Developing Games in Java

Rating:
Summary: Getting a start in (Java) Game Development
Review: I'm a Java lover (even if I've been forced into C# lately :-( ) so to hone my skills, I've decided to write a small game in the language. I went to the book store and found this book...

It assumes that you have a basic knowledge of Java and the Games are programmed in Swing, however the concepts can be reused in other environments (I'm giving Swt a try in favor of Swing).

Currently I've read the first section "Java Game Fundamentals", which gives you everything to create a basic 2D tiled game with sound and networking support, and section three, "Tuning and Finishing Your Game". I've skipped the second section "3D Graphics and Advanced Techniques", because I want to finish my 2D Game first (a PacMan) before moving to 3D.

So far, the book has been helpfull to me to either confirm some concepts I've found by myself or to introduce me to concepts I didn't know before. The text is most of the time interesting/entertaining and the code examples are clear enough to make their point.

However, this book must be seen as a introduction to the topic of game development, you'll need to browse other sources of information (e.g. gamedev.net, ...) to fill in the blanks and do some thinking for yourself to get a finished and fun to play game.

Also, this book is more of a programming book, with the topics of game design and art work are slightly covered but needing above-mentionned additional input.

All in all, I like this book.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional
Review: I've been developing in java for about seven years now. This book is awsome!! It's well written and waisted no time getting into the stuff I needed help with. It's applicatble to game development, animation, advanced 2D and 3D, threads, audio....I could go on and on.

This is the book you've been looking for...yes, it's really that good!

Rating:
Summary: Great coverage of the basics of GAMES, not just Java
Review: I've reviewed a few other Java game programming books and they're pretty much all stinkers. This one is head and shoulders and feet above the others. And it assumes you know at least some Java and don't have to be hand-held through a dozen chapters of the language basics before they think you're competent enough to get a peek at writing a lame card game or bouncing-ball applet like the other books do. I've only spent a day with this book and have not attempted to compile any code, so keep that in mind while reading the rest of this review. Speaking of code, this is not a code-listing book. It definitely has code in it and dissects it, but the ratio of text to code is very appropriate.

Right off the bat in chapter 1 David starts with a chapter on Threads! Then he moves on to several chapters of 2D graphics and animation and builds a complete 2D scroller in chapter 5! You're probably liking what you're hearing so far if you've read any of the other java game programming books. The next several chapters spend some time on understanding and then programming 3D graphics (great chapters, BTW), then moves on to collision detection, AI and pathfinding, game scripting (using BeanShell - excellent choice), optimization, and more. Somewhere in there is a chapter on multiplayer networking.

All chapters build on the previous ones. The examples all seem worthwhile and demonstrate the concepts and techniques. This is real meat & potatoes game programming, and as the author points out, just happens to be implemented in Java. It looks to me like this guy really knows Java well (I'm a professional Java/J2EE programmer) and points out everything you need to know about using it to implement the game programming concepts.

A few minor nits and notes. The focus of the book is on full-screen applications, not applets or windowed games. You can apply what you've learned to those two, but they're not covered (which is a good thing, but be forewarned). The book is printed with a relatively large font, IMO, especially the code listings, so it's a bit heftier than it should be, but I don't feel like they're over-charging, so I'll live. Also, almost no time was spent talking about writing tools like map editors, assest editors, etc. I feel like those items are important enough to spend a bit more time on, but I can understand why they are only mentioned in brief. The only items other items I would have liked to see some brief coverage of were 2D isometric tile-based maps and 3D terrain.

This is a great intermediate level book on writing games in Java. I'd love to see the author or other writers build on this book to cover more advanced topics like those mentioned above, but you can use the information in this book and other great game programming references (like the Game Programming Gems series, AI Game Programming Wisdom, Strategy Game Programming in DirectX 9.0 (EXCELLENT BOOK), Game Coding Complete, 3D Game Engine Design, Physics for Game Developers, and others) to get where you need to go.

For anyone disappointed with other Java game programming books, this is a must-have. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Seriously, buy this book
Review: If you know java and are interested in game programming, buy this book. It is so great. It is instant game programming gratification. You don't have to suffer through a java tutorial so obviously the book assumes a fair amount of java experience. The code samples are flawless and fun. I am a web developer and spend most of my time writing server-side web app code, so this was such a refreshing and fun change of pace. When I got my first Sprite to dance across the screen it brought me back to the innocence and wonder of my first "Hello World!". I spend a few hours every night just reading through this book and doing the examples - and besides the fact that they are fun, they are well-designed and easy to understand. You learn how to design games from the ground up and get to build useful reuable components.
Seriously, buy this book.

Rating:
Summary: Good introduction
Review: Java is a tough choice as a programming language for certain types of games. Commonly known as twitch or reflex games. The difficulty is in the loss of a performance edge, unless the bytecode has been transformed into native code.

But Brackeen shows that writing java games also has its attractions. An elegant and easy to learn object oriented language. Arguably, more robust than C++. Java also has a relatively simply threading model. Threading is essential in most games, but can be very difficult to write robustly and to debug.

He goes through the essentials of gaming, and shows what can be done with the standard java libraries, that come with the normal java distribution. Like a useful sound API that can play the common audio encoding formats of wav, au and aiff.

For animation, well there is 2 dimensional material shown. For 3d, the issues are much harder. We see quick examples of coding 3d objects and putting a texture map on their surfaces and illuminating them with a light source.

Overall, the author presents a solid introduction to his subject. With the clear proviso that many topics are barely gone into, out of sheer necessity.

Rating:
Summary: Interested in some FUN Java programming? Don't miss this one
Review: There are many, many book for the amateur or beginning game programmer around, but most of them stink, and for some reason the Java game programming ones stink even more! This book is an exception to the rule, and it is way over the average, especially compared with the other books in this very sloppy and superficial New Riders's game programming series. No tome fattening explaining the fundamentals of Java, just the raw meat of useful game programming techniques. Threading, full screen, Swing, double buffering, animation, a little 2D scroller, up to date NIO game networking, fundamentals of 3D graphics, BSP trees, AI, scripting...you will find all these cookies inside the book! The "level of detail" of course varies from subject to subject, do not expect a through , complete, super-extensive treatment, but all the subjects are covered in more than decent depth. I have only one critique: The author's code doesn't use any form of 3D acceleration. I understand that this way the code can be more interesting.. as you are forced to learn more about what it takes to put a 3D object on the screen, but still software rendering is history now. The author is definitely too young and inexperienced to be a game programming guru, and sometimes his explanations are a bit vague and too "code-oriented", but he is definitely a very talented programmer and a good technical writer... on his way to gurudom! ;)

Rating:
Summary: O'Reilly should hire this guy for big $$$
Review: This guy is a true Game Programmer Guru. He is also very clear with his words and code. I don't think there is any other Java Game Programming book that comes even close to this one. The book makes complex topics like multi-player games over the Internet look simple !!! "Let's make a framework for a game server using NIO." Wow !!! If you want to show us that, so let's do it. I don't trust any other book that is not from O'Reilly, but this one is a CLASSIC. O'Reilly should hire this guy to write more game programming books for them.

Rating:
Summary: Help please
Review: This is a great book. Only thing that confuses me is the whole Ant thing. Can someone who bought this book help me? What compiler/IDE did you use and how do you compile and run the files. Contact me at [e-mail]