Sams Teach Yourself Game Programming in 24 Hours [With CDROM]

I have a passion about games. That's why I studied computer science, and I finally decided to dedicate all my free time to start learning how to program games. So I bought Teach yourself game programming in 24 hours by Michael Morrison. Let me tell you, I was surprisingly pleased, and didn't want the book to end. To start with, this book is not for complete newbies into the C++ language but it shouldn't be. I hate a game book that spends half of its pages teaching you how to program C++. If I wanted that, I'd go back to school and take another C++ course. It also doesn't throw all the theory and math on you like some gaming books out there that are better left for writing a PHD thesis. No, this one is easy enough to follow but also assumes you already have working knowledge of C++. It digs into building a game engine from the ground up, and uses all that knowledge to build gradually more fun and interesting 2D games. It really opened my eyes to many little new tricks I can use to build my own games like the sprite manager and animation. If you guys can't compile the games, I think you still need to have better knowledge of C++ before you tackle this one. I had no problems compiling all the programs using Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, and although there was a problem or two (due to the fact that the book was written in 2002 and some windows functions used in the book have changed since MSVC++ 6.0), I still found a way to fix them and get them to work. Now why didn't I give it the 5 shining stars then?Well, first of all it is a 2D book, and it does not use DirectX. So we can use it to build primitive games, but come on, how many companies out there don't use DirectX. Like for example, there is no maximize button in all the windows the book creates, because then the different resolutions can mess up the game. That's where directx comes to your help. Also the sound libraries used are very primitive. PlaySound is not useful in mixing 2 sounds at the same time, and there were some games in the book that sounded weird because of that. The other thing I didn't like about the book was how the text had lots of bugs in it. Like the text does not actually map one to one to the code on the CDs. But if you are not picky and a little alert, it's not a big deal. Anyway, a couple of emails to the publisher and a 2nd edition will fix that.My final pet peave was that in so many cases, I was begging that the author would go in detail about the subject, but he would say, "this is too complex, but what I'm providing you is very good". I want some of that complex stuff too. Like I wanna know how a scrolling background works (Many adventure games use it like "Broken Sword"). My knowledge is not complete without it.But overall, I think the book taught me many new things I didn't know, and although I won't be able to go write a commercial game out there by just reading this book, I can really put that knowledge with the knowledge from more advanced books to use. I hope Michae

The code in this book is NOT ment to be copied and compiled from the first few chapters except for the skeleton program. In the begginging it just shows you some examples of code and what they do, as an introduction, which by the way is excellent. You cant start compiling till you setup all your classes and objects, which you dont do till later in this book. This is an excellent start for ANYONE who wants to get into game programming. It starts with an explination of code(NOT MENT TO BE COMPILED)and goes to the nit and grit of starting a skelton program to forming an engine and finally game. Also for those of you who quit after the first two chapters, because the code didnt work, which it isnt supposed to. Take a deeper dive into the book. I gurantee it'll blow you away.

I love this book it is great I could not understand any of the other books I bought on game programming this one I can finally understand. BUT it is a book about Windows GDI. NOT DIRECT X.

Please write a review as soon as possible for I want to buy this book too.Does it make a 2d and a 3d game engine or does it only talks about 2d game engines.