3D Game Programming with C++ Gold Book [With CDROM]

I found the book to be very helpful without the "reference" section. The "reference" section is just a bonus. Being new to directX, this book single-handedly showed me the way.

This book is an excellent reference guide to the functionality in DirectX 7.0, and is meant for the advanced reader. Close to 1/2 of the book is reference material, and the rest of the book is not meant as a teaching guide but rather a discussion on advnaced programming techniques. If you do not have a fair amount of experience with C++ COM & Windows programming, spend your money on a text more tuned to the begginer.

I developed a 2D sidescrolling shooter Demo with Direct Draw. And now I want to move to D3D Immediate mode, and I think this is pretty much one of the most complete references in book form. Its ideal for looking something up. And I dont really like to search through the DX7 SDK on the monitor, so it comes handy. I have not read the book like you normally would read a book by Lamothe for example. I think it will be a great book that will accompany me for some time. If you want to begin with DX then I suggest the new Teach yourself DX7 in 24 hours is for you. As for game programming in general u can get any Lamothe book, even the old ones still do it if you want to learn techniques. I love 3D Game Proghramming with C++ for what it is, a reference, its title is maybe somewhat misleading, but thats what reviews are for. So as for a reference I give this book 5 stars, as a game programming book it would have gotten just 1 star, but hey its not a beginners book, like its said : for intermediate to advanced user.

I posted a review earlier that was based on my initial expetactions of what this book should have been. It was unfair. In fact, using this book as a guide, I have been able to actually get a halfway decent 3d game engine together in a relatively short time. Note that I said that I used it as a guide. This book does not hold your hand, but rather helps the programmer to push forward using the material provided. It is an excellent resource. It is for intermediate to advanced programmers (says so right on the back cover) and gives you some excellent suggestions for building and optimizing your 3d world. The DX tutorials are brief yet complete and give you what you need to get going. The mathematics and physics sections are certainly top-notch. When I see how far I have come, thanks to John's material, I am truly amazed. Sure it is difficult and sometimes frustrating to build a 3d game world, but that challenge is what makes it exciting and satisfying when we succeed. This book will help you do it. It won't do the work for you, and for that I am glad. If you are an experienced programmer and want to tackle this complex challenge, this book is the perfect tool to help you get there. Highly recommended.

Overall I think it's a pretty good book, but not without its flaws. Specifically, no where in the book do you find a complete game or even a compilable program, either of which would have been very helpful for beginning 3D programmers.On the good side, let me say I loved the book's attention to math, its coverage of several difficult (but important) topics, the source code it does include, and the way it makes DirectX easy to understand. Most books just introduce matrix math, vector equations, and formulas and then leave you to wonder what's really going on. But in this book the author takes the time to explain what matrices are (4 vectors aligned on 4 axes!), how they work, the basics of vector math, and the theory behind most equations the book uses.The book also covers some hot topics like precise collision detection, 3D path finding, and 3D optimization techniques. In general the theory is covered well, with attention to the math, and usually sample code is included (except for path-finding, where it's all theory).The source code the book does include is first-rate. One class wraps DirectSound and lets you play a 2d or 3d sound in three lines of code (just give it the name of a wave file and it will do the rest). Other code wraps DirectInput and DirectDraw. You also find code scattered throughout the tutorials.The tutorials on DirectX are very easy to understand, and do a good job introducing the different parts of DirectX and showing you how to use them. They're strictly for beginners, though, as they don't cover advanced info like you would find in Inside DirectX. They refer you often to the appendixes, which are a topic all their own.The appendixes contain references for DirectDraw, DirectSound, Direct3D, and DirectInput, and they consume about half the book. They are very dryly written, but the few entries I checked are easier to understand than the SDK and seem to include more information on how to actually use the functions.Would I recommend the book? All in all, yes, but don't expect to find lots of source code or any programs that you can learn from, compile, and tinker with (except in the SDK). Also be warned that if you can't use a DirectX reference, then half the book will useless to you.