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Game Programming for Teens (Game Programming)
by Maneesh Sethi
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Course Technology PTR (2003-05-15)
ISBN: 1592000681
EAN: 9781592000685
UPC: 082039500683
Dewy Decimal #: 794
Paperback: 392 pages
Edition: 1
Reading Level: Young Adult
SKU: C0099
Condition: Acceptable
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
If you?re interested in jumping into the exciting world of game programming, then you?ve found the perfect book! "Game Programming for Teens" doesn?t expect you to have any experience with programming. You?ll learn everything you need to know along the way. You?ll use Blitz Basic, an easy-to-learn programming language that the author will teach you. As you work your way through the book, you?ll learn everything you need to know to create a complete game. Graphics, animation, sound and music, and artificial intelligence are all covered. By the end of the book, you will have created your very first computer game! Game programming doesn?t have to be difficult. With a copy of this book and your own curiosity, you?re off to the perfect start.
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Customer Reviews
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Very good but needs more.
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-11-13
I believe this is a good book for people new to the Blitzmax language; however there is still a few things that is not covered in this book leaving, the reader to find there own answers from other sources like the web. One being the ability to create a game that has more movement controls, for game types that are not limited to the old space invader styles. I believe a little more effort should have been put into the online networking side of things, for using the UDP protocol for online multiplayer games.
I believe the next version of this book should include information on how to use the new MiniB3D graphics engine with Blitzmax. New game developers will benefit from being able to create 3D games using the power of MiniB3D. I hope the author takes this review to heart and includes this in his next book.
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You have to pay to play
Rating  (2)
Date: 2006-11-12
6 out of 9 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is ok if you are not serious about game programming. My biggest issue is that you cannot run the programs from the book on another computer. If you want to do that, you have to log on to their web site and pay a lot of money for it. The fact is that I can get a semi-professional IDE from Microsoft's web page for free. This will compile and create EXEs that I can run on any computer. I can also program in C++ which is the language that almost all video games are programmed in. Microsoft's IDE also has an excellent debugger. If you are serious about game programming, or programming in general, I recommend learning and practicing on the real thing.
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A great starting point
Rating  (5)
Date: 2006-05-03
5 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
Perspective
Short: I am writing this review from the perspective of a high school student who started with Blitz, went on to a more advanced language, and is now revisiting Blitz again.
Long: When I first picked up the book, I was a high school student with no prior programming experience. I had written code before, but it was HTML so I didn't actually write programs.
I abandoned Blitz for a while when I finally got the chance to take a programming class(C++) in school and have recently returned and thus revisited the book to brush up. I took this oppertunity to write a review here.
C++ is a more advanced, powerful, and widely used language but I still use Blitz to make simple games because it's hard to get good graphics in a C++ compiler without costly graphics pacakges to go with it.
Opinion
Short: The book is very intuitive and well written. The author does a very good job at explaining things and the book is very well paced. When going to a more advanced language I was helped significantly by the concepts I learned when using Blitz. I would highly recommend this book.
Long: When I first got this book, I thought programming would be a daunting task. This book goes through it very well and has a nice pace that keeps you from getting overwhelmed. The author writes very clearly and is very good at explaining concepts. This is a great book to get started with programming.
When I dropped this because I started programming in C++, I found transfering languages easier than I had hoped. I learned a lot of basic concepts in Blitz and was able to take many of them over into C++.
For a short time, the only real changes that I experienced were different syntax between the two languages and some other basic priciples (such as library functions) not used in Blitz. By the time I got to a point where most of the material I was learning had no equivalent in BLitz, I had been using C++ long enough not have any problems.
Conclusion
Short: It's a great, well written introductory book for those looking to program for fun or those who want to go further but need a good starting point.
Long: When I got this book, my purpose was to get something to introduce me into programming in a simple, easy to understand manner. I am happy to say that it works very well for this purpose. The Blitz language will not carry you especially far but if you are in it for fun or are just looking for a starting point, this will work very well. I still program with it myself a bit even after learning a more advanced language.
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Great Book
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-11-28
6 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a great book for any beginner. Within one week, i had made my first arcade game! This is a great beginners book for anyone who wants to learn to make their own game. This book expects you to come on with ABSOLUTELY NO EXPERIENCE AT ALL!
This book presents you with a complete game within the first 10 pages, and shows you over the course of the book how everything works.
It shows you every function and every line of code step by step.
Awesome book!
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Awesome Book!
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-09-29
6 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
When I read this book I learned a lot about game programming and I'm planning to buy more books on it. It teaches you a lot about the Blitz BASIC language. I was able to create my own game within three days after I had finished reading this book! If you're interested in the world of game programming, this is the book that'll get you started!
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