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Programming Role Playing Games with DirectX, Second Edition (Game Development Series) | 
 enlarge | Author: Jim Adams
Publisher: Course Technology PTR
Category: Book
List Price: $49.99
Buy Used: $13.74
You Save: $36.25 (73%)
New (24) Used (14) from $13.74
Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 453789
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 880
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.5 x 2.4
ISBN: 159200315X
Dewey Decimal Number: 794.81536
UPC: 082039503158
EAN: 9781592003150
ASIN: 159200315X
Publication Date: June 30, 2004
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Product Description
No game draws a player into its world in quite the same way as a role-playing game does. In role-playing games, players break through the barrier that exists between their actions and the fantastic world that they're navigating through and instead become an inhabitant of that world. Get ready to put your creative ideas in motion and try your hand at creating your own role-playing game! "Programming Role Playing Games with DirectX, 2nd Edition" will show you how to do it as you create cool graphics and combat engines, handle players in your game, use scripts and items, and make your game multiplayer-capable. This book breaks a role-playing game down into its essential components, examining the details of each and showing you how to use them in your game project. Learn how to draw with DirectX Graphics, play audio with DirectX Audio, network with DirectPlay, and process input with DirectInput. By the time you finish, you'll have the skills you need to create a complete role-playing game.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
I hope there will be the 3rd edition August 28, 2008
Well, I think that this book is full of compromises today. There are great algorithms explained, and it will really help you to write your own RPG game, but the DirectX part isn't actual today. The problem is, that this book explains writing DirectX games under DirectX 9.0, but this isn't very actual and the source code in this book cannot be used for a game under DirectX 9.0c, because Microsoft changed the API in this newer version of DirectX. The changes in newer API are huge and unfortunatelly it's not about changing the name of the function, structures, parameters and constants have been changed too. The result is, that I'm unable to compile the source code explained in this book with Visual Studio 2005 Standard and DirectX 9.0c SDK, it's simply impossible to update the code for someone without the knowledge of programming under DX9.0c. Theoretical part of the book is written very well, but as I said before, most of DirectX functions explained in this book was deprecated by Microsoft in newer version od DX API. I hope that in newer version of this book (if the newer version will be made) will be the code updated to DirectX9.0c or DirectX 10.
 Solid intro. September 17, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Jim Adams, Programming Role Playing Games with DirectX, 2/E (Prima, 2004)
It's hard to review programming books sometimes. After all, they're really the kind of thing that already has a target audience; it's either going to be applicable to you or it's not. From there, it's not much more than semantics.
I've read a number of criticisms of the book, and most of them seem to have been shot down effectively by other reviewers. (I must admit, I'm not using the code in its original form; I'm rewriting the engine in C#, so I can't speak to the workability or not of the included C++ code.) There were certain times where I wish Adams had gone into greater detail on certain pieces of the engine, or chosen somewhat more involved/challenging implementations (the scripting engine, especially, reads as being rather simplistic, and optimization is almost left by the wayside entirely), but it's certainly a good, solid conceptual beginning. Like most programming books that draw bad reviews, it's important to note that this is a book that assumes the reader will already be familiar with a number of the technologies addressed. In other words, if you're looking for a beginner book, look elsewhere; this is for intermediate to advanced programmers. If you are one, however, you're likely to find at least something of value here; if you've never written a game engine before, Adams takes you step by step through the process, and if you have, you might find some interesting alternative methods to try.
I found it worthwhile. Some will, some won't. Get out of it what you can. ****
 This is for you Jim September 7, 2007
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
This is a for you Jim Adams. You gave so much to us with this book now I'd like to give back. Here are the ingredients to the best lasagna you'll ever taste in your entire life:
* 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
* 3/4 pound lean ground beef
* 1/2 cup minced onion
* 2 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
* 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
* 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
* 1/2 cup water
* 2 tablespoons white sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
* 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
* 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
* 1 tablespoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
* 12 lasagna noodles
* 16 ounces ricotta cheese
* 1 egg
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
* 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
OKAY! Now you are ready to make it! ...Right?!
...eh. Of course you are. You are Jim Adams. All you need are a few snippets of information and you form a freakin' masterpiece out of them. amirite?
Enjoy the lasagna!
Looking forward to seeing improved 3rd edition October 16, 2006
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
I have read most of the book and I am critical of it.
First, I would propose top-down approach to explaining RPGs instead of bottom-up used in the book. Starting from the high-level overview of the game and elaborating on each component in subsequent chapters will excite the reader. The low-level details of DirectX were so boring that I skept most of the introductory chapters.
On the technical side, the book describes three tires that a game is based upon: the DirectX level, the library level when the user packs useful functionality in a class hierarchy, and the game level itself, for example maps, characters, etc. Using class diagrams would ease understanding of game architecture. Also, it was difficult to read inserts of source code in the text because of too many low-level details.
The scripting language used in many components of the game also raises a number of questions. First, it has binary format which is a bad programming practice. Using a general-purpose language would allow the programmer to reuse the experience. GnuRadio? and ns are examples of projects where Python and Tcl/Tk respectively are used to guide execution. Those languages are backed with a C-language library.
 A Great Book for Learning to Program Games September 14, 2006
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
I bought the first edition of this book years ago when I was at a low point in my programming career. I hated my job and needed to change my life. I'd always wanted to program games and so I decided to learn how. I found this book after a bit of searching and getting some recommendations. I found the book to be easy to learn from, extremely informative, and packed with good ideas and useful code. At the same time, the writing style was easy to read and kept my interest. It's pretty rare for a programming book to be readable and not bone-dry boring in my experience. Reading this book and going through the examples helped me to create my own engine. It wasn't the best engine, but it taught me enough to know the right questions to ask and focus my future learning.
I'll be honest. This book will not solve all your problems. To get the most out of it, like any other programming book, you need some dedication, persistence, and willingness to scratch your head and try things out. It's a tool. As tools go, though, its a very effective one.
Would I recommend it for those who have no programming experience at all? No. But if you have some programming experience and want to learn how to program games, this book is an excellent tool.
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