Introduction to 3D Game Engine Design Using DirectX 9 and C#

by Lynn Thomas Harrison

Book Overview

* Shows how to use DirectX from C# - the new language for the .NET platform. This makes DirectX both easier and safer to use, and makes this book unique from among every other DirectX book available. * Focuses on programmers using DirectX instead of trying to teach DirectX. * DirectX is becoming the premier platform for game/3D high performance graphics on Windows.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590590813
• ISBN13: 9781590590812
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Apress
• Length: 424 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Not an intro book.

If you're looking at engines like axiom, ogre, irrlicht, etc... and wondering how they do that... THIS is the book for you. Just make sure you've read at least an intro c# book and 1 or 2 direct3d books. I'm loving this book, I've read 1/4th of it over the period of my workshift... just can't put it down. Things like octrees were completely confusing me, and lynn does a great job explaining it. -1 star for not doing an octree implementation instead of a quad tree (so far... i haven't read the whole book yet), oh and i saw a "GOTO" statement in his code, which always urks me in OOP.

A godsend.

For those who have already had an introduction into DirectX, this book is a godsend. If you know a little bit about DirectX and are ready to take the next step in designing your own engine this is the book to get. Just for the engine structural knowledge I have gained from reading this book it was well worth it, and that's not including all of the implementation examples it gives you, such as Terrains, Meshes, Cameras, and Particle Effects to name a few that I liked. If you don't know anything about DirectX, this book will probably be hard to follow. If you do know DirectX then this book will be very easy to follow. What isn't in comments is explained enough (in my opinion) in the paragraphs preceding each class and method. If you are still having trouble understanding this book then I would recommend reading an 'Introduction to DirectX' book, not an 'Introduction to Game Engine Design USING DirectX' book. All in all, this book was extremely worth it. The author definitely has experience in this field. The book's title may be deceiving to some, if you only read the first and last couple words and skip the 5 words in the middle. The previous reviews were incorrect about this book. If you have a little bit of understanding of DirectX, and would like to see how to implement some elements of a game, like the ones i mentioned previously(and there are more than that), then definitely buy this book.

Read the Title Carefully

This book is focused on "Introduction to Game Design" and uses the C# language and DirectX 9 technology to illustrate the samples.This book does not teach C# nor does it provide sufficient DirectX programming concepts.If you are looking for a book that provides a good overview of how a 3D Game Engine works from the developer-perspective then this book is for you.For those looking for a pre-built game engine upon which to learn then I suggest that you look somewhere else.

It's just what I wanted

I bought more than 10 books within the last 2 months, they are all about 3D games, C#, MMORPG. This book is definitely one of the best. It gives almost all I need, as a novice hobbist would like to stick to C#/DirectX.1)IntroductionThe book sticks perfectly to its title. It introduced almost all the elements a novice needs to build a 3D game. Though it seems to be in a rush to get the book well-organized, it by no means means that it's not informative. It shows you all you need to model a 3D engine from scratch, and with all the keys to bring the model to reality.2)C# and DirectXI assure you that there're not much (if not none) books explain this combination C#+DirectX, not even Microsoft documents will shed some lights on it. However, you can sneak into the details from this book. Since I demand more on the DirectX in C#.Piece of advice:If you'd stick to C#/DirectX and want to kick things off quick as an novice, buy this book. Else if you go C++, OpenGL, not yet make up your mind, wanna be a professional rather than a hobbist, and etc., go buy C++ Gurus books.

Practical and good coverage

This book has given me a good overview of 3D programming with .NET and C#. It was not too easy, and not too hard. Also, it covers some game programming concepts that I would need to know whether or not I was using .NET.This is a must have if you want to get into the brave new world of Managed DX.