Tricks of the Windows Game Programmin Gurus, 2E takes the reader through Win32 programming, covering all the major components of DirectX including DirectDraw, DirectSound, DirectInput (including Force Feedback), and DirectMusic. Andre teaches the reader 2D graphics and rasterization techniques. Finally, Andre provides the most intense coverage of game algorithms, multithreaded programming, artificial intelligence (including fuzzy logic, neural nets, and genetic algorithms), and physics modeling you have ever seen in a game book.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 68 Ratings

Met My Needs - 2007-03-03
Reviewer Rating:
I have just read all the Amazon reviews of this book going back three years, and one things stands out -- nobody recommends any other book to replace this one. That tells me a lot.

I am a software developer who hasn't done any Windows interface programming in several years. During those years I've done some Java programming, but mostly low level C programming on Linux and embedded systems. Recently I needed to do a custom Windows interface for an embedded system, sort of a "dashboard" that would display data from the embedded system and allow the user to interact with it. I needed a quick refresher course on basic Windows programming, plus some ideas on how to do the custom controls I wanted (e.g. speedometers, scrolling line graphs, sliders, etc.). I went looking for the right book, and on the third try I picked up this one.

For my purposes, this book is almost perfect. It covers the basics of Windows programming in the first three chapters, at exactly the level I needed, then moves quickly into Windows graphics programming. By the end of the first seven or eight chapters (about 400 pages, which took me two days to read), I was convinced that I should write my program like a simple 2d game, and I had enough information and explicit examples to do it. Within another three days, I had a working version of the dashboard.

In my experience, most Windows programming books get lost in the bottomless pit of Microsoft gobbledygook. Once the author goes there, the reader is truly lost. This book is different. LaMothe has exactly the right attitude about it -- he cuts through the immense Windows overhead, shows exactly how to use a minimal set of necessary Windows functions, and encourages the developer to get on with creating their own software the way they want it to look and behave.

It's true that this book is five years old, and uses an old version of DirectX. But programs built with that version are still supported by the latest DirectX runtime. Since the number of DirectX calls used by the end of Chapter 8 is quite small, it should be trivial to convert them to the latest version, which is my next project. If anyone knows of a better book, or an equivalent book that is current, please tell us about it.

Outdated. - 2006-10-22
Reviewer Rating:
To offset all the reviews I saw, I rated this book 1 Star because it is simply outdated. Many of the examples don't work and the current version is DirectX 9.0c rather than the book's DirectX 7.0.

It was probably once a good book but not now.

As a beginner to DirectX I found it particularly hard to learn.

Clearing up Phillip Vaira's misinformation - 2006-06-18
Reviewer Rating:
First of all I have a master of science degree in computer graphics. Second, Phillip Vaira, this is the only review that you wrote, and not only you but also many people who gave this book 5 stars, they only have one review. Therefore it is very suspicious whatevere you are writing. But apart from that, I can give you many good reasons why you should avoid Andre Lamothe's books:
- this book is a recycle of his earlier books. with every new book he always recycles the same things
his new book: Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus-Advanced 3D Graphics and Rasterization
also uses directx 7.0 :lol: - i told you about recycling
- his uses global variables all the time as optimization tehniques :lol:
- he is a terrible programmer
- his friends write fake reviews for him
Phillip Vaira says: Best book for any graphics programmer
are you kidding me ??? shut up man. you and all others like
Daniel Smektala.
trust me people all andre's books are terrible.
I agree with you IQ160. Avoid andre lamothe. Man if you value anything you would wrote at least one good game in your 25 years of career. Do yourself a favour. Retire.

Decent Introduction on to write and structure a game - 2006-12-07
Reviewer Rating:
This is a decent introduction to how games are written. If you already have an understanding of windows programming and COM, you will get a lot from this book. The point of the book is to teach you how games are structured. As a software professional I am well versed in object-oriented design, design patterns, software methodologies, etc. I can read and make sense of the MSDN documentation on the latest version of DirectX. What I lack is domain knowledge of how to actually write a game. This book teaches you that!! This book takes all the information from other disciplines, calculus, physics, linear algebra, AI, software development, and shows you how to integrate them and build a game. A remarkable achievement. The code itself is not very good, but I can figure out how to write code. What I didn't know was how a game was structured.


Part 1, chapters 1-4 cover windows programming. Most of this isn't very interesting. Except that it covers how a game is structured: 1. Initialization; 2. Enter game loop; 3. Retrieve Player Input; 4. Perform AI and Game Logic; 5. Render Next Frame; 6. Synchronize Display; 7. Loop; 8. Shutdown.

Part2, Chapters 5-10 cover DirectX and 2D Fundamentals. This stuff is very interesting. Remember that algorithm you read on how to draw a line. Well you can see it here in action. Remember reading about collision detection. It's covered. You may want to look at other books with more detailed explanations, but this book shows that stuff in action.

Part 3, Chapters 11-15 cover Hardcore Game Programming. This section shows how AI, and physics are involved. For a better understanding of AI, you may want to read Programming Game AI by Example by Mat Buckland. That book is inspiring. The last chapter puts it all together to actually make a simple asteroids game.

In college I took a calculus class here, a physics class there. Each class was taught in a vacuum. It wasn't until I read this book that I saw how all the material I learned in college was interconnected. Sure you'll have to read a book on Physics, and another on AI, but this book shows you how to put them together and build a game.

Excellent starting point for game programmers - 2007-09-27
Reviewer Rating:
This book provides excellent information for anyone who is looking to understand the fundamentals of game programming. Inside, the reader is taught how to make a fully-functional 2D Windows game, complete with graphics, audio, input, AI, and physics. The software in the book is created step-by-step from scratch, allowing the reader to see how everything works together. It uses DirectX 7.0, which is antiquated these days, but still provides a plethora of material for the reader to learn and expand upon.

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