Content and opinions

The aim of the book is clear, and it will help you state the different steps toward your own game. Direct3D is at the core of the book but it is not mandatory to understand the explanations. The version used is 9 for Direct3D, but for everything else, it is DirectX8.

The whole evolution of the book is well done, starting a general approach of game design and Direct3D. This is only an intriduction, you will have to rely on other publications to achieve a good design and to understand everything on DirectX. Then, the different pieces of the RTS are ut togeteher: terrain, gameplay, how 3D existing models can be used, players, fog of war, music, AI and network. The AI part is very general, and doesn’t cover in details (well, nothing is covered, it’s an introductory book, you can get help in Programming Gems or AI Game Wisdom) the parts that are specific to a bot and the part needed for every player. The network part is well done and explains the different solutions in an RTS.

So if the non-programming part is good in my opinion, the code quality is poor (const correctness, std::string, …). It’s not the first time I’ve seen this in a Charles River/Course PTR book. The publisher should really have a convention on C++ code quality…

Conclusion

A new version of the code can be downloaded on the author website. Unfortunately, the C++ code is still of poor quality and doesn’t comply with the Sutter’s C++ coding standards.
Still, If what you are looking for is a general guide to write your own RTS, I think it is a good start. In every case, you would still write it from scratch with your own C++ framework.

Programming an RTS Game with Direct3D
Price: $44.95

Programming an RTS Game with Direct3D (Paperback)
by Carl Granberg
ISBN: 1584504986

Price: USD 37.96
36 used & new available from USD 23.50

| 4 | 8

Content and opinions

The book is split in three main parts. The first one describes the general advantages of C++: (multiple) inheritance, type safety, templates or exceptions. The goal is to let the developer know what it can do (also what she shouldn’t do). Every usual warning of C++ (const-correctness or the different casts) is present in this part, and this should lead to good code quality.

The second part deals with performance and memory issues. Unfortunately, the STL is only presented here, and not in the first part, where it should belong as it is one of the basis of C++. At least, it is considered as a C++ standard library, and not something fancy that you may use if you like. C++ pitfalls concerning performance are dealt accordingly, it seems to me that it browses correctly the different aspects of it. The chapter on memory is good as well, as it explains the diffent kind of memory you can use, the impact on performances that allocation has, how it can be enhanced, … It suggests you can overload the new operator, although it is sometimes not recommanded by some C++ authors, so on this part, the picture is not so nice, a big warning might have been welcome.

The third part is split in smaller chapters on “special techniques”. There are first some useful language specifics, as abstract interfaces, that can be really useful, especially for plugins, to extend one’s game. Two chapters deal with object creation, management and persistence. One chapter deals with RTTI, it shows another way of having something like RTTI, but with a lesser CPU cost. Interesting, but to be used with care. Finally, a chapter is about large projects and how to optimize them, and the last one deals with what is called crash-proofing (how do you deal with an error when the game is shipped?).

Conclusion

A lot of stuff are in fact not game dependant. OK, the author aimed at the developer population, but it is useful for every developer. One may not need everything (like the custom RTTI, only useful if you need it badly with speed, which may be because there is an architectural issue), but C++ basics (the first two parts) are essential for all people. And a large part of the third part is also useful for everyone.

There are some mistakes (like including the string class to the STL), but compared to other C++ beginner books, this one raises the bar and gives the best practices for game programming in C++.

C++ for Game Programmers
Price: $44.95

C++ For Game Programmers (Game Development Series) (Paperback)
by Noel Llopis
ISBN: 1584502274

Price: —
15 used & new available from USD 23.18

| 4.5 | 22

Let’s start with the bad stuff.

Content and opinions

This book does not show the engine architecture, the only thing you can see are some pictures with some classes. There are hints about UML, but those pictures are far from being UML. Besides code quality is really disappointing. No const-correctness, no std::string for the parameters, char* are used and then converted to strings (!!!) Really bad coding practices. Another thing is class instantiation before they are actually used whereas the text says it shouldn’t be done! Finally, the book has plenty of code pages, whereas the code is in the CD or on the Internet, so why using so much pages for something that is easily available?

For the good things, the book covers almost every aspect of a multiplatform game engine. For inputs to physics as well as graphism (OpenGL and DirectX), AI, the handling of these systems is there. If some parts show only abstraction for replacable libraries (as for graphism), other show the actual implementation, like for physics. Speaking of physics, it uses a good part of the book to explain how it works, even if it is not a fully-fledged physics engine at the moment of writting.

I regret the fact that the book is about a uncomplete and evlving engine. I also regret the script engine part, because it is kind of false (compiled or interpreted, a script language can always use a virtual machine) and pages could have been better spent for exposing the engine architecture…

Conclusion

As a conclusion, this book was the first (to my knowledge at that time) complete book on a game engine. There are more complete books on parts of it (mainly 3D engines), but nothing on a complete engine. For this, it desevres some credits. Unfortunately, the drawbacks are too big to consider this book a viable option.

Ultimate 3D Game Engine Design & Architecture (Charles River Media Game Development) (Paperback)
by Allen Sherrod
ISBN: 1584504730

Price: —
21 used & new available from USD 72.75

| 3 | 6

Content and opinions

The book is split in three parts: war, peace and design.

War is generally at the center of a strategy game (war, or tensions that can lead to it). War consists of units fighting together. Equilibrium is something that is not easy to achieve, and the game must suggest different strategies with those units to remain interesting. Relevant facts about those topics are introduced.

The Peace chapter is not only about peace, perhaps only truce before the war. It’s about resources, technologies or stuff like that. It is not mentioned that too many different resources can lead to a bad game as well (too complicated to handle, an AI that cannot cope with it can ruin the game, …)

Finally, almost half of the book is dedicated to design. Not only interface design, but also game and gameplay design. Do I need a hero? How far does the world strech? These kind of questions can make really different games, and also a game that wanted things to big can in the end be a failure because of these.

Conclusion

This small book can be read in a few hours. It is mainly based on actual game images, but their legends are too small, especially when they convey useful information. This problem put aside, the book is really enjoyable, it does not go into too many details, only to give a first overview of what a strategy game should be.

Strategy Games (Game Guru Series)
Price: $16.99

Game Guru: Strategy Games (Paperback)
by Dave Morris
ISBN: 1592002536

Price: —
15 used & new available from USD 9.98

| 4 | 1

Content and opinions

The book is split in four different parts. The first one starts with the fun you can get coding a game, but also the troubles you will have. And what technology will you use? 2D? 3D? And what do they imply? As for every code, there is a set of general good pratices, as memory handling, scripts, … that need to be address. The author sometimes did not use them, and there are examples where they caused troubles.

As to get the game running on a computer, another set of rules is needed. Without them, it is just hard to have a running game in the end. How is the game built (not everybody uses a tool to automaticaly build the game)? How to interact with the game? A lot is written about this last issue, and as the author is used to Direct X, the clues are explained with it. But the advice can be used with other technologies. One just has to find the equivalent functions in the other framework. Obviously, it is not possible for the book to express this in every available framework, and it is also not the purpose of the book (it is not a book on a game engine, not a book on Direct X, …).

The third part is also mainly about Direct X, more exactly the 3D part. It lays down the basis for any 3D game engine, but it is not the book’s goal to be exhaustive about the design of a 3D engine. Also Microsoft imposes a set of rules to get the appropriate “Windows compatible” logo, which is needed if you want to sell the game. The last chapter in this part tacklesdebugging the game. I have to say this is much needed and too often it doesn’t appear in game programming books, although it is one of the pillar of programming. Different debugging techniques are addressed.

Finally, the last part tackles how the coding must be driven. Scheduling and milestones, testing and fixing the bugs or how the game will finally be published (what needs to be done at the end or after the end), all you need if you are in the game industry and you have to handle a commercial release.

Conclusion

My edition of the book is several years old, and I felt it, as different examples are outdated (the requirements needed for a today game, the Direct X version, Windows versions that need to be supported, ..). I couldn’t check in the thirs edition if this was updated, but it should have: the whole point of a new edition is to update these facts. So if you want to code a game, buy the last edition of this book.

Game Coding Complete
Price: $40.49

Game Coding Complete, Third Edition (Paperback)
by Mike McShaffry
ISBN: 1584506806

Price: USD 37.79
39 used & new available from USD 36.69

| 4.5 | 30