Solid Intro to Basic Topics

My review of this book is based on my interests and experieces, which are: 1) I have basic computer programming skills; 2) I didn't know anything at all about game programming prior to this book; and 3) I am interested in developing 2D strategy combat games as a hobbyist.

That said, I enjoyed this book and found it very helpful to explain basic game development topics, such as the types of classes to set up for units and terrain tiles, how to load game maps, how to set up default unit data vs. individual unit data, etc. While I could have figured all of this out on my own eventually, this book provided a decent jump start (from a knowledge base of zero). If you know ANYTHING about developing games, this book is probably a waste for you.

This book served my purposes by showing the concepts to use, and I didn't actually rely on running the code provided with the book (just looked at the code as a starting point for the concepts). Nonetheless, I think that the book should have used .NET.

I didn't like the following things about the book: the author tries a little too hard to be flip or funny, but it didn't work for me. Also, he focuses mainly on using 3d tools for 2d graphics, which I never really understood, other than his explanation that all games are going toward 3d, so that is what people should learn.

Bottom line: helpful book for absolute beginners at game development, probably too light for anyone else. Moreover, I have not found any better alternatives to this book. Worth buying for beginners, especially if you can buy it used for cheap!

Other Reviews

• Nothing to learn from this book
• New publisher, same old crap
• Solid Intro to Basic Topics
• WARNING! Don't buy this book based upon its title!