Hello... i just recently introduced myself into the world of Winsock and I have to say that I love it. I have only worked with it in VB so far. I would like to learn more about Winsock and DirectPlay using VC++ and was considering the book "Multiplayer Game Programming". Does anyone know if this book would be suitable for a beginner in this field... I have read and understand most of the articles on this subject from this site already. Please fill me in on what you think... thanks thaputer

I have borrowed that book from my school library. Although the information it has in it is good it seems a lot of the book is eaten up by direct3d stuff. Also you say you like winsock well that book deals mostly with directplay.

I myself bought a different book which i liked a lot better called Developers Guide to Multiplayer Game Programing.

It goes through a lot of winsock and they show you how to setup and create your own network libraries.(in winsock)

I just seemed to favor that book more for my purposes. Eventhough be prepared cause the first chapters cover mysql and perl so you can store some of your server information online

I read parts of both books (Mplayer game programming and Dev''s guide to Mplayer game programming), and I agree w/ GimpMaster, the Developer''s guide is a lot better.
You build a crossplatform library (unix and windows) throughout the book and it has some OpenGL-powered examples that I believe are 2D (but the point of the book is multiplayer right?)

And the book don''t use just Winsock, but it teaches you berkley sockets for unix, although you probably aren''t interested in that yet.




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I''ve been looking around on Amazon, and also on the book reviews on this site, and don''t see the book you''re talking about. I found it on some obscure book seller site, but they don''t have any reviews. Why is it that this book isn''t in any mainstream info sources?

Well I got the LaMothe series book on multiplayer, it is pretty good if you don''t in any way care about techniques but you just want to know the bare bones of hooking up machines.

A really good book (the one I used in college) for learning TCP and UDP berkley sockets is:
Internetworking with TCP/IP by Douglas Comer and David Stevens. There is a Windows and a UNIX version so make sure you get the correct one. The difference between the two is subtle.

I haven''t yet found a good resource for techniques besides searching Google. If you are serious about learning hwo to network a game though, you should look at a technique called "Dead reckoning", get to know it very well.

Anyway, good luck!
--Jeff "mother"

for winsock usage in c++, I highly recommend " Windows Sockets Network Programming" by Bob Quinn. I''m still reading it but it''s an excellent book. It makes a good reference book too.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/textbooks/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?userid=6A399R5VNM&isbn=0201633728

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One problem with the programmer''''s mentality is insecurity. This goes deep. An insulting college litany says that failed mathematicians become computer programmers. They are also ridiculed for being nerdy losers, for being too fat or too skinny, and for having few social skills. Most programmers can be spotted easily in a crowd. Nobody really wants to hang out with them. Put thousands of these people in one company and if you can get them to work, you become a billionaire. -John C. Dvorak

I''m a little biased since I wrote the Multiplayer Game Programming book.

But, I would say if you want to learn DirectPlay and game programming concepts then buy my book. If you want pure sockets information then go with the "strict" TCP/IP book mentioned above.


LostLogic
www.lostlogic.com
Author, Multiplayer Game Programming