Game Programming All in One, 3rd Edition
Game Programming All in One, Third Edition gives aspiring game programmers the skills that are needed to create professional-quality games. If you have a working knowledge of C or C++ and are ready to expand your skills into the field of game programming, then get ready to begin your journey with this latest edition! You won’t cover the topic of programming in general, but rather the specifics of programming for games. Using the cross-platform Allegro game library, you’ll learn how to write comp
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Review by G B for Game Programming All in One, 3rd Edition
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I tend to shy away from game programming books with the phrase “All in One.” And not without good reason. Most of them are utter garbage. They simply try to do too much. Take the 1st edition of GPAIO for example–it was just awful. It had diagrams on the wrong page, tons of errors, etc. And it wastes way too much time going through the technical stuff. Very little on game programming.
Not so with this book.
While there is some technical stuff, the author utilizes it almost instantaneously to form a simple tank game along the way. Towards the end of the book, he covers horizontal scrolling (i.e., Super Mario Bros.) and vertical scrolling (i.e., 1942). While neither example is a complete game, both really explain the mechanics well enough that making a game of either type should be fairly easy.
I was a bit reluctant to buy the book because it uses Allegro, rather than the more mainstream options of DirectX and OpenGL. But I really think Allegro was a great choice. It allows him to focus on the meaty stuff, you know, actual game programming stuff. I have way too many books that waste upwards of 150 pages on setting up a window with DirectX.
My only criticism is that the book is more for hobbyists than professionals, but then again I have never seen nor heard of any such book. Anyone who wants to program games, albeit simple games should definitely check this book out.
As for the reviewer who gave GPAIO one star, I’m really doubtful that s/he is serious. But if so, my advice to you is this: If you can’t get Allegro up and running, then you shouldn’t be programming games. It’s that simple. Really. It’s not any harder or easier to set up than DX, OpenGL or even SDL.
Review by Alvaro Barbeira for Game Programming All in One, 3rd Edition
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This book is intended for the ABSOLUTE BEGINNER. It assumes the reader has a very basic knowledge of C, and understands the basics of pointers, arrays and structs. No experience with other multimedia library/GUI toolkit/etc required, although it helps.
From that point on, it will get you up and running really fast; in quite a few chapters this book will cover simple 2D game programming, teaching all the basics neededed for programming more complex games. Trough the use of Allegro library, the topics of handling input (keyboard, mice, joystick) and output (sound, graphics, sprites) are covered effectively.
The later chapters, however, did not appeal to me at all; they deal with horizontal scrolling (classic mario-like games) and vertical scrolling (1942-like shoot’em up’s), AI, multithreading… which is very cool stuff, but I don’t think the approach chosen is very effective.
It is read REALLY fast however, with very big fonts, and clear and neat writing. It dissapointed me a bit because although it seemed very nicely edited, one of the examples was misplaced.
If you plan to work under linux, the code will work (most of the time), but compiling can become somewhat cumbersome. Under windows, it works fine.
To wrap up, I quite liked what the author says about gaming and game design in general, and teaches very effectively what he intends, having the “All In One” covered; but examples are overall too simplistic or superficial.
I’m rating four out of five because I expect a book on the subject to be a little more high-end; however, if you are new to programming in general, this book will prove quite helpful. And, Allegro can take you really far (it even has the bonus of being open source!).
P.S.: as a side note, reading other reviews, the second edition looks better than third.
Review by Jonathan S. Leder for Game Programming All in One, 3rd Edition
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I had to figure out by my self how to compile the codes under linux. The book doesn’t go over compiling under Linux, other than using kdevelop.
1 star: Readability. It was easy to read. While I found some typos, it wasn’t such a big deal.
2 star: There aren’t many books out there on Allegro Library, and that deserves some recognition.
2 star: I own another book written by Jonathan S. Harbor, which was also a good read. Beginning JAVA … I forget the title but it was a JAVA book. Anyways, the 2 stars are for the author, and his experience in game programming.
It’s a nice book to have.
Review by Marc R. Marta for Game Programming All in One, 3rd Edition
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As a working software professional, I can tell you this book is great for anyone who wants to get into game development, but doesn’t know where to begin. You should feel competent in programming for C or C++ before you purchase this book, but if you do, you will find this an excellent read.
Why? The free cross-platform Allegro library that the book covers works well with C/C++ on a number of platforms, from Windows to Linux to Mac OS X. This approach is definitely more effective in building games for different platforms (DirectX is solely for Microsoft platforms, and requires a lot of Win32 boilerplate), and Harbour acknowledges this.
Is the book for beginners? Not quite. As mentioned before, Harbour assumes you have a working knowledge of C/C++ (not just the syntax, but practical use of the language), so this really is written with a programmer in mind. Before long though, the experienced programmer will be up and running with the library, and able to create great things with some imagination. As well, the book covers some more advanced topics like multithreading, both in timers and synchronized multithreading using pthread.
Rest assured, the journey you will have with this book will be smooth and fun. The book goes from setting up the compilers (mainly Windows), through basic Allegro, to graphic modes, bitmaps/sprites, I/O, sound, timing… all while building some small games in the process with clear language. The book even goes over some of the business and design side of game development, not just the programming. The packaged CD comes with the free Dev-C++ IDE (good for beginners, more experienced developers will likely prefer VC++ or Digital Mars C++) and the Allegro library version 4.2 built for several compilers, as well as the source code from the book (and built EXEs as well). Everything is here to get you started from whatever skill level you consider yourself to be on. It really is All in One.
My only complaints about the book are that the book goes over timers, but doesn’t clearly explain how to set up a sharp 60FPS game loop for the beginner. You may need to figure that out for yourself. Also, it relies a bit on Mappy, a free tile tool, for tiles/tiled backgrounds. Neither are major complaints, as this is still one of the best development books I’ve ever had the pleasure to read.
Great job Jonathan Harbour, you wrote a great book for the C and C++ developer. I highly recommend this. For the serious game developer, get this book with Professional C++ by Solter and Kleper. If you’re not proficient in C or C++ yet, I suggest picking up the excellent Beginning C++ through Game Programming by Dawson from the same publisher, and get this when you feel confident in C++. Either way, this book is a must-have for an independent game developer.
Review by L. Wong for Game Programming All in One, 3rd Edition
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I was a Computer Science major in college, and wanted to get into game programming. Never did it before, and had a lot of difficulty just being able to create a programming environment so that I could do basic C graphics programming.
Well, I found this book, and wrote a complete version of Tetris from scratch, and then a complete version of Pac-Man, which includes all the original ghost algorithm logic. I’ve also written numerous other graphics programs and games (Arkanoid, asteroids, etc) using it and all the tools included with the book.
It is very easy to read and follow. Great examples. All the sample code works. It gives you all the basic skills to program anything to do with 2D graphics. The Allegro toolset is quite powerful.
Anyway, I highly recommend it as a novice.