Game Programming Gems

Game Programming Gems #1

by Mark DeLoura

For the countless tasks involved in creating a game engine there are an equal number of possible solutions. But instead of spending hours and hours trying to develop your own answers, now you can find out how the pros do it! Game Programming Gems is a hands-on, comprehensive resource packed with a variety of game programming algorithms written by experts from the game industry and edited by Mark DeLoura, former software engineering lead for Nintendo of America, Inc. and now the newly appointed editor-in-chief of Game Developer magazine. From animation and artificial intelligence to Z-buffering, lighting calculations, weather effects, curved surfaces, mutliple layer Internet gaming, to music and sound effects, all of the major techniques needed to develop a competitive game engine are covered. Game Programming Gems is written in a style accessible to individuals with a range of expertise levels. All of the source code for each algorithm is included and can be used by advanced programmers immediately. For aspiring programmers, there is a detailed tutorial to work through before attempting the code, and suggestions for possible modifications and optimizations are included as well.

Genres: Programming, Games, Technical, Nonfiction, Computer Science, Video Games, Computers

614 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Play Free Games · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice book on game programming, highly recommend.

[Ren the Unclean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very well done and provides exactly what it claims to. If you are looking for learning material or a traditional reference book, this is not the one for you.

However, the various topics in this book cover a wide range of video game related programming dilemmas and techniques. I could see applications for about 40% of the stuff in here in my current projects, but definitely will look back on the information here for other things as they come up, which, I believe, was the intent of the book.

I will probably pick up a couple of the later books in the series, as I certainly wouldn't mind having a set of books like this so that I can look up a larger variety of problems when I get stuck on something.

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great patterns for game programming elements and actual implemented code to use as an example.

[Sodwyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Getting a bit old now but still has plenty of good tips and ideas.

[Robbie Crossfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

many useful tricks for performance gains, and tried and tested techniques for game development