5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself Game Programming in 24 Hours (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. 
   I have been writing games for a number of years now. While I have published a few "action" games for the AMIGA platform, my experience in the windows environment was more with "static games" such as board games and puzzles. Since I already had the experience with action games and Window programming - my reason for buying the book was to learn "how to do program games the right way" rather then just "how to program games".
   
   For me - the book proves to be a very good book, but I think others will find it not as pleasant - I'll explain that later.
   
   As with other SAMS "learn in 24 hours", there are 24 chapters, which theoretically should be completed in an hour each. I think that is an individual thing - in some areas that I felt knowledgeable in, I skimmed through a chapter in 10 minutes. Yet in some areas, I was fiddling with the example and the source code for hours.
   
   There is also an accompanying CD containing a C++ compiler (Borlands C++ trail version), and source code for all the examples in the book. The installation procedure for the CD was painless - although from previous experiences with compilers - that is not always the case - and if you already have a compiler you might want to stick with it and install only the code examples.
   
   The book starts with a short history of games, a quick introduction to window programming (windows and event handling) and continue to discuss the main driver of a game - the game engine. The book does very well to enhance the engine and add surrounding components: basic graphics (chapter 4), bitmaps (chapter 5), keyboard/mouse/joystick handling (chapters 6/7). It is at the end of chapter seven (the whole of chapter 8 actually) - that you get to write your first game, but not to worry - you get to do some coding well before that. The examples in the chapters leading to chapter 8 should prove intriguing enough for those who are serious about the subject of game programming.
   
   From here on - most of the chapters are dedicated to the main visual aspects of the game - sprites and animations. The book teach how to create them, move them around, animate them, testing for collision, working the background and managing the whole lot (chapters 9-12, 17-22). There is a break for music (chapters 13-16) and some info about creating demos for your application and keeping high score (chapters 23-24) - all accompanied by good solid examples and full working games (about five of them).
   
   The great thing about the book is that is does really teach you how to do it right. It clearly explains the ingredients, build them up logically and provide great code for tinkering. The pace is good and you don't find yourself falling asleep. The examples are relevant, and the source code is explained in the relevant chapter to the right level (not every little detail, but covering all the main points). The book also does not fall into the trap of going into 3D, DirectX or other open libraries - those are important for the serious game programmer, but are a different logical unit, better covered in a purposely written book. This book is to teach you about writing games in the correct manner and about making you WANT to learn more - and in that aspect, "it does what it says on the tin".
   
   So where are the problems? Well - the book states in the introduction that they do expect you to have some background of C++ (true) but they don't expect you to have windows programming knowledge. I guess they were hoping to give the basics of window elements (the event handling routine and the windows creation - as well as the windows data types) in the first two chapters - and that is nonsense. The idea of event handling routine and window register is so fundamental to the way a windows environment concepts are being applied - that anyone not accustomed to SOME window programming will find themselves utterly confused and insecure after the second chapter. The other complaint has to do with the writer. Mr. Morrison is supposedly a competent writer - but when he feels that something is hard to explain - he basically tells you "not to worry about it, you'll get it as we go along" - extremely un-reassuring, and he does it quite a few times in the book. He also sometimes uses the complicated (although more robust) coding - which is important for good programming, but might be utterly confusing (for example, the bitmap class cover loading bitmaps from file, resource etc - using the loadimage command and analysing the bitmap structure, making it a hard read - while a simple loadbitmap and select object commands would have built a shorter, less robust but more reader friendly code) - Last, it must be noted that if you are using a different compiler, the source might need some adjustments - but generally, the more experienced user should find it straightforward.
   
   Overall, I found the book a very good introduction to 2D game programming, and it did left me wanting to explore farther. I would recommend it to those who have some window programming under their belt, but are new to game programming. In that category - this is one of the better books around.



2. As far as I can tell, this book is for the beginner. It teaches game programming using C++ and the Win32 API. However, you need a lot of C++ experience before you start this book, so read up. This book also moves at an odd pace. By chapter 3, you're designing a game engine, but then you spend almost the entire book learning to draw sprites and animate them, with a few breaks for input and sound. This book does manage to make acomplishments in some areas where other books fail. You actually create more than one game, whereas other books simply throw a lot of demos at you and culminate in a game. Some topics that I haven't seen anywhere else yet are also covered here, like basic AI, keeping hi-scores, etc. Summary: good if you have a knowledge of DOS C++ and want to get into game programming with the Win32 API, but you may just want to skip this book all together and go straight for DirectX.



3. As far as I can tell, this book is for the beginner. It teaches game programming using C++ and the Win32 API. However, you need a lot of C++ experience before you start this book, so read up. This book also moves at an odd pace. By chapter 3, you're designing a game engine, but then you spend almost the entire book learning to draw sprites and animate them, with a few breaks for input and sound. This book does manage to make acomplishments in some areas where other books fail. You actually create more than one game, whereas other books simply throw a lot of demos at you and culminate in a game. Some topics that I haven't seen anywhere else yet are also covered here, like basic AI, keeping hi-scores, etc. Summary: good if you have a knowledge of DOS C++ and want to get into game programming with the Win32 API, but you may just want to skip this book all together and go straight for DirectX.



4. As far as I can tell, this book is for the beginner. It teaches game programming using C++ and the Win32 API. However, you need a lot of C++ experience before you start this book, so read up. This book also moves at an odd pace. By chapter 3, you're designing a game engine, but then you spend almost the entire book learning to draw sprites and animate them, with a few breaks for input and sound. This book does manage to make acomplishments in some areas where other books fail. You actually create more than one game, whereas other books simply throw a lot of demos at you and culminate in a game. Some topics that I haven't seen anywhere else yet are also covered here, like basic AI, keeping hi-scores, etc. Summary: good if you have a knowledge of DOS C++ and want to get into game programming with the Win32 API, but you may just want to skip this book all together and go straight for DirectX.



5. I gave this book 2 stars, because it has some good points, mostly really bad points.
   
   The good:
   You will be able to make basic 2D sprite games in Windows using this book and the source code on the CD. It encourages you to learn basic techniques involved with the other aspects of game development (sound, music, etc). The book comes with several games that you can run right off the CD.
   
   The bad:
   This book doesn't really teach you much. In other Sam's Teach Yourself books, you learn each step of what you are doing, and you can put in the source code yourself. In this one, you merely read about PIECES of the source code, and are expected to run it off the disk. So basically, you are paying for a game engine, a bunch of source code examples, and a tutorial on using the game engine.
   
   I would have enjoyed this book much more if it had spent time explaining exactly what the engine does and how to make it do it, not to mention how the code in your program interacts with the engine. It seems to me that this book is mostly for people who want to "cheat" and copy and paste the code to make their games, rather than understanding what they are doing and writing the code themselves. Since I was someone who wanted the latter, I was sorely disappointed.

3 comments about Halo: Combat Evolved: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets.

1. I noticed in both the first and second printing that all of the multiplayer maps are missing important info. There are letters on the map showing connections, but no number callouts which are used in the descreiptions to tell where important power-ups, supplies, etc are supposed to be located. Really reduces the value of the maps!

   The proofreader must have been asleep on this one.




2. Although I don't have the guide, I felt like I had to put something up to counter the other review, which set the average to 1 star despite only even naming one complaint. Even if it's true that the guide doesn't show where to find items on the multiplayer maps, that's hardly the sole purpose of it.



3. Ok, I'm not going to lie. This guide is pretty much for Halo fans. This is only one of two Halo: CE strategy guides out there, and the other guide is in color and is more interesting overall. I already had the other guide, but I bought this one just so that I could have it.

2 comments about Max Payne(tm) 2: The Fall of Max Payne Official Strategy Guide for PS2 & (Brady Games.).

1. Reviewing a strategy guide for a game you are lukewarm about is one of those piquant experiences. Especially when the guide is better than the game. Unfortunately, Max Payne 2 failed to grab me. I didn't find it particularly difficult either. If you go everywhere and try everything you will eventually figure everything out. Except for maybe the last 15 minutes.

   So here is a guide, put together by Tim Bogenn, that is a clear, easy to use walkthrough. One could almost fault it for a lack of emphasis on strategy, since it simply tells you what to do each step of the way. The only source of confusion is that Begenn chose not to provide maps, and sometimes the pictures aren't as graphic as they should be.

   But if you need a guide, this will carry you through. It includes information on the advanced modes and weapons as well. Since there are exactly 12 weapons there really isn't anything left out. So this is a first for me - a five star rating for a guide to a game which I only gave 3 stars. Go figure!




2. Very thorough guide to all the steps you need to take to master this violent noir thriller.
   
   Detective Max Payne returns to fight the crime world. Love comes calling, as the gumshoe's heart is under siege as well this time.
   
   Helped me beat some of the hardest puzzles in the game. I turned to the guide whenever it seemed like I was stuck at an impossible spot.
   
   Max is one of my favorite video characters. This game is a rare intelligent thriller. If you're tired of the same rocket-launcher binges against the same monsters and aliens, get into the murkiest world of all: the criminal mind.

3 comments about 21st Century Game Design (Game Development Series).

1. 21st Century Game Design's quiet brilliance lies in its logical, sensible treatment of game design in today's market. Things game designers may know on some intuitive level, but often have no conscious access to, no way of articulating, this book illuminates. Chris Bateman's DGD1 audience model allows designers to make more intelligent, informed decisions in the way they design.
   
   Thorough implementation of the principles Bateman describes would help everyone: help publishers understand and support developers, help marketers know who to target, and most importantly of all, help gamers by making games that are made with their playstyles in mind. Not all gamers game alike, so as our industry grows and matures, understanding and identifying the different types of gamers is essential.
   
   Of particular import for growth of our industry is appeal to women and the casual segment, considerations that Bateman shows need not be commensurate with alienating the hardcore segment. You don't need to "water down" a great game to broaden its potential audience; you just need to be aware of your audience and make design choices accordingly.
   Bateman shows us that great game design is ultimately subjective; therefore an audience-driven approach to game design is essential to designing games in the 21st century.
   
   
   For any colleges and universities that have or are developing game design based cirriculum, for all industry professionals: here is an indispensable text.



2. I suppose it comes as no surprise to anyone to hear that game design has gotten very complex. The power of computers has grown tremendously since the first games like Pong. And with the ability to do more on the computer, and with more competition in the marketplace the need for a higher class of game designer has become clear.
   
   Now game designers have to consider such things as the age, gender, ability, attitude of the player -- many years ago my daughter got hooked on the Roger Rabit game. I told an executive in the Disney game group that they needed some games for young girls. He turned me down with a huff. 'We have Mickey Mouse,' he said. 'Yes,' I told him, 'but you also have Minnie Mouse.' He tuned me out. Now such a manager couldn't afford to ignore such an audience.
   
   This is a book written by professionals on what it will take to suceed in game development in the coming years. These people have 'been there, done that,' pay attention to what they say.



3. An even wider audience will be found for Chris Bateman and Richard Boon's 21st Century Game Design, which examines how best to design games and tailor them for specific kinds of audiences. Chapters focus more on the psyche and needs of the player than most programming or game books, discussing both how games can address these desires and how they can appeal to a wider audience outside the hard-core gamer. Any game designer or those seeking to develop and distribute games would do well to examine 21st Century Game Design with its audience-oriented focus.

5 comments about The Sims Makin' Magic (Prima's Official Strategy Guide).

1. The Sims Makin Magic, the FINAL expansion pack for the original Sims has just been released. As with every pack, a prima game has released a strategy guide. There is something you have to understand before you purchase this item. Yes, it is helpful in figuring out what to do for the first few days, but almost all the information included you could look up on the internet. Also for the SEVENTH time now, over half of the book is devoted to the original Sims, while only the last part is set aside for the new expansion pack. It says in the book this is for all the people who have only the expansion that the book is talking about, but by this point almost everyone who is buying Makin Magic has at least one other expansion. This book is 240 pages long, and the Makin Magic section doesn't start until page 129. Every time a new expansion comes out, I buy it and the strategy guide, to see if they have changed their ways. I have been disappointed. This is a HUGE waste of trees and resources, not to mention money. The information was very helpful, and they have a FEW pages that I think I might refer to often, but if you really want the info that is in this book, go to thesims.com and read the transcripts or find a good fan site. You do not need this book to play the game, and the more guides I see in this format, the lower I will rate them because Prima just doesn't get it.



2. "The Sims Makin' Magic: Prima's Official Strategy Guide" is a great buy! It's chock full of useful tips and information and a must-have for any Makin' Magic fan. The first half of the book is a basic recap of the original "Sims" for anyone who doesn't already know how to play ;-) The second half details "Makin' Magic", everything from how to raise your dragon to spell lists to dueling tips. I found several sections especially helpful...

   A chart listing all the spells/charms and cookbook recipes and their ingredients was especially time-saving as I no longer had to keep running back to the family spell book/cookbook to check ingredients. The descriptions of each spell are also listed so you know what to expect and don't end up blowing your hard-earned MagiCoins on ingredients for a spell that doesn't even help you that much.

   This strategy guide is also packed with tips on how to complete quests, how to win a duel, where to find rare ingredients, info on magical rewards, funhouse designs, how to hatch a friendly dragon, and a helpful general guide on how to begin your highly rewarding magical career.




3. I played the game for about five hours and I made notes on spells and charms. I then purchased this book thinking it would give me a complete list of spells and charms and no it doesn't. It did give me everything that I had already wrote down.

   It only gave me one other spell and it doesn't say what it does you will just have to try it out and see. It gives you one other charm but it doesn't say what it does you will just have to try it out and see.

   I alread know how to play this game, I have every expansion for the Sims, I just wanted a complete spell book and I feel I was robbed.




4. I first purchased the expansion pack, Makin' Magic, and played with it for a day or so, and then I purchased this book on the expansion pack hoping for some tips and tricks and some more info on the game. Unfortunately, I didn't find what I was looking for. The book does have some good charts about what spells require which ingrediants and what it takes to do a spell right and takes you for an overview of the game, but there weren't any helpful tips except for one or two. And everything I read in there I had already figured out just by playing the game. There also aren't any cheats in this book like there are for the rest of the books (on the rest of the expansion packs). Overall, I found this to be a bit of a disappointment. If you are buying it with the game then I guess it'd be alright, but if you already bought the game and played around with it for a few hours then you know all this book can tell you.



5. In my opinion, I don't know wether to get because it is usefull, or not to get it because it isn't usefull. I have been dying to get the Sims Makin Magic since the time my friend told me about it. I own every Sims Expansion pack that there is. The original Sims, The Sims Livin Large, The Sims House Party, The Sims Hot Date, The Sims Unleashed, and The Sims Superstar. I was actually VERY disappointed in the Sims Superstar, but that's what I get for getting it just to spend my hard earned money. I thought that the book would be usefull, but when I heard that there are 240 pages and only 111 are devoted to The Sims Makin Magic, I was kinda bumed. Somebody, PLEASE help me make the write decision! (I only filled in the star because I had to, don't take my word based on the stars, do it based on my most likely unhelpful review because I haven't bought the book yet!)

No comments about Kane & Lynch: Dead Men: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides).

1 comments about Myst : Strategies and Secrets.

1. A great book that leads you thru Myst without giving you the answers. It keeps the game intersting, but gets you thru those tough times when you would usually pull your hair out. Like having a good friend that knows what their doing. A must have for Myst.

1 comments about 10 x 10 Sudoku.

1. I didn't want this book to end - it's been a while since I've had such fun while tackling a challenge.
   My favorites had to be the rectangular 5 and 6 starred puzzles.
   
   I will definitely be checking out more of his books.

4 comments about Ace Combat? 5 Official Strategy Guide (Bradygames Take Your Games Further).

1. This strategy guide is so much more imformative than ace 4's was.This strategy guide list all 50 planes and special weapons.It even tells you which wing formation to pick for your wingmen and also how much each plane is once it is shot down.It also gives you pictures of the 4 characters you will be flying with and of course it has pictures of every level.In the secrets section it even tells you were the enemy painted planes are on each level after you finish so you can shoot it down and put it in your hanger.It also list all other bonuses too.This is a must have if you are playing ace combat 5.



2. I have to say the Prima Guide for Ace Combat 4 was far superior! Brady Games does a fairly good job overall, however, the Prima Guide was much more specific in regards to what you have to do to achieve the "S" rankings and unlocking everything on each level. My advice is pretty simple...Save your money, look the stuff up online and print it out. You'll be better off hearing what people have done, and the methods they use to get the highest rankings and how they unlocked everything.



3. This book is without a doubt the perfect addition to the game that has entranced and enitced me for so long. Are ya stuck? Well this book get you out of it. And man was I stuck in a few places. Brady Games took a great game and made it a little more user friendly. Thanks Brady Games.



4. Two of the three other reviews available make good observations about this book but came to opposite conclusions from each other. I have to say that I was rather disappointed with this effort by Brady. I first purchased AC-2 with my Playstation years ago. Later I got Air Combat, AC-3, AC-4, and of course AC-5 for my PS-2. I am not a gamer or "whiz" at video games. That is why I "need" a strategy guide to really get somewhere (the skill of some gamers is so prodigious, however, that I think a guide is as useless to them as a junior high arithmetic book is to someone earning an Ph.D. in Mathematics.) I have guides for all but Air Combat. I found the pictures to be fuzzy and rarely could discern what the point was they were demonstrating with them. I very much missed having hints about how to achieve an "S" rank. On many occasions they don't even tell you how many of the enemy targets are actually available, or the number they give you is inaccurate. To me (perhaps not to others) the point of paying for a guide is to get info that will help you score better than you would by trying to learn from trial and error what the "secrets" or at least a few little tricks are. Oh, they do mention a few, but not like Prima does in their AC-4 guide. Brady should have used Prima's approach to each mission as its example. However, I did like the Brady advice on how to configure your wingmen. Also, their in-depth discussion of each fighter, the weapons, etc. at the beginning were also an excellent idea. So overall, the book is not a waste, but it could have been the best one I've ever seen if they had added what, for me, were the basics I've mentioned above. I would have preferred more discussion of the secrets of each mission and how to score the "S" rank, rather than the otherwise excellent information on the planes, for example. For me, though, I thought AC-5 (visuals themselves) were inferior to the clarity, etc., found in AC-4. Also, I didn't care for the prepubescent "lingo" in radio chatter in the background. These items of course are not the fault of the guide. The guide is better than nothing, but I hope if they do another Ace Combat guide in the future they will do better. My views are probably not relevant for everyone's experience, however.

2 comments about Virtua Fighter 5 (Xbox 360 and PS3) Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)).

1. This is a fairly thick book that is packed with moves and combos.... but there's so much text that there isn't a whole lot of that cool exclusive artwork. There aren't many visual aids to the moves either. It's a great reference book--just don't expect anything pretty.



2. iT WONDERFUL ITEM AND LOVE TO BUY ANOTHER ONE FOR MY FRIEND BECAUSE HE LIKES IT TOO. A+