Palm OS Game Programming

Rating:
Summary: Thumbs down! Don't buy this book!
Review: I should have believed the two readers who rated this book with
2 stars. I'm not sure if they found the same errors that I have
found below but I don't think my debug-ROMs on POSE with all
debug options turned on lied to me.

I bought the book based on its Table of Contents. What a fool
I've been!

I tested the first example Chapter3.prc and it gave the
following error after I tapped any of the launchers :

"Found 3 memory leaks for Chapter3(unknown version) Information

concering the leaks can be found in the log file."

Chapter4.prc ran ok.

Chapter6.prc's animated sheep application ran but again when I
tap any of the application launchers:

"Found 12 memory leaks for Chapter6(unknown version). Information
concerning the leaks can be found in the log file."

Chapter7.prc = "Found 31 memory leaks..."

Chapter8.prc ran but provided no way out. Tapping or pressing
the application launcher and hard buttons can't exit the program.

Chapter9's Elastic.prc & Inelastic.prc = "Found 13 memory leaks..."

Chapter10.prc = "Found 19 memory leaks..."

Chapter12.prc = "Chapter12(unknown version) called SysFatalAlert
with the message "DataMgr.c, Line 3362, Null dbID passed".

The book is hypocrital in the sense that it says to turn ON ALL
debugging options and yet I feel the author turned his OFF when
he developed the applications in the book.

Plus the makefile doesn't work using GCC! I assume the makefile
is specific to one of the proprietary tools he used.

I'll still read this book for the theory but I will definitely
write my own game engine. I can't trust his engine.

Next time, I won't buy books with reviews/ratings split two
ways. I wish I could return this book but I can't since
returning it to Amazon will be a costly excercise on my part.

Rating:
Summary: Disgrace for Palm programming community
Review: Shortly, this is probably most useless computer programming book ever. On the other hand it is a perfect example how to waste 400+ pages without saying anything. Some chapters like multiplayer game programming, explanation of A* or fuzzy logic clearly show that author have no clue about game programming. Regarding Palm OS, there is no single advance topic covered; (Actually they are in the contents summary).
AVOID at all cost !

Rating:
Summary: Good book, I'll Tell You Why
Review: This book does a good job of focusing on Palm OS game development at the Palm API level. It is true that this stuff can be collected anywhere on the Internet, but that would hold true for any other Palm book. If you think about it, the pending switch to the ARM processors makes many of the down and dirty discussions instantly irrelevant (Dragonball assembly will be emulated on the new platform where API functions have the luxury of being bridged to native ARM code). The author seemed to understand this, and thus filled the book with quite a bit of useful material.

I found his treatment of design to be particularly good. While the library that ships with the book is not perfect, it is extremely well designed and it shows. I found the example code to be a little rough (it lacks the polish of a commercially published title), but the libraries the author writes to drive it are very well written. He explains his design choices in detail and walks programmers through the process. In the end you are left with an understanding of the motivation for these libraries... very good indeed.

The chapters on Physics and AI are particular highlights. The author covers basic physics in a way I have not seen in other books. Instead of describing gimmics (like gravity wells) the author chooses to concentrate on kinematics and forces to actually describe the motion of objects in a game. This is a powerful concept, and one that I have already put to use in my Palm endeavors.

The AI chapter is nice, it describes several pathfinding algorithms and takes a stab at basic behavorial structuring. I found the discussion of "Environmental SI" to be very pointed and informative. This is the type of AI concept that seems absolutely ideal for the Palm platform. The chapter also introduces Fuzzy Set Theory and Fuzzy logic... I'm not sure why the author includes this, as it is not a terribly applicable concept for most Palm games... as best I can guess it is just something that the author finds "cool."

Another interesting thing I noticed about the book is that it has only small source code listings in it. I like this approach. Most game programming books consists of thousands and thousands of lines of source code listings which generally result in me flipping through lots and lots of pages to get to the discussion. While this greatly decreases the size of the book, it increases its utility ten fold. A lot of content is packed into this book... and I think it can benefit programmers of all levels.

If you can't tell, I liked this book. My only real complaint has to do with what the author left out. After reading this book you will have a strong foundation in the realm of Palm OS game programming. If you have previous game programming experience you will be good to go.. the book does a wonderful job of bridging the gap between desktop and handheld game programming. It would have been nice if this book had included a discussion on topics like special FX (particle systems, screen wipes, or blends) or other "cool" game programming tricks. These are useful topics, so if you are a novice game developer I reccomend picking up this book and another general game programming book to help develop these specialized game development skills.

Overall, I think this is a great book and I can't wait to see what the author does next:) The lessons you will learn in library design are worth the price of admission, but I can guarantee you will learn so much more.

Rating:
Summary: Nicholas Pleis's Rogh Draft
Review: This book is exactly what I was looking for. It has basic coverage of all the different facets of game development - animation, collision detection, double buffering, AI, etc. - although not in a great amount of detail. Some of the coverage isn't as indepth as you might want, so for example, you might want to pick up a book that focuses on AI to expand on the basic concepts presented in this book.

What this book does do well is show you how to apply these traditional game programming concepts to the Palm platform, taking into account all its pitfalls and limited resources. The book culminates in a fairly comprehensive gaming engine that you can use for your own projects. Also, the book has a chapter covering the different distribution channels for Palm applications, which I thought was a nice touch. The accompanying CD has all the source code, as well as some nice tools for working with their framework.