Rating: 
Summary: A look at the world of game programming...
Review: I'm a middle-school computer teacher with a computer club that meets weekly after school. The "Circuit Scramblers" - mostly 9th graders, fight over use of my copy of Clayton's game programming book at the meetings. While my VB6 background probably isn't as developed as some of the other reviewers, I can comment on the interest these students have for this book, and on the degree of care shown in developing each topic. While some of the reviewers have suggested that the book doesn't cover some important VB features, I would suggest that perhaps Clayton might cover that in a vol. II....which I look forward to buying...
Rating: 
Summary: Good Beginner's Book and that is it.
Review: If it is your first time programming anything in VB, this book is for you. The code is too easy follow. The farthest it goes is the VB standard toolbar. It dabs in directsound and API & DX are in the appendix. The author doesn't think too highly of VB's potential from gaming. Although, I do think this book would strengthen a beginner's understanding of VB6.
Rating: 
Summary: A must have for any one wanting to program games
Review: If you are new to programming games and you want to start in the right derection go with this book. even though when you start it is kind of slow it gets going and on chapter 13 you are ready to create you first full game. there are some things that i would get ride of but for any one new this is highly recommended. Even if you are advanced its still fun to read and has great ideas to start you off on your new game. also a great reference for VB Game Programmers considering theres only like 4 good Vb Game Programming books out there.
Rating:
Summary: Good for beginners but very little DirectX
Review: If you have never programmed simple games before and you are interested in learning how to do so, then this book does a fairly good job of giving an introduction into the field. However, anyone with even a small amount of game programming experience will get little from this book. The samples are easy to understand but few of the games would even be worthy of "Shareware" status. Most disappointing was the lack of DirectX coverage (only a few pages worth). DirectX is a great way to expand the capablities of Visual Basic, and any intermediate (or above) game programmer will want to utilize DirectX 8.0 in their lattest projects.
Rating:
Summary: Great for beginners, not for the expert
Review: It would be very difficult to overstate the role that games have had in the rise of computing. When the first personal computers came out, I am talking TRS-80 Model 1 and Apple 2 here, much of the software that existed was games. Furthermore, I have yet to meet a programmer of that generation who did not program some kind of game on their computer. Back in the days of the now defunct magazine "Creative Computing", we got together and talked a great deal about how to program around the graphics and speed limitations of the processors. Many people purchase upgrades solely for the purpose of being able to run the latest games or program better ones.
With that background, this is a book for all who want to learn the basics of game programming in general and using Visual Basic in particular. Several complete games are built, with full explanations of what every line does, both locally and as a component of the project. Complete source code is available on the CD, so it is easy to load up and try the game as you learn about it. This really helps the process of understanding what is being created.
The games used to describe the programming strategies include:
* Facecatch - a simple game where the graphic image of a face appears at random locations on the screen. The goal is to click on the image before it moves to the next location.
* Life - a slight modification of the classic created by John Horton Conway. In this game, a cell lives or dies in the next generation depending upon the number of neighbors it has. It has been said that before the advent of the Internet, more computer time was wasted playing life than any other thing.
* Battlebricks - a variation of the classic game where a ball bounces up and knocks bricks out of a wall. The goal is to move a reflective paddle back and forth so that the ball bounces back rather than being lost. Two versions are constructed, with and without sound.
* Blackjack - an implementation of the standard card game.
* Pokersquares - the object of this game is to place cards in a five-by-five grid so that you have the best poker hands in both the horizontal and vertical directions.
* Crystals - a version of the ancient Egyptian game Oh-Wa-Ree where objects are placed in holes and the aim is to distribute them. If a hole contains three items, you then win those objects. You play against the computer and the one who captures the most objects wins.
* Dragonland - a dungeons and dragons style adventure game. You also program an editor for the dungeon construction as part of the project.
* Moonlord - a space adventure game with warping and sound effects where you battle alien ships.
These games captured my attention, both when learning how to code them as well as when I played them. The wide variety used as examples will teach you most of the underlying principles of how games are programmed, as well as how to apply those principles in a synergistic way to make a game that will be interesting and attractive. I came away impressed with the combination of gaming and learning strategies used. It does take a great deal of effort to understand the code and how the pieces interact. These are nontrivial games and the code is at times complex. The author has done a very good job modularizing it into pieces that can be understood, the difficulty is that it is sometimes hard to understand the interactions.
This is a book that I recommend for anyone interested in learning the strategies behind game programming and who is not an experienced coder. Just like learning to cook, the nice thing is you get to consume your creations at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Very useful for learning to program VB6 games
Review: Teach Yourself Game Programming with VB is one of very few books available on programming games with VB, and it's the only one I've found that specifically uses VB6. (It recommends you use the Pro Ed, which lets you compile fast executables). It covers several different types of games, as well as pointing out what kinds are best suited to VB.I found the book very helpful. I've done a little hobby-type programming in the past, but have only recently begun to learn VB. I read the whole book first, then went back and started working my way thru. The source code is thoroughly explained, and the CDROM actually includes all the source code so you can play them as you follow along with the text and see how they're supposed to work before you even try writing your own versions. There was a time when writing games in BASIC was how everybody learned how to program. This book gives you the tools to do the same in Visual Basic. It doesn't assume you're a total novice at VB, but it doesn't require years of programming experience either. I think it's a good introduction to what can be a complex subject.
Rating:
Summary: Good Overall Game Examples For Any Language
Review: This book goes through the details of many types of games, from card games to rpgs. These examples are good no matter what language you wish to program in. So if you are looking for game ideas, then this might be a good place to look. It comes with code for each game/example, and visual basic is easy to follow along with. They go into detail and explain all the code that they show you, which gives you good insight into some of the framework and details you need to think about before programming any game. I did not give this 5 stars because, if you are a knowledgable vb (or any language) programmer, then you could probably put these games together on your own without this book. Visual Basic is not a great language for programming games, but the simplicity of the language makes it simple to learn the basics of design and framework
Rating:
Summary: Good Overall Game Examples For Any Language
Review: This book goes through the details of many types of games, from card games to rpgs. These examples are good no matter what language you wish to program in. So if you are looking for game ideas, then this might be a good place to look. It comes with code for each game/example, and visual basic is easy to follow along with. They go into detail and explain all the code that they show you, which gives you good insight into some of the framework and details you need to think about before programming any game. I did not give this 5 stars because, if you are a knowledgable vb (or any language) programmer, then you could probably put these games together on your own without this book. Visual Basic is not a great language for programming games, but the simplicity of the language makes it simple to learn the basics of design and framework
Rating:
Summary: Good introduction...
Review: This book is a good intro into game programming using VB. The author covers the basic but important topics. The examples are very easy to follow and completely explained. If you've never programmed a game before I recommend buying this book. If you have experience in the game programming area and are looking for a somewhat advanced VB game tutorial, pass on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: this book just didnt meet my expectations, it focused too much on the authors pre-written programs and how to re-program them rather than teaching how to do things. the author spent the ENTIRE 3rd week on one program and most of the 2nd week on another program. the begging of the book focuses too much on designing graphics for the game rather than programming. the only good part(s) in the book took place over the end of week 1 and beggining of week 2 (6 chapters out of 21 that i liked).
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