I like the concept of the book, but there are a lot of inconsistencies in the code for the projects.Up until the fifth chapter I was fully ready to endorse the book to my district as a textbook for an advance Visual Basic class on game programming. I like the fact that he builds a game one step at a time, starting with an experiment to illustrate the concept, then building and testing a class for the game. However, when he got to the fifth chapter, he changed his naming conventions and added code to the classes with no mention in the book of these changes. This can be frustrating especial to high school students or any new programmer. There are several places though out the book where he made changes to the classes on the CD that he does not mention in the book. Then he adds the class method to the current project and your left wondering where it came from. I felt he needed to make changes in the book, so that the code was consistent though out the book and matched what on the CD. In my opinion, His editor should have caught this. Thomson as a publisher is starting to get a repetition for there badly coded books. It is obvious that an editor should be reviewing the code in a book along with the grammatical errors in the book and Thompson fails to do that. If you understand visual basic and you are looking for a book on game programming concepts the book is good. However I would not recommend this book if you are new to Visual Basic and I would definitely not recommend it for teenager, it will only frustrate them.
Product Description
If you have basic programming experience, this book is your ideal guide for writing games using Visual Basic .NET and Managed DirectX 9.This Second Edition includes almost entirely new coverage. While coverage of game design and 2D artwork remain, this edition includes more detailed coverage of the DirectX game code and utilizes the free Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition compiler. A true beginner's guide, this book covers each essential step for creating your own complete role playing game, including a character creation screen and a combat system. This book serves as a comprehensive introductory guide for readers who are new to programming or new to programming for games.
About the Author
Jonathan S. Harbour is an Associate Professor of Game Development at the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Arizona. His current game project is Starflight: The Lost Colony (www.starflightgame.com). He lives in Arizona with his wife, Jennifer, four children (Jeremiah, Kayleigh, Kaitlyn, Kourtney), a dog (Lucy), a cat (Missy), and six temperamental computers (ages 1 to 8). He can be reached at www.jharbour.com.
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