Game Coding: Complete, Second Edition review

Verdict:

Review Date: 23 Sep 2005

Price when reviewed:

Our Rating 5 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

You may think this is yet another book on game programming, but Mike McShaffrey's approach is different.

It's in C++ and mostly uses DirectX, but it's far more than a step-by-step introduction to creating simple games. It is clear the writer has experienced the real problems of creating big games. He explains how you go about programming and refers to silly mistakes he has made. He describes how he took to object-oriented programming so completely that he managed to choke the compiler with all the derived classes he created. The project became so unstable, his team was frightened to add new variables and resorted to coding values into the unused high bytes of existing variables.

There are code examples and discussions of the basics, but this isn't a beginner's book. You need to know C++, have some idea of how to create a 2D/3D game and understand the basics of sprites, meshes, textures and so on. You don't have to be interested in creating a game, though. The stories are sufficiently scary to appeal to anyone who is working on a large project.

This is a huge work and you're unlikely to read it all. But if you want to hear from someone who's been there and done that, it's an enjoyable read.

Prev Next

Get more reviews, tutorials and in-depth advice, every month with Computer Shopper.
Click here to try 3 issues for £1

< Previous Reviews : General Next >

Sponsored Links

Be the first to comment on this article

You need to Login or Register to comment.