3D Game Programming All in One by Ken Finney
Published April 2004
List Price: $49.99,
Your Amazon.com Price: $29.49
Course PTR Price: $39.99
Average rating:
Amazon Sales Rank: 16,406
Summary Get ready for an amazing journey into the world of game development! 3D Game Programming All in One is your one-stop tour guide into this new world. If you believe that you can create games that are as cool as—or cooler than—the ones you ’ve been playing, now's your chance to prove it. This book will give you the training, experience, and tools you need to turn your ideas into reality. Using a well-defined toolkit of programs, knowledge, skills, and ideas 3D Game Programming All in One covers each step required to make a fully featured game. You'll cover everything from opportunities within the game industry and elements of a 3D game to programming concepts, modeling, textures, and music. All you need to begin your journey is a creative idea and the enthusiasm to bring that idea to life.
After having reviewed the second edition of Game Programming All In One a couple of weeks ago, I was wondering how it'd compare to its apparent 3D counterpart, inexplicably named. . .3D Game Programming All In One!
The books have a lot in common, despite apparently being written independently of each other. First off, there's the size (750 and 800 pages, respectively). While Game Programming All In One concentrated pretty-much exclusively on the Allegro graphics library and the C programming language, 3D Game Programming All In One concentrates exclusively on the Torque 3D engine and the accompanying TorqueScript programming language. Like the 2D version, there are occasional single-chapter digressions into accompanying tools. 3D Game Programming All In One spends a chapter each on Paint Shop Pro, MilkShape 3D, QuArK, and Audacity. While the chapters are well-written, Audacity is the only tool with a small enough feature-set to be covered comprehensively in one chapter. The rest of the products just get an overview of the features necessary to build the game's project.
The bulk of the examples in the book come from the author's commercial MMORPG-style shooter, TubettiWorld, and this is the first problem I have with the book. While the 2D version of Game Programming All In One started out with a project of modest scope (an arcade tank-shooter) that could be completed and enhanced over the length of a single book, you'll just get bits and pieces of TubettiWorld -- a textured character here, a terrain-modeled mountain there. The book would've been better had the author chosen a much smaller project for an example, like perhaps an arcade tank-shooter, just in 3D.
One place where 3D Game Programming All In One outdoes its 2D counterpart is in the subject of networking, but this isn't much of a feat given that the 2D book had no network coverage at all. 3D Game Programming All In One does spend a lot of time (about 1/3 of the book) covering client/server networking using TorqueScript, so if you've got plans to write a networked game using the Torque engine, you'll probably be well-served by this book.
3D games are hot, and hot 3D engines are a popular topic with game programmers. Torque is one of the hottest products out there, given that it seems to have it all -- it's a mature product with commercial success under its belt and an unbeatable price. 3D Game Programming All In One was smart to choose to cover Torque and TorqueScript. If you're looking to write a 3D game using these technologies, you'll get a lot of coverage here. Just don't expect to see many good standalone examples or deep coverage of products other than the aforementioned engine.
I have read a few chapter from this book and throw away this book .I read c++ chapters, i have extremely disappointed.I know c++ a little , i wanted to clear my mind but it can only clear someone's mind but it cant teach c++ .I disappointed because the author think that book teachs! C++ in a few chapter , it covers a few part of c++ .Book has Directx , game design ,ai..
All things about game programming can't be thought in a book .
They must be covered distinct books.Book want to teach all things in one book and it fail surely.
I thought that the book was a great way to show the basics of creating games. I think that the title should be changed though. I would have liked it if the book went over more with programming in the Torque Engine and went over some custom commands that differ from C++ and C.
I bought this book primarily because it was about creating a game with Torque, and I wanted to see what Torque could do without shelling out the full $100. I was interested in Torque because of two things: its excellent multiplayer support and the fact that it allows you to create a game mod and distribute the engine with the mod (great for portfolio CDs and such).
On the CD comes a precompiled copy of the Torque engine that you are allowed to use for educational/non-commercial purposes, along with trial versions of Paint Shop Pro, Milkshape, UltraEdit and such - in other words, all the stuff you need to mod the engine.
Ken Finney's writing style is excellent and starts with the very basics, but does so in such a way that it's never patronising to the experienced coder. He covers the Torque engine in depth and gives a thorough grounding in TorqueScipt, the powerful bytecode-compiled language that Torque uses. And indeed, although this is a book is aimed at the beginner with no programming experience (the "I've got a great idea, now how do I make a game" people), there's a mammoth reference section that makes the book a worthy reference for anyone using Torque, no matter what their level of experience.
He goes through all the steps needed to make a good mod, from creating a GUI to skinning characters, from terraforming to vehicle physics. Audio, trigger events and the ubiquitous networking are also covered in depth, and at the end of the book you feel you have enough information to start making your own game.
Unfortunately, Finney doesn't even cover basic level design theory (he shows you how to construct the level in depth, but doesn't give you any hints on how to construct a good one). I think this would have been a very good addition to the book.
The official Torque documentation is patchy at best, but this does the job admirably. The Torque engine is very capable and versitile, even when just using TorqueScript. Recommended for anyone interested in Torque, or anyone who wants a good introduction to creating their own 3D game.
I bought this book and I'm about half way through so far I really like it. As blackghost mentioned it's focused entirely on the Torque game engine but I just wanted to clear one thing up. It's not necisarry for you to license the Torque engine for the book to be of use to you. The book's CD comes with a completly working version of the engine so that you can run the scripts from the book, Or make your own game from scratch. The only diference from the licenced version of the engine is that with the licenced version you get the complete source code to the engine and you get the right to sell your games.
I think this book would be a great way for someone who didn't know for sure if they wanted to licence the torque engine to give it a try. Then if they find them self with a sellable game on their hands or the need to modify the engine they could get a licence.
The title '3D game *Creation* all in one" would probably suit better -the programming part is limited to understanding and using pre-existing objects through the Torque game engine's scripting language. The author also covers 2D and 3D asset creation using affordable software (the book is targeting indie developers), and even includes chapters on sound and music recording and integration with the game engine. All in all, the author does a decent job at explaining most basic concepts that come into game development, but the descriptions are tied to the Torque game engine. If you don't have the engine and are just curious about game development -sorry, you got the wrong book. This should probably be made clear in the book's title.
In my opinion, any book that tries to cover ALL aspects of creating a game, even more so a 3D game, is doomed to fail unless it's 3000 pages long.
However, if you have licensed the Torque game engine and want to know exactly to create a game, possibly creating models using Milkshape 3D, i would definitely recommend this book.
It simply is the best resource there is for the Torque game engine, given the community's relative immaturity even though the engine has been out for some years.
Seattle Game Conference
Course PTR
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.ca
Amazon.de
Amazon.fr