Tricks of the 3d Game Programming Gurus: Advanced 3d Graphics and Rasterization (Other Sams) - Softcover

Lamothe, Andre

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0672318350 ISBN 13: 9780672318351

Publisher: Sams, 2003

Synopsis

Today is the greatest time in history to be in the game business. We now have the technology to create games that look real! Sony's Playstation II, XBOX, and Game Cube are cool! But, all this technology isn't easy or trivial to understand - it takes really hard work and lots of Red Bull. The difficulty level of game programming has definitely been cranked up these days in relation to the skill set needed to make games. Andre LaMothe's follow-up book to Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus is the one to read for the latest in 3D game programming. When readers are finished with Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus-Advanced 3D Graphics and Rasterization, they will be able to create a full 3D texture-mapped, lit video game for the PC with a software rasterizer they can write themselves. Moreover, they will understand the underlying principles of 3D graphics and be able to better understand and utilize 3D hardware today and in the future.

About this title

Review

To be an ordinary programmer is one thing: You need only learn how to interact with the computer on its own terms, creating buttons and combo boxes that have no significance away from the screen. To be a game programmer--particularly one that writes games with environments that appear three-dimensional to their players--is something else entirely. Such work requires that the flat screen simulate the real world, complete with light, shading, texture, gravity, and momentum. It's all quite complicated. Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus helps its readers make great progress in creating 3D worlds and the action that goes on in them.

That this large, dense book manages to explain how to design and implement a 3D game while neither glossing over too many details nor swamping the reader with trivia is a credit to author André LaMothe. He opens by showing (and explaining) the C++ source code of a simple but full-fledged 3D spaceflight shooter game--a real boost to the reader's confidence. From there, he explains the complicated geometric concepts and mathematics that underlie realistic games (always with an eye toward software algorithms) and shows how to use the many APIs and libraries (including Microsoft DirectX 9.0) that make the world-builder's job easier. Make no mistake: Designing and building convincing games with 3D visuals and behaviors that convincingly approximate real-world physics is hard work. In this book, LaMothe helps you get it done and enjoy the process. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to design and build 3D worlds and the goings-on within them. Aside from mathematics and geometry, this book focuses on wireframe models, shading, rendering, and animation. Microsoft DirectX 9.0 gets special attention.

About the Author

André LaMothe has been involved in the computing industry and technology for more than a quarter century. He holds degrees in mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering, and is one of the rare individuals that actually did work at NASA at the age of 20 doing research. His early teens and twenties were filled with consulting for numerous Silicon Valley companies, where he learned the realities of running a business and worked on his multidisciplinary background in fields such as telecommunications, virtual reality, robotics, compiler design, 3D engines, artificial intelligence, and other areas of computing and engineering.

His company Xtreme Games LLC was one of the first and last true "indie" publishers with a soul. Later he founded the Xtreme Games Developer Conference (XGDC) to give game developers a low-cost alternative to the GDC. Lately he has been working on a number of projects, including eGamezone Networks, an online distribution system for games that's fair, fun, and has zero ads. Last but not least, he founded a new company, Nurve Networks LLC, to create handheld video game systems for value-minded consumers and hobbyists alike. Finally, he is the series editor for the world's largest game development series.

On a personal level, he likes everything extreme, from weightlifting, motorcycles, jet skis, and hotrods to "railing" on his blades. He has even trained extensively with the Shamrock Submission Fighting Team under the tutelage of Crazy Bob Cook, Frank Shamrock, and Javier Mendez. You probably don't want to get in an argument with him over DirectX or OpenGL - right or wrong, he will probably make you say uncle!

Edition details

• Publisher: Sams
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0672318350
• ISBN 13: 9780672318351
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1200