11/19/2009

Review of Beginning Direct3D Game Programming w/CD (Prima Tech's Game Development) [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I've been waiting for a long time for a decent Direct3D book to refer beginners to, and this is one of the best so far. On the other hand, being the "best" among Direct3D books really isn't saying much, and this book is far from perfect.

Overall, this book covers a lot of good material, including some of the more advanced aspects of DX8, and the code itself is pretty solid. Unfortunately, the explanations can be a little hard to understand, partially due to the fact that the author isn't a native English speaker (the chapters on physics and collision detection don't suffer this problem, though, being written by someone else), so you may find yourself having to reread things several times.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who doesn't have some game programming and DirectX knowledge, but I would recommend it for someone who wants to get up to speed on the latest version of D3D, especially if they have used a previous version of Direct3D - or even another 3D API - or if they are willing to put the effort into working through the chapters to dig out the (truly useful) information they contain.

Product Description
Guide to creating Direct 3D games for personal computers, covering all aspects and elements of programming, from objects to file formats. The CD-ROM contains a number of features, including software for creating games, the source code from the text, and games. For beginner to intermediate level gamers. System requirements: CD-ROM drive. Softcover.

About the Author
Wolfgang Engel is CEO of SoftGroup GmbH and SoftGroup Plska, which offer IT and game development services. These companies produce 3D animations for marketing and advertising activities.He is the author of "Beginning Direct3D Game Programming" (0761531912).

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