Rating: 
Summary: The best game programming book around
Review: This is an excellent book, written in an easy and engaging style, but filled with great explanations of complex topics. The CD comes with a lot of great stuff, including a VC++6 IDE (learning edition - good for me as I only had VB6 before), Photo Paint 5 (for creating your own images) and lots of other stuff, including many useful articles on game programming. I did have to read a comprehensive VC++6 language book before I could get into this book, but having programmed with VB6 for a few years, the switch wasn't too tough. Even if you program in some other language than VC++, the logic of game programming explained in this book will still be of use to you. I'm seriously thinking of switching my programming effort to VC++ partly because of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent treatise on a difficult topic
Review: Simply put - game programming is not EASY. Game programmers have to know more disciplines than any other field of programming - graphics, AI, sound, pathing, collision, physics etc... Andre gives you the tools (he doesn't build you the house), but you CAN get there from here with this book. Also, the two online books that do cover 3D are excellent. I don't care if they are available on the internet, they are packaged with a very good book that prepares you for the material on the CD. I'd give this book 10 stars if I could.
Rating:
Summary: Great Intro to Game Programming
Review: For all its faults, I can unabashedly recommend this book for the nubie to game programming. It is true that there are numerous typos in the but they are easily recognized and do not miss inform the reader. It is also true that this volume one of a multi volume work but the only problem there is that the reader is not informed of this on the cover. The book is quite large enough just covering the basics of game programming and 2D & 2.5D graphics. I was particularly taken with the chapters on AI and Physics they cover the basic of two very difficult subjects.For a good grounding in game programming, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent references
Review: Andre Lamothe is one of those rare kind who can really make complicated concepts easy to understand. You can be sure that you won't waste your time reading his book (unlike a lot of other books dealing with this subject). One day when I write a book, I want to write like him.
Rating:
Summary: Andre's best yet
Review: This book is flat out awesome. Most other books I need to read through most of the chapters two or three times but with this book I read it once and understood it totally. I can honestly say I have never learned so much so fast.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't get if looking for 3D
Review: Fundamentals of 3D programming? Where? On the CD you say? Oh, you mean those articles written by other authors that are freely available for download on the internet? So, I spent $35 bucks for the information I could have gotten for free! Hope no one else is as dumb as me and actually thought they were getting a book on 3D fundamentals. Silly me.
Rating:
Summary: Don't delay, buy it now!
Review: I just wanted to say that i initially delayed in buying this book because i read here that it was partially a 'rehash' of his 'For Dummies' game programming book (which i have). I decided to buy the book anyway and all i have to say is WOW! This book reads like a *college course* book on game programming! There's nothing in this book that *feels* like a repeat of the 'For Dummies' book. This book goes into so much depth that i'll flatly say you're missing out on an excellent resource on game progamming if you don't buy it! I've never wrote a book review here at Amazon before but i felt so strongly about this book that here i am writing one! The chapters on AI alone is worth it. As the previous reviewer mentioned, you can digest the material in this book until the second volume is available -- believe me, there's a to play around with! My only two complaints are that out of all the game programming books i've purchased, no one has touched on bitmap rotation. I have a need for it in my game and i wish someone would touch the subject a little bit. I know with the 'world going 3D' bitmap rotation isn't so much of a problem anymore, but 3D is a *big* subject and sometimes a 2D game is all that's needed to realize the desired game play. My second complaint is that the game at the end of the book 'Outpost' -- (which looks great) doesn't run on neither of my 2 machines. Hopefully within time, i'll figure out where and why the code is failing. Great book, i can't wait for the second volume!
Rating:
Summary: This book 0wns me
Review: While I agree there is not much info on 3D programming in this book it does help to know 2D programming inside out before you try any 3D stuff. I would have really hated this book if the author tried to cram 3D code into it as well. There is no way you can do justice to 2D & 3D programming in the confines of 1000 pages , 1000 pages in barly enough to convey the basics of 3D let alone 2D as well. The two book approach is perfect for the likes of me because it means I can go away and master this book while I wait for vol II. I'd also like to agree with the point some people are making with regards to the title it clearly should have been called Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus : Fundamentals of *2D* Game Programming. enough of this rant back to programming ;)...
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Comprehensive Book
Review: A lot of people are complaining about the lack of 3D info. This is entirely unwarranted because if you do any research at all, they say that there is 3D stuff on the cd and that LaMothe will go over it in Volume II. I have both his original Gurus book and his Windows Dummies book. By the time I got this one I already knew a good deal of game programming, but this book was most definitely not a waste of time! All the stuff that was in Dummies is in here and explained more fully as well as for DirectX 6.0 (Dummies was some strange hybrid of 1.0 and 5.0). For those who haven't seen it in a while, or never quite got there, he also explains basic Linear Algebra in a very straight-forward manner. In addition he has chapters on physics and stae-of-the-art artificial intelligence(Fuzzy Logic and Neural Nets!). The physics chapter is very important because the next time I see a Mario clone where you float to the top of your jump, float back down to the bottom at the same speed, and can change direction in the middle, I'm going to blow chunks all over my computer! Anyone who knows C and some C++ can pick up this book, learn Windows programming, and make a game within a month or two. Face it, as a beginning programmer, or even an advanced lone programmer, you're not going to write the next Quake. This book will make sure your game at least doesn't stink.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book, cant wait for #2
Review: This book is great, I read Andre's other Tricks books, but this one really does it for me... I read a lot for docs on DirectX, even tried the Help files MS provides but after reading this book i really undestand DirectX and can now make a whole game library with it, cant wait to get my first game out there. All the DirectX stuff lots of math ;), IA and other game related stuff is covered, I cant wait for Book2, where he will present Direct3D and more,more,more ;)
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