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Title: Delphi Graphics and Game Programming Exposed by John Ayres ISBN: 1-55622-637-3 Publisher: Wordware Publishing Pub. Date: 20 January, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $59.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.33 (30 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Sunday Too Far Away ...
Comment: ** The Anticipation : I purchased this book in order to get into serious games development. By the description of this book (on Amazon) it covered all sorts of games programming using Delphi and Direct/X. I ordered the book before the book was even released / printed, and after 3.5 months of waiting, it finally arrived at my home in Australia.
** Wrong Level : So far, I am reading it from cover to cover, and am in Chapter 3, but the book does seem to start off extremely basic indeed. The level indicator on the back suggested that the book was for "intermediate to advanced" programmers, but this doesn't seem to be the case so far, and I was expecting something much more meaty and detailed. An indicator level of "begineer to intermediate" might be more accurate. Also, now that I have started reading the book, it is suddenly clear that the book is only for 2D sprite games - not "all types of games" that it previously suggested.
** Bad Examples : Also, the first real example in the book "Shoot Em" (Chapter 2) refuses to run on my Windows NT machine at work (with Direct/X installed), or on my Windows 98 machine at home (with Direct/X 5 installed). The error messages I get are completely unhelpful : "The specified interface is not supported by the object. This value is equal to E_NOINTERFACE standard COM return value". What a patheric, useless error message. The error is reported from the ExceptionHandler. Why, or what is wrong, I haven't had a chance to look yet. Expecting readers to fix the sloppy or bad code included with books is rotten !
** Delphi 4 Autorisation : Also, installing Delphi 4 is a nightmare. I already own full versions of Delphi 1, 2, and 3, and I was glad to obtain the FULL version of Delphi 4 with the book. However, where the hell is the Serial Number and Authorisation Keys for the installation - there not in the book, on the CD, or in any text or pdf files on the CD. I went to Borland's site to register thinking I might get them following registration, but to register I need to type the codes in there as well. What a mess !
** CD Errors : To top this all off, the CD included with my book seems to be bad, and my brand new 40x CD-ROM here at work is having extreme problems with it.
** Conclusion : I am a very experienced developer (20+ years of eating, sleeping, and breathing computers so far), and have a very good knowledge of Delphi and a reasonably good knowledge of Windows API. I was expecting some real meaty examples with lots of good code and descriptions to really kick off my games programming big time. I can't help feeling badly let down by this book.
Rating: 1
Summary: Don't buy this book!
Comment: This book is useless and stupid also for beginners.
Please don't buy it
Rating: 4
Summary: You have to start somewhere...
Comment: I too thought there would be a little 3D in this book, but I can understand why there isn't. 3D Game programming is absurdly complex. You need to get the basic concepts and feel of game programming down in 2D (well, it's a good idea anyway).
Many complain about not finding the CD Key... it's on a card that sticks out like a sore thumb in the back of the book. Look a little harder.
This book is not a comprehensive guide to game or direct x programming (or Delphi). However, what it can do is provide you with the means to jump right in and make a game. What I'm talking about is ready-made basic 2D game engine's that can be modified to do just about anything. The book gets you the basics on graphics, sound, sprites, controls (even force feedback), special effects and a bit more.
I was introduced to this book by taking a graphics class in my 4th year of college. We barely used the book (because we only touched a little direct x at the end), but I spent the end of that winter break and much of the following months making a Tetris style puzzle game. If you can get the example programs to compile/run, you should be able to modify them to do your bidding.
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Title: Delphi Developer's Guide to OpenGL by Jon Jacobs, Jon Q. Jacobs ISBN: 1556226578 Publisher: Wordware Publishing Pub. Date: 01 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $49.95 |
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Title: Mastering Delphi 7 by Marco Cantu, Marco Cantù ISBN: 078214201X Publisher: Sybex Inc Pub. Date: 20 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $59.99 |
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Title: Tomes of Delphi: WIn32 Shell API Windows 2000 Edition by John Ayres ISBN: 1556227493 Publisher: Wordware Publishing Pub. Date: 15 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $59.95 |
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Title: Delphi in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly)) by Ray Lischner ISBN: 1565926595 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: 01 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Tomes of Delphi: Win32 Core API Windows 2000 by John Ayres ISBN: 1556227507 Publisher: Wordware Publishing Pub. Date: 15 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $59.95 |
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