of this book every day. He's read a lot of it out loud to me & it seems good. There are some great pictures in it, too! He's totally serious about his 80's video games & this book gives him lots of little facts he didn't know before & stirs up a million good memories. It's written in a more casual way that's easy & pleasant to follow.

5 comments about 3D Game Engine Programming (Game Development Series).

1. C'mon - at least get a CD with examples that actually compile! If he were a programmer working for me, he'd get fired. Save your money, and you can buy mine as used for 1/2 price.



2. The book is unique in that it does exactly what it says it will do. Be warned however that as the book states it is not for beginner programmers who are new to Direct3D or new to C/C++ programming. However if you are familiar with the language and the API but never quite grasped the concept of fitting together all the components neccasary to make a 3D game engine then this really is the right book for you. There is not another book around as of this review that tells you bit by bit how to build a game engine and not only any game engine but a game industry standard engine the way the professionals build them.
   
   There are a few version issues with the code on the DVD-ROM supplied. However this is always an issue if you are an intermediate programmer and familiar with C/C++ and a popular IDE then to be honest the minor issues should not be too much of a problem for you. Plus the author has even got a support website and he answers emails.
   
   Well worth the money !!



3. This book has lots of great information in it. You can easily learn a great deal about 3D graphics and what it takes to create an engine. However, one of the major drawbacks is that the engine doesn't compile. Which, in my luck, has been typical of computer book. But reading the books for the concepts are great.



4. I've been going through this book like a madman the past few days. I really am enjoying it. It is a little old, considering that it is from 2004 and he generally uses VS 6.0 (though makes reference to VS2003). Most of the stuff is still very relevant. He wants to take you through creating a semi-independent API for your engine (though he uses a lot of Direct3D programming).
   
   A word of caution though: this book is full of techanese, which tends to deter newbies from learning C++. There were a few places where I got lost, and had to look things up. This is definitely not a newbie book, though you definitely can review the sourcecode included with the book instead of reading it. Most of the code is pretty self-explanatory if you are somewhat familiar with 3d programming.
   
   Great book though. Cheers to the writer.



5. This book is for the following person: A programmer who woke up one day and said "Wow, I'd really like to make a Game Engine. Where do I start? How should I plan this thing out? What kinds of things do I have to implement? What things should I be worried about?"
   
   The code is solid, with just a few exceptions that a good programmer should be able to catch. The author speaks German, so he'll occasionally ramble about the war and whatnot, but overall he's a good teacher. He's answered questions about the tiny problems with his code, but you'll have to check out the forums at his Gaming University website (not his German one. Unless you happen to speak German)
   
   He doesn't go in depth into many things because his book is designed to get you started, and show you all the steps you'll have to take in your game-engine education. That being said, you WILL create a fully functioning first-person shooter engine at the end of the book.
   
   It's written at a reasonably moderate level, so I suggest that you learn DirectX 9 and C++ ahead of time, but once you've done that you're good to go. It provides a good bird's-eye view of the game engine process, shows you how to make each little bit in a modular, reusable way, and puts together a lovely result.
   
   One of the reviews on this page suggests the purchase of the Game Programming Gems series. Now, as nice as that series is (And it is nice), Game Programming Gems is about tiny bits of code that make a project more exciting. In fact, I'd have to say that Game Programming Gems has absolutely nothing to do with Game Engine Design. Heck, it's the polar opposite of 3D Game engine Programming. Gems are fragments- This book is about bringing everything together.
   
   A better suggestion would be to use the Game Programming Gems series to make this book's engine more impressive.

4 comments about Crysis: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides).

1. This book has everything I wanted to know about Crysis. It arrived in good time and good condition.



2. This guide covers every mission in Crysis in great detail. Gives several options for getting to the next checkpoint with efficiency. The reading gets a little tedious because of the game detail so it can only be read one mission at a time. It does not read like a fluid novel - but that's not its objective.



3. Excellent guide for an excellent game.Describes multiple options for a given scenario and also has tips on free-lancing if you don't want to follow the guide.



4. This thing is extremely difficult to follow. This guy is trying to show you every possible way through each level all at once and it just makes it difficult to use. There are so many box-outs and side notes you don't know which one to follow. I don't need to sift through twenty five pages, delineating five different ways to get through a level. This guy should have checked out the walk through for Oblivion, the most open-ended go-anywhere game ever made. For all the games complexities, the walk through for Oblivion is a well laid out, easy to follow walk through. This one, however, is just a mess. I bought it and hardly used it. Save your money and grope your way through the game. Crysis is a pretty linear anyway. You can do it.

5 comments about Starcraft: Queen of Blades (Starcraft).

1. i don't read many books...
   
   harry potter, i sparknoted it and watched the movie
   the lord of the rings, sparknoted, reviews, watched the movie
   books for school assignments = leech off friends, sparknotes, and librarians (hahaha)
   
   all of a sudden, i buy this starcraft book and i read every single page
   
   *beware spoilers* when i read the battle between infested kerrigan and tassadar or zeratul i pictured something amazing compared to that tiny mission in the starcraft game and as the mission went, the protoss got owned horribly by infested kerrigan (hahahaha)
   
   hey... are you a starcraft fan? you got 8 bucks on you? get this book and read it when you're on the bus or taking a #2 (lol)... you'll like this book



2. This book explains the tranformation of captured Kerrigan to the Queen of Blades. As Jimmy, how Kerrigan called James Rayner, travelled thousand of lightyears to save his love from the Zergs only to learn that he was a little bit too late as Kerrigan swore her new alliance to the Zergs. The novel reached its peak where Kerrigan convinced Rayner and his men to return from whence they came as she now belongs to the Zergs. Everything was explained in great detail, the sad fate that separated James Rayner from the love of his life.



3. This book is pretty good. I am only about half way done though. I like how it is following the story that was in the game. It get you a little deeper into the story than the game did. so so far its pretty good.



4. This book proves the good old saying that quantity is not quality.
   Although this book is probably the longest of all StarCraft novels it is a really disappointing read.
   
   The very begining may just be a little interesting but after Jim Raynor reaches planet Char, it starts to feel boring and even stupid. The big scene when Kerrigan emerges from the chrystalis is in the first two chapters, whereas I think it shoud have been the culmination of the story. The very annoying thing was that the author decided to put the main character - Raynor - into every possible place even in stupidest circumstances. A real StarCraft fan would just cry out of anger for such ridiculous portrayal of the events on Char. Moreover, the battle scenes are also pathetic, it seems as if the writer was doing some kind of statistics work, he just writes how many fought and how many died, and descibes the action with only few mere sentences.
   
   How good can a novel be if the best part of this book is the preview for the other StarCraft story "Ghost:Nova"!?
   
   I have read a lot of books, a whole lot of sci-fi, and I can assure you this is the worst book I have read in my life. Even picture-books for children or fairy tales are more interesing!
   Unless you have to have this piece of paper as a collection item, I suggest you not to buy it.



5. Starcraft fans seem to have two opinions about this book: either it sucks, or it rocks. I find myself in the middle--
   
   I'll try to explain what parts were good, and which were boring and really weird, at least for me (you need to know a tad bit about the Stacraft storyline, though, plus, there are some SPOILERS ahead).
   
   So, the beginning is awesome, it's cool, has a lot of details and explains how Raynor got to Char at the beginning of the Zerg campaing in the Starcraft game. It also tells us a lot about how Jimmy has been striving to cope with the loss of Kerrigan since the end of the Terran campaing. I found this part, up until Raynor gets stranded on Char and all, to be really interesting and captivating--specially the parts that describe Raynor's new found role as a leader. Yeah, it was cool.
   
   Let it be known, however, the book should've ended there, while it still could. Seriously.
   
   The rest, up until the very final battle (which, apparently takes place in the 'Eye for an Eye' scenario from the Zerg Campaign), is extremely tedious and boring, and quite weird. I mean, just plain weird.
   
   Let me explain: it felt like an endless tale of how Jimmy runs around 're-living' every dialogue that happened in the game, line by line, whith some minor changes to the story and some added encounters, while spying the elusive Protoss and the Zerg on Char.
   
   Seriously, that's all he does for almost every page.
   He goes around, spying on both Protoss and Zerg, watching how they fight, how the Protoss run away, hide, fight again, run away, hide, fight again, and so on and so on--whith Jimmy following all the way, trying to convince the Protoss to ally him against the Zerg and to get him and his men out of Char.
   He sometimes talks to Tassadar, and has some dreams about Kerrigan (they have a psychic link of sorts, which is explained later in the book)-- but it was more like a National Geographic documentary than anything else. A really boring one.
   
   Now, don't get me wrong, the book obviously has some new info and added storyline, but being sincere, it wasn't that much nor that good.
   I just felt like getting this huge amount of filler and game scenes that I already knew all about. Sure, I appreciated the extra info and all, but again, it wasn't that interesting nor important.
   
   Anyways, after 12 chapters of spying and chasing (there are 20 in total, plus the epilogue; the first 4 are cool, the last 4 are 'normal'--the rest pretty much felt like filler), Jimmy finally finds the Protoss and asks them to help him so he can help them against the Zerg. From here on we are given this weak clichéd subplot of how the Terrans befriend the Protoss and how Tassadar, Zeratul and Jimmy become Super Friends.
   
   Next we have a huge final battle between our three Musketeers and Kerrigan, which, according to the book, ends in a draw or something--with Kerrigan saying something like: 'I'll be back!' and Zeratul replying: 'We'll se about that'--I mean, come on, what was that?--
   
   And the epilogue is so corny.
   Everyone finally appears (this roughly takes place in the fourth scenario of the Protoss campaing): Aldaris, Artanis (who apparently is 'you' in the Protoss campaign), and even the Hyperion, Raynor's capital ship, which had to leave Char because the Zerg were attacking it, the reason why Jimmy and his men are stranded there in the first place--but seriously, all in the final chapter? Damn, that's what I call a coincidense; a pretty weak constructed coincidense.
   It was more like they wanted to end the book as soon as possible.
   
   
   And that's it. That's basically what happens.
   So, in conclusion, it isn't a horrible Stacraft book, I mean, it isn't Shadow of the Xel'Naga, but it isn't that good either--plus, the writing isn't something to die for. It has a couple of interesting stuff and expands a lot about Jimmy's relationship with Tassadar, Zeratul and Kerrigan (maybe the only worthwhile aspect of this book), but it's nothing really important to the general storyline--I mean, it felt that way for me.
   
   Personally, when I finished the book, it felt nice to have read it, but only because it was a book about Starcraft. The cold reality was I was left with this weird void, like, I read the whole book and yet learned nothing really imporant, nothing that I didn't already know thanks to other sources--so, yeah, it felt like an apparent waste of time. Not a total waste of time, mind you, but it was very close to be one.
   
   So, yeah, I recommend it--but you have been warned!