Programming Role Playing Games with DirectX w/CD by Jim Adams ISBN: 1931841098 I saw the reviews in Amazon and they says it is very good. Okay I am a beginner especially to games and 3d. I do not have any games knowledge and 3d knowledge. I do know how to code in java and c# to write business application but not c++. I am planning to code directx8.1 or 9 but will this book really built up my foundations and make my life easier. I am willing to learn. Is it very easy to understand and pick up. I had tricks of windows game programming and found out it is quite confuse...not sure what is happening in there. Then the game programming gems 2 are also confuse. No sample code to refer (excludes cd). I feel some of the gamedev beginner section tutorial are outdated based on directx 7 below. So i don''t want to take a risk to learn something old. "No harm, and sorry if i say something wrong". So any comments on this book? Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience. Regards, Chua Wen Ching :D

I personally think it's hard to understand but that may be just me because I've only read a couple hundred pages and I'm not getting any of it at all.

EDIT: Everyone else says it is very good so it must be a good book to all the un-stupid people.


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listening to repetitive electronic music. -- Kristian Wilson(Nintendo Inc., 1989)

[edited by - Tazel on January 4, 2003 1:03:13 PM]

I like this book. It doesn''t belabor the obvious.

However, if you don''t know C++ and have no experience with game programming, chances are you will have a very hard time with it.

jim adams is the mod of the DirectX forum, he wrote the book. maby you should put this there?

Whats the point in asking the author if his book is any good?!

I bought this book to teach myself directX programming. I had some previous c++ and a little windows programming knowledge but knew absolutely nothing about directx.

To be honest, I struggled at first. His inital explainations of directX are very brief and leave a lot out. I found myself searching around on the internet for extra tutorials to supplement Jims book.

But if you are prepared to work through the basic chapters, the book is very good. It spends time teaching you to organise your games,to create wrapper classes for directX librarys etc as well as covering more advanced features.

So, personally I dont regret buying this book. Its a book I have gotten a lot of use/knowledge from. But it does make you work hard to learn the basics!

There are reviews of this book on gamedev.net too under books & software, I think.

Thanks for replying. Just say if i do not buy that book since i am a beginner and wants to develop games fast (and also built my concepts fast), what other books are recommended? I heard directx is huge! Does Jim Adams book touch on directplay and direct3d?

Since directx 9 had came out, if i try the codes from Jim Adams books and use the directx 9 API rather than directx 8.0 API. Can the code still work? I am very worried about that.

Does concepts (3d or game) changes when it moves from directx 8 -> directx 8.1 -> directx9?

Anyway thanks for the fast reply. :D

Regards,
Chua Wen Ching

"Very new to games I think"

quote: Original post by wenching
I heard directx is huge! Does Jim Adams book touch on directplay and direct3d?

Yes, and yes. Since DirectDraw was eliminated in DX8, Direct3D is now the only way to draw graphics in DirectX (unless you use old DirectX 7 interfaces).

quote: Original post by wenching
Since directx 9 had came out, if i try the codes from Jim Adams books and use the directx 9 API rather than directx 8.0 API. Can the code still work? I am very worried about that.

Yes, it will still work perfectly. That's one of the wonders of COM; even DirectX 3 code will work fine with DirectX 9 libraries.

quote: Original post by wenching
Does concepts (3d or game) changes when it moves from directx 8 -> directx 8.1 -> directx9?

Nope. Haven't tried DX9 yet, but the basic concepts aren't going to change just with the addition of some new features.

[edited by - micepick on January 4, 2003 9:26:47 PM]

Dear micepick,
So the conclusion is Jim Adams book is highly recommended. Do you own the book?

1) Does this book help much on advanced and intermediate level or only for beginners? I worried after i finish the whole book and i won''t need it anymore when i advance myself.

2) Does Jim Adams books had any c++ syntax errors which i need to figure how to fix by myself.

3) Will there be any problem if i code his code with visual studio .net rather than the classic visual studio 6.0?

4) Does Jim Adams book touch on how to Artificial Interlligence - fuzzy logic? How to apply it into 3ds games? Or he only teach concepts?

If all the questions above and earlier is fulfilled...i bet that book is "power". Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience.

Regards,
Chua Wen Ching :D

"Very new to games I think"

I have the book, and I think I''ll pick up my lazy bum and start reading soon. But I''ve skipped through to see what kind of information it have. Let me summarize:
In the beginning, it gives you some basic Direct3D information (this is where I''m stuck and gave up, but since I did the NeHe (or was it NeXe for DirectX?) tutorials, I got a good feeling that I''ll be able to master this) including character animation (at least I think so, because in the game demos, the character does move around), scripting, AI, messagebox (RPG-ish messagebox where people talk to you), editor (basics of item editor I believe), and some other things I think I overlooked. Oh yeah, it also have information on how to publish your game.

I''m sure that even intermediate/advanced can use the book as reference. But I still need to study it

Thanks Zeraan. I think the book is worth to buy. But about nehe tutorials..it kind of hard to understand for beginners. No explanation on the concepts he (hmm..nehe is he right?) is using. He only explains how to use the codes (in comments). Anyway when I am in the directx track, maybe i will follow up his tutorial.

Regards,
Chua Wen Ching :D

"Very new to games I think"