There are many programming hobbyists who write 2D games but there are far fewer that grasp the concepts of 3D programming. Although there are also quite a few ¿game development¿ books on the market, few deal with 3D game development. Those that do are mainly aimed at advanced readers. This book will provide a practical, example driven approach to learning the unique art of 3D Game Development that even the beginner can grasp. It won¿t get bogged down in page after page of boring theory but instead will teach through many interesting hands on examples. Tom Miller brings years and years of 3D game programming to the table and couples that with an engaging writing style to mentor readers in the intricacies of game development. The book starts out with a crash course in game programming concepts and then progresses into developing 3 different types of games with many useful tips, notes, and cautions along the way. This title will serve as a useful guide to either current 2D game developers or programmers that want to learn to program games.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 13 Ratings

"Beginning" 3D games programming......? - 2006-02-05
Reviewer Rating:
Personally none too impressed with this effort. Tom Miller obviously has the ability to create 3D games, but his attempt at allowing the book buying public the chance to learn some of his skills didn't help me a bit!

Explanations were introduced at a far higher level than I would have liked, and the learning curve seemed to go from 0-200 mph within around 5-6 pages.

Examples didn't work, and I actually had to scour the internet for solutions from other readers, in order to progress with the book!....

Save your money!!!!!!

an ERROR on chapter1 - 2008-02-28
Reviewer Rating:
i have to say, that for someone who wants to use C# and directX this book is a one stop shop, i think that the general idea of this book totally hit the right point,
yet, there are a lot a lot, of code errors, in the printed text,

and when you get an error on the introduction chapter,
(the "device" word),
you may question, how seriously did these people take them selves,
and, when you do not include an Appendix on how to install the SDK's...

then with all respect, you cant say this is a book for beginners,
if i was a beginner, i would probably leave the book, around chapter1 with the "device" error, and the assmupsetions of a working sdk.

the book is very good, but everything around it is very very bad.

Book is chock full of errors - 2006-06-12
Reviewer Rating:
This book is a decent learning tool, especially if you make sure to use the included CD. However, without the CD, you would find yourself completely lost, because the code written in the book is chock full of errors. It's almost as if nobody ever bothered to actually read the book prior to publication. The code on the CD compiles just fine, though, so if you want to learn from this book, you just have to double-check all of the code against what's on the CD.

Poorly written - 2006-05-06
Reviewer Rating:
This is not a book for beginners. It's way above beginner level. And the sample code doesn't work.

I was conned into buying this book by the title and the fact that it uses C#. Unfortunately, it's totally incomprehensible.

Would be 5 stars but marred by errors - 2006-03-20
Reviewer Rating:
I cannot proceed because of the errors and there is no place to go to get answers. The author needs to offer tech support before I can recommend his book. Except for the errors, I find the book to be easy to follow and I think the examples of 3D games are relevant, understandable, and interesting. The source code and DirectX Managed Code would make it easy to quickly get something running if it weren't for the above mentioned errors. It would have been just what I need for my plans to teach 3D Game Animation to Middle School students. I want them to have working models that they can tweak. A spinning teapot is an excellent place for them to start. The Blockers game is a good next step. The Tank will appeal to many students. The explanation of multi-player games is essential to my curruiculum. A word of warning - Visual Studio is required, don't try it without.

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