Rating: Summary: A disservice to the game programming community Review: A book on designing sprite-style art for games is a good idea, and I was hopeful that _Designing Arcade Computer Game Graphics_ would be a great little repository of tidbits for making attractive and fun-looking arcade games. Given that it's by Ari Feldman, author of the SpriteLib library of arcade clipart, I was even more hopeful that it would be backed by the requisite experience. Unfortunately, though, this book failed on all fronts.To start out, there are parts of the book that are just frighteningly outdated. DOS graphics stopped being an influential market around 1994, yet this book devotes an inordinate amount of space to a discussion of EGA, VGA, and SuperVGA graphic modes. Despite the dominance of DirectX for arcade games, DirectX is not covered and is barely even mentioned! Similarly, the survey of available graphics editing and viewing tools is almost ridiculous. The best example of this is the author's apparent soft spot for DOS-based paint programs. The most egregious is the author's review of DeluxePaint, which was discontinued by the publisher in 1993. In fact, the only paint program that is reviewed that you'd actually be able to find on a shelf is Paint Shop Pro. Near the end of the book, you will actually come upon some content, namely a discussion of how to design sprites for a hypothetical computer game called "Fish Dish". While there are a couple of tidbits of good information, the tutorial is too focused on drawing fish sprites and there's not as much that's applicable to sprite-drawing in general as there should be. There's certainly nothing to justify the book's high price. About the only thing that is worthwhile about the entire book is the inclusion of the SpriteLib graphics library. This is a small set of arcade clipart that has been available for free for several years from the author's website. SpriteLib was pulled from the market when the book was released so that there would be more incentive to purchase the book. In retrospect, the author should have made SpriteLib shareware and spared folks from having to spend $50 on a lousy book and a small collection of clipart.
Rating: Summary: a fine, fine book Review: A very capable and useful treatment of the subject of 2-D graphics, written by the Master himself. Feldman, as you can judge for yourself from the accompanying spritelibs, is a Mozart at this kind of stuff.
HOWEVER, the book sorely needs a second edition, just like any textbook. I would estimate that about 70% of the book is out of date: not only the discussions of what software is available and what it can do, but also the disc that comes packaged with the text.
Certain basic principles, however, do not require updating and for that alone you're unlikely to regret purchasing the book. Such material only comprises 20% or so of the book, however.
In summary: If you're only making 2-D games, or if you're still using software from the late 90's for whatever reason, this book is a gem. For the rest of us, however . . . UPDATE IT!
Rating: Summary: Borderline brilliant! Review: Feldman really knows his stuff. Information presented logically, with many interesting examples. This is one computer book that's a keeper.
Rating: Summary: Borderline brilliant! Review: Feldman really knows his stuff. Information presented logically, with many interesting examples. This is one computer book that's a keeper.
Rating: Summary: Not sure who will benefit from this Review: Honestly, I was surprised to see that most of the reviews posted for this book have been positive. Although the book does contain some useful information, the vast majority of it seems to be little more than filler. John Hattan's review really sums it up much better than I can, so suffice it to say that if you're looking at this as a possible guide to help you create game art, you're likely to be disappointed, unless you're interested in the (very general) theory behind it. For every book I review, I try to be as fair as possible and at the very least state what kinds of people would enjoy the book, but I'm unable to do so in this case. Since (based on the reviews) there are at least a few people out there who might enjoy this, the best I can suggest is to read the TOC, or even better, browse the book at your local bookstore, before deciding whether or not to buy this book.
Rating: Summary: Playing the percentages Review: I bought this book after a recommendation taken from a 10 page WEB tutorial on creating 2D sprites and tiles for computer games. A couple of weeks later a pretty hefty book arrived on my doorstep. Unfortunately, the majority of the pages could have been thrown away. 30% of the information is no longer valid especially in the first 5 chapters where DOS seems to have made a comeback. 30% of the information seems to be either 'waffle' (another reviewer use the term 'filler' which is very accurate) or highly suspect. 30% was very useful 10% might become useful Most of the utilities included on the CD are either old, rubbish,peculiar or can be downloaded anyway. I really wanted to like this book but I find myself going back to that 10 page WEB tutorial when actually creating any 2D graphics.
Rating: Summary: This is an instant classic. Review: I teach Shockwave game creation classes at the local university (can't name names) and I would definately recommend this book for those interrested in creating their own 2-D game graphics. Quite infrequently a book comes along that stands above all others. "The Ultimate Game Developers Sourcebook" is an example, and so is "Designing Arcade Computer Game Graphics". Both books mentioned fall into a unique category. Most computer books that I have bought have eventually been traded to a used book store for other computer books, or worse, fiction. The average shelf life of a computer book in my office, and in my classroom, is about 1 year. This book, like the previously mentioned book, is different. They are books that I will never give up. The information provided within is priceless. Ari Feldman has definately done his research, and has created a book that no programmer should be without. I recommend this book to all of my students. Even though the specific types of graphics covered by this book are a little dated, they are perfect for the independant game developer. Most professional games today use 3-D graphics, so most artists are simply creating textures. This book covers "old-school" game graphics, and even though this book is a few years late, in my opinion, it is still a valuable addition to any programmer's library. If you create Shockwave games, or any other game for that matter, you need this book.
Rating: Summary: very helpful for beginners Review: I thought this book and found it very interesting. Not everything in the book is useful (very few books can do this) but the chapters on color, planning, and animation contain information I have not found anywhere else. They're awesome!
Rating: Summary: The Main Event Review: Is the book worth it? Or is it not? Today's Main Event Good v.s Bad First lets get on with the facts. It does teach about sprites, and small graphics. It does a awesome job in teaching with in thoses subject. If you are new to the game, I would say this book is for you. If not, don't waist your time. Will it help you make a 4.56 Million dollar game? Hell No! But it's a great start. Winner, of this bout by Pinfall - GOOD!
Rating: Summary: Finally a book about 2D graphics! Review: It took many years, but finally a useful book about how to make graphics for games has arrived. There aren`t any other good books about this subject, which is really sad. The good thing is that this is THE book about graphics. Ari, you did a great job, and this book is absolutely recommended for anybody wanting to either know how to make games, understand how games work or just wanting to know how to make graphics for fun. Excellent!
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