Game Programming for Teens eBook Download

I would suggest, as others have posted, that teens looking to learn programming download Microsoft Visual Basic Express for free.
I hope Maneesh Sethi could write more BlitzMax books on advanced topics or game examples.


Awesome for beginners
This book is great for teens and young adults. Good book, 5 stars.


Lots to like, could be better, pre-teens need much guidance through it
I bought this for my 10 year old son - not quite a teenager, but it is very difficult to find books and programming languages to introduce programming to kids who have experience playing computer games. Either the level of programming available in the language is not sophisticated enough (e.g., Scratch), or you can't find a book to teach programming and guide the child through the language itself.

The book comes with a CD which includes all the source code and assets needed for the examples given, plus a demo copy of the BlitzMax Basic programming language.

I *do* like that the book has chosen BlitzMax Basic as its language - this language works on Mac, PC, and Linux, so the book is not platform specific. (My son is using a PowerPC OS X eMac - that version of BlitzMax is not included on the CD.) [As an aside, I've even taken to using BlitzMax to prototype various programming ideas - much faster and easier than writing a C++, Objective-C, or even Visual Basic program.]

And, of course, what could be cooler to a kid than learning to write video games?

One final thought: This book is about giving the reader a specific project (writing a video game) in which the language is learned and hands on experience is gained.

I think that there are newer books that advertise for Absolute Beginners, and if I were to do it again, I'd probably look more closely at these books.

In summary: for Teenagers who are motivated to learn and will take the time to grok the examples, this book will likely work well. However, with adult guidance, the book would suffice even for this audience.


An accompanying cd-rom offers source code from examples in the book, plus art and music libraries
If you enjoy playing video games and want to learn how to create them, then the third updated edition of GAME PROGRAMMING FOR TEENS is for you. It shows how to design and develop a complete video game from start to finish without any prior programming knowledge needed, showing the basics of BlitzMax, an easy game programming language good for Windows or Mac users alike.

Computer science students, get this computer ebook by download itGame Programming for Teens from Rapidshare/Megaupload/Hotfile for free.