Rating: 
Summary: Best Game Programming Book I Ever Read, No Exaggeration
Review: I have long felt that VB is a valid option for the production of high quality games. Most game programmers disagree with this and think the only real option is to use VC++. These programmers should really read this book- it will do away with this commonly held misconception! The truth is, most windows API's and DirectX functions work just as fast or nearly as fast with VB as with VC++. However, the ease of use of VB will likely cut the production time in half. This book clearly presents just about everything one needs to program games with VB and DirectX. I am not talking about silly shareware-quality card games like so many other VB game books present, but rather high end professional quality 2D and 3D game engines. I am going to be teaching a programming class next year. I feel that game programming is the best way to teach the subject as it covers just about every aspect of programming in a fun and exciting way. I have been looking for a good book to use for this class but I always ended up dissapointed... that is until I read this book! I will surely use it to help teach the course. I have read well over 100 programming books, and I probably own every game-related VB book ever written. None can compare to the clarity and depth of this book which is stuffed with 1100 pages of helpful information and professional insight. There are so many things I like about this book that it is hard for me to know where to begin. The logical progression is nice to see and makes it suitable even for those who may be new to game programming. Harbour starts by convincing the reader to stop using VB's graphical interface. He claims this will make it harder to think like a game programmer- and I totally agree! (Funny how every OTHER game book for VB I have ever read starts off by using a picture control to load a sprite- that is garbage and not how a professional game programmer would do things!) He then shows the inefficiencies of the inherent VB graphical functions and introduces some solid API replacements. Next he covers DirectDraw with DirectX7 (2D), DirectSound, DirectInput, and 3D graphics using DirectX8. It even explains how to make network games! Basically, everything you probably thought you couldn't do with VB is explained in this book. He even has a lighthearted writing style which makes it much easier to read. It only took me a few days to traverse the entire book. He even covers some very interesting historical aspects of game programming. The code examples are very clear and well commented. The examples alway start small and simple so new concepts are not lost in a clutter of code but then they progress to full game projects. The author must have spent a lot of time thinking about the best way to teach each subject. I would like to personally thank Jonathan Harbour for writing such a wonderful book. I always try to write a balanced review by discussing the aspects of the book that I think could be improved. It is hard to come up with anything I didn't like about this book. I guess I would have liked to see a few more advanced topics covered related to Direct3D like directional lighting- but let's be real, a single book can't cover everything (But this one sure comes close!) With any luck, perhaps he'll write a second book dedicated solely to 3D graphics with VB.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: I haven't read the whole book yet, but I've gone through the first 6 chapters. I consider myself to be an intermediate vb programmer, and I learned a lot in just the first few chapters; far from getting into game programming. I glanced at the rest of the book, and it looks awesome. Toward the end of the book it takes you through the designing and programming of a couple complete games. The book also goes through programming a graphics library that you can use in later projects. Overall, this book is just amazing.
Rating:
Summary: Great book! A must buy for any serious vb game developper
Review: I just bought the book. Haven't finished it yet but it's a truly amazing book. I've browsed through the content and it will answer the questions of any aspiring VB game developper and will teach a few things to seasoned developpers. I was one of those guys that thought VB wasn't for game programming. Since I started reading the book and tested the examples, I am now convinced that VB can do the job quite well. The author walks us through the game programming philosophy, wich is not the same mindset as non game development and he uses sound arguments to explain why VB is a perfect alternative (should I say choice) for game development. The examples are clear and to the point. They are written for VB 6.0. The author talks a little about VB.Net but the game library that you will build throughout the book is aimed at VB 6.0 and will not work with VB.Net without modification. All the examples ran flawlessly on my main computer (AMD ATHLON 1900+), but I had some difficulties running some of them on my laptop machine. So I wrote to the author and guess what? He answered me the same day!! Talk about support!!! If you are serious about game development or just a hobbyist that wants to learn a few skills this book is a must. We could probably already call it a classic! Steve Grant
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: I returned it the day after I bought it. Much of the book is spent relating anecdotes about the author's favorite video games. It barely covers the most basic material because the author thinks that math and advanced topics are "icky." Yes, he uses that term. It could be condensed into 60 pages and might be worth the price if it were free. It should be recategorized as Games-->Non-fiction-->Worthless. Buy something else - anything else. This book is just plain awful!
Rating:
Summary: Yep, it's a top notch book
Review: I'm a third of the way into the book and have been exceedingly happy with everything. It is well organized, provides solid technical information, good examples, and a lot of insight. Its written in a style that is easy to read - all the info you need to know but without some condescending attitude. We're talking about games here and you can tell the author is both a long-time gameplayer and programmer.
Rating:
Summary: The Best of Direct X
Review: Jonathan has really put brialliance and creativity into the heart of this book! This is a must by for game programmers of all levels. This book helps making DirectX a simple product to use after reading it!
Rating: 
Summary: Visual Basic Programming: No Novices Allowed!
Review: Let me start off with the pros: This book covers a wide variety of topics including 3d, sound effects, multi-player networking, artificial intelligence, and more. Now for the cons: In order to understand ANY of this, you would have to have extensive experience with Visual Basic and knowledge of the internal workings of a computer. The author explains through examples using commands not yet presented that will either be presented 200 pages later or won't even be presented at all. The definitions are explained in terms and words that make me doubt anyone short of a bachelors degree in computer science could clearly understand. How can he expect one to know what bitmap memory buffer is? He also presents these commands that give vague definitions using words one would not understand, shows the syntax, and expects the average person to remember it 100 pages later when he shows an example of it inside a program. If you know quite a bit about programming in Visual Basic and would like to try to get into game development, by all means buy this book. Why should it be that way in a book that clearly states that a person who has never programmed a game in their life could easily pick this stuff up? I've programmed in Visual Basic for a few years. In total, my programming experience (primarily 2d/text games) adds up to about 5 years, yet about half the topics in this book took several reads to fully understand... the other half were beyond my scope.
Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTE JUNK
Review: One of the worst books I've ever seen. 1150 pages, of which at least 950 look like junk filler. (For example, a tedious description of how much the author enjoyed playing video games in his youth, which games were his favorite, what his high scores were, and what a jock he was in the arcade.) I returned this book, don't waste your money!
Rating:
Summary: This is an Awesome Book!
Review: The editor, A. LaMothe, is right it is sure to become a VB classic. It is the best VB book on game development there is on today's market. I would like to see more advance topics such as skin meshing and 3d enviroments with DirectX for VB6.
Rating:
Summary: Awsome Book
Review: The writting style allows all of us to get up to speed. i have been programming VB for almost 4 years and never have i learned so much in a book. From begining to end this was fun and a intresting romp. While some of the features could have showed us how to save a game to a file format that way we could have saved state machine he gives most of us WHO understand programming a canvass to unleash our thoughts. However the game engeinering chapeter could have had a sample Design Doc or more accuratly depict what a design document should be.
| 
