Beginning .NET Game Programming in C#

Rating:
Summary: Beginning .NET Game Programming in C#
Review: I found this book to be perfect for me. I am a web application developer and do not have a lot of directx, graphic or game programming experience. Therefore this book really addressed my needs. I am already very familiar with C#, architecture, object oriented programming and design and this book really spoke to help me get a grasp on how I would go about writing a game, working with directx and graphics. The examples were great. The included code really helped to give a better understanding of how it all works together. David Weller, Alexandre Santos and Ellen Hatton have put together a very nice introduction for me. I liked that they chose a game that I was well known so that I was not caught up with learning the rules of a new game and could instead focus on the programming learning at hand. I also liked the examples for enhancing the games and suggesting ways to improve them. Game programming is a hobby of mine and will definitely take this knowledge to devising games that hopefully my kids will enjoy.


Rating:
Summary: Great book, author knows his stuff!
Review: I really don't understand the previous review. I don't think the person even looked at the book. His review says nothing about the book and I think it is a great book.

after all, the author works for Microsoft and is the game guru there. If he doesn't know what he is talking about, nobody does!

I found all the code that I tried to work out of the box, so I suggest disregarding the previous review and trying the book out.

Rating:
Summary: Great Introduction for People that know C#
Review: I'm not sure the problem the previous reviewer had, but if you already know C# and want to dive into the world of Managed DirectX, this is a great recource.

I've been playing around with DX for about 4 years now so I have a head start in understanding the topic. I thought that the material was perfect for a beginner, and actually wished I had this book back when I was first learning. David clearly states in the introduction that your book isn't there to teach you WinForms and maybe that's the problem the previous reviewer had. If you already know C# this book is a great introduction to Managed DX programming. If you don't know C#, go buy a book on that first.

Rating:
Summary: Goes through the basics
Review: In programming, one of the single biggest applications is games. The speed of a multigigahertz cpu, plus vast memory and disk space gives you a huge drawing board. Also, since games are a mass market, then you want to code for Microsoft PCs.

In response, the authors show how Microsoft's .NET environment and C# programming within it can be used to make viable games. They start by conceding that the fastest twitch games, like Half Life 2 or Doom 3, can't really be effectively coded using the book's Direct X methods. But they point out that C# is certainly adequate for other types of games.

The book walks you through very basic game algorithms. If you've programmed games before, many of these ideas will be familiar. Like the fundamentals of detection of collisions between 2 objects on the screen.

Naturally, since visuals are crucial, space is devoted to constructing 3D objects and rendering them with various textures. Frankly, for the pure graphics, the book only touches on the algorithms. You will need another text devoted to the latter. But within the space constraints of this book, there is an admirable job of conveying how to write games in C#.

Rating:
Summary: It's a buy, but only if you download the source code for web
Review: Sorry to say this, but there were some pretty glaring errors in the code listings in the book. Structure of the book did not follow the required code writing to make entry in the programming environment possible without compilier errors. Unfortunately, the errors in the book forced me to rate this lower than four.

Overall, the material and examples were good. I strongly recommend that if you do get this book make sure you download the source code from the website, otherwise your examples will not work, however you can get around these problems if you know C# just requires a little additional head scratching. Authors do know their stuff and source code on website compiles without error. Nice Tetris example at the beginning that will introduce you quickly to some of the basics of gamewriting. Book goes quickly to connecting with DirectX and networking topics.

Rating:
Summary: I'm not a games dev at all, and I got a lot out of this book
Review: The first program I ever wrote was in 1984, being a text-based, command-driven NBA basketball game on an Apple IIe in BASIC. My how games have progressed since. Having said that, I'm strictly a web developer, and from behind the comfortable confines of the web browser is about where my programming acumen begins and ends these days. But like most people my age (I'm 30) I grew up playing Nintendo and have long been a fan of video games.

Being a user and not a creator, I'd long wondered how such things were brought to life, and this book does a great job of showing just that for the newbie.

The code and concepts, despite the title, are fairly advanced, and not at all tutorial-driven, so not every line is described ad nauseum. So an open mind is needed to let it sink in. That having been said, the object-oriented nature and accessibility requirements for device hardware for modern video games is adequately described, with some very relevant games used as practical examples. The purpose of, need for, and uses with, Managed DirectX 9 is very nicely done.

The authors use a very friendly voice, and cite several well-known games as exhibits of the fundamentals they describe throughout the text. For example, a Tetris offshoot is described in the book's initial chapter, demonstrating how such a simple game is likely a lot more complex in its design that you might realize, but simultaneously not as laborious as one might think.

This book defines the major areas of concern for creating a great game, being that all elements within a good video game must exhibit some sort of (1) artificial intelligence, (2) spatial awareness, and (3) reactionary behavior in the event of collisions. I also now know I'll probably never be a good games developer, as one should be very patient, be really, really, really good at math, and use some pretty advanced OOP/OOD concepts to create a good game.

Now being aware of the number of skills needed, algorithms with which to be familiar, and areas that are more deeply covered in other specialized books, this book won't allow you to create the next Quake, Grand Theft Auto 3 or Super Mario World right off the bat - but it will get you started.


Rating:
Summary: Good book; out-of-date samples.
Review: This book is well written, moves from simple to complex examples, and at a level at which intermediate level programmers can easily follow. The first game samples are based on GDI, and the latter ones on DirectX 9. HOWEVER, the samples have not been updated for the 2004 Summer Release of DirectX, so they are unusable without a lot of tweaking. Hopefully the authors will update the samples (which can be downloaded) to make the book more useable.