Game Programming All in One

Create your own high-caliber games with some of the same tools used by professional game developers! If you have a working knowledge of C or C++, then "Game Programming All in One, 2nd Edition" can get you started on your journey. It uses hands-on projects to explain each new subject and includes many sample programs to reinforce the material in each chapter. Begin by learning about cross-platform game programming, writing code that will run under Windows®, Linux®, Mac OS® X, and many other systems. Enhance your skills by working through the core features of the Allegro game library and writing code to load images, manipulate sprites, scroll the background, use double-buffering, read a joystick, detect collisions, and implement other core features of any game. You will gain experience by creating a complete game and adding features to it in each new chapter. You will also learn how to write a scrolling platform game and a vertical shooter.

Jonathan S. Harbour has been an avid gamer and programmer for 16 years, having started with a Ti-99, Commodore PET, and a Tandy 1000. In 1994, he earned a B.S. in computer science. He has since earned the position of senior programmer with 7 years of formal programming experience. He has professional-level experience in graphical user interface design and 2D and 3D graphics programming, as well as TCP/IP socket programming and Internet protocols. Jonathan is a part of the "Starflight III" team, working with the original designers on a sequel to the first two games originally published by EA in the '80s. In addition, he has released the retail Pocket PC games "Pocket Trivia" and "Perfect Match". Harbour has also authored "Pocket PC Game Programming" (0761530576), "Visual Basic Game Programming with DirectX" (193184125X), "Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Programming for the Absolute Beginner" (1592000029), and "Beginner's Guide to DarkBASIC Game Programming" (1592000096) all from Premier Press.