Rating: 
Summary: awesome, awesome, awesome!
Review: If you are a decent C programmer and have ever wanted to know how to write your own quality 2d games...look no further!! I can't wait for Andre's next book :)
Rating:
Summary: An awsome book from a superb author!
Review: This book has got to be the best one of its catagory on the market. The text is very to the point, and the code is extremely clean. The code is so clean that you have to make sure you have your compiler set up correctly for it to run properly. The reason I know this, is because I talked to the author on the phone, and he talked me through my problems. How many other authors do you know that will do that? I have a complete library of game programming books, and this one is by far the most useful for creating 2D games of any sort. Even though the book doesn't cover tile based scrolling, the basics are there and with the DirectX SDK help and samples you should have no trouble. I only wish the author would have written more, but I know he was limited because it was a Dummies book. Maybe he'll write another book on 2D soon. My point is, BUY THIS BOOK!!!
Rating:
Summary: great intro book
Review: this book is a great intro to windows programming, directx, and the way games work in general. just wanted to leave a note regarding Visual C++ 6...i'm running it and things are working fine for me so far. i just compiled a directdraw sample application and it works. i had to implement the HBRUSH fix mentioned in the book and there were some settings i had to fix in VC++, but after that it worked. just wanted to let people know that it does work with VC6, just read the SDK documentation!!
Rating:
Summary: A perfect introduction to the subject
Review: Given that you (a) know C and C++ programming and (b) have some experience programming in the windows environment, this is a fantastic introduction to using DirectX to write games. Andre doesn't show you how to do each and every little detail of how to write a game, but successfully introduces you to all the basics you'll need and sends you on your merry way. The samples on the disc are fantastic, and even I was surprised how quickly all the pieces came together to the point where you could write a workable game engine. He's even nice enough to do some basic explanations of physics and AI to help you with the "tricky" parts of making a game that is interesting.True, the subject "for Dummies" is a bit of an exaggeration, given that it's really "Windows Game Programming for Programmers Who Have Never Written Games Before", but it's wrong to bash the book for not teaching C programming or windows programming, or for not including a full-blown C compiler! I guess this is one case where it would be nice for those complaining folks to be able to browse the book before they buy it with incredibly high expectations.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome !
Review: Great book !!! The book explain the DirectX & Win troubles, on a easy language. If you want to learn something buy this book now !!!!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome book. Worth many times the price if you use it.
Review: This book rocks! That's it. Some of the above reviews gave it a low score because they couldn't understand it. They said it didn't live up to the "Dummies" tradition. Well I couldn't disagree more. People this is DirectX and Game Programming. Talk to people in the industry (like me) and ask them how hard those 2 topics are, much less together. He basically gives you a 2D DirectX game engine and tells how every aspect of it was created. Boom! Done deal. Now think up some cool game ideas and go have fun and maybe even make some money.
Rating: 
Summary: A decent place to start learning but you'll soon need more..
Review: This book could have been great, but as it stands, is only pretty good. I would have set it out a little differently. Andre introduces some (seemingly at first for the novice) complex structures, for instance, only to tell you at the end of the chapter that you don't really need to know all that detail, just jack in with his provided DirectX wrappers instead. Tip: Don't read this book start to finish. Reverse this order and you'll be up and running a lot faster. Speaking of wrappers, a mini game engine is provided, which is nice enough, if you're into simple 256 colour games... If you want to write anything fast and colourful you'll probably be abandoning this engine pretty quickly though... (With maybe a few exceptions - I still use his wave loader and player) On disk examples could have been easier to compile, too. Most of us use MSVC++ (don't we?) so project workspaces would have been ideal here. A few errors are to be found in the text, but I guess you can expect that in most texts... I can't seem to find any mention of LostSurfaces, however - though I haven't touched the two disk chapters. Andre replies to your emails (WOW AMAZING!) so he gets a big plus there. Perhaps I've overdwelt on the negatives here. If you are a complete DirectX bunny, look no further. The more ambitious of you will need much more than this book provides, however.
Rating:
Summary: He's the Man
Review: Hey andre is the man. He's a nice guy and a good writer!! ;) Hope u reading this so you can give props to me in your next book. Anyway this book is very very good. I am really hard on writers but he's got the crown!! This book covers the basics of game design, bitmap loading, sprite drawing, pallets, windows API and Direct COM interfaces. I think he's got a mini windows learning book in this book. This is better than Charles Petzold's book to me for learning windows 95 programming.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: This book is incredible. If you know C\C++ its by far the best choice. It makes a lot more sence then some of the other books out there.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book for beginning Windows game programmers.
Review: This is a superb book on Windows game programming! I recommend this book to anyone starting out with Windows GAME programming...especially those coming from DOS. I only wished it would have covered tile-based scrolling...
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