OpenGL Game Programming

by Dave Astle and Kevin Hawkins

Book Overview

This robust CD contains source code from the book as well as examples of OpenGL games in the online game development community. Also included are a variety of tools such as the OpenGL libraries, GLUT,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761533303
• ISBN13: 9780761533306
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Cengage Learning
• Length: 808 Pages
• Weight: 3.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 7.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A few words from the author

I'm pretty thick skinned, so most of the negative reviews of this book haven't bothered me. In fact, I agree with quite a few of them, and I've taken all constructive criticism into account in the writing I'm doing now.However, after the last few reviews, I feel obliged to say something. If you look at all of the reviews, you'll see that most of them are positive. In most cases, even people with well-substantiated criticism still gave the book a good rating overall. So to have 4 people in a row give the book a 1 star rating, with little more than brief, vague accusations to support them, smells to me like someone (and I'd guess it really is just one person, considering most of the reviews are anonymous) with an axe to grind. The author of a competing book, perhaps? Whoever it is should be ashamed.The reality is I think most of the people who have read this book have found it useful, if not perfect. That's the feedback I've received via email, web forums, and in person. People who have had problems with the book or the code who contacted me or Kevin will tell you we were more than happy to help them out.That said, don't buy this book. We've written another book, Beginning OpenGL Game Programming, which updates most of the material in this book, correcting things that were wrong, providing information about the additions to OpenGL that have been made in the past 3 years, and providing much more information about important topics like texturing and extensions. It's a much better value than this book, so I'd recommend looking at it instead.I've read dozens of game development and graphics books, and speaking as objectively as possible, I'd give this book 3.5 to 4 stars. But I'm ranking it 5 to offset the real fraud that has appeared in the last several reviews.

Comments from the author of the book's foreword

Finally, a book on OpenGL programming specifically for games! This book fills an important gap in any OpenGL programmer's bookshelf. Some of the most popular 3D games for the PC, most importantly Id Software's Quake series of games, use OpenGL as their 3D rendering interface. Now programmers that want to learn about OpenGL game programming have a place to begin.This book explains OpenGL in the context of other PC programming interfaces such as DirectInput and DirectSound. It also explains practical game-oriented programming tasks such as loading animated Quake2 models.Recent OpenGL features such as multitexturing are also explained. Multitexturing is really important for dynamic game lighting effects and extra realism.While other books such as the OpenGL Programming Guide and Reference Manual explain the OpenGL API in more detail, this book explains OpenGL in the specific context of game development on the PC.I recommend this book for anyone interested in learning about PC game programming. While you may be learning about OpenGL for programming games, you should also be aware that OpenGL is the industry-standard 3D graphics API for professional 3D graphics applications and is the only truly multi-platform standard 3D API available. OpenGL is supported on Windows, Apple, Linux, and Unix workstation platforms. This makes knowledge of OpenGL an important asset for any computer programmer.I am pleased to have been asked to author the foreword of this book.

Great Read

I must say I'm quite pleased with this book.. I was a bit weary because of the high-price, and felt that "Oh, I've got the OpenGL Red Book and Blue book, this isn't going to be any more information." I also have read over all of the tutorials at nehe.gamedev.net.... but I gave it a chance.. I always like written work better than tutorials online. I was surprised at how well written the examples were, and how easy they were to understand.I'd definately recommend this book... I hope the Direct3D book in this series is equally well written.

Simply the best

OpenGL Game programming is, in my opinion, the best Game programming book for beginners now availabe on the market. First of all it is the only one based on OpenGL instead of Direct X. The MS API seems to become a standard for professional game developers,but...well, leave it to pro's, if you want to grasp the basic of graphic programming and to achieve some results in a reasonable short time , OpenGL is the only choice, thanks to its intuitive architecture. Apart from it, this book is a perfect balance between theory and practice and I could find every thing I have been looking for. Kevin and Dave are the founders of the the most popular Game developper comunity on the Web. Probably they know the needs and difficulties of beginners much better than professional people. The all book is at high level, but there are two chapters that are really gems. chap 18 - working with 3d models. it explains the architecture of .md2 (Quake 2)animated file, how to load it, how to use it.None of the 4 game programming I have read went throuh in detail a so important topic. this book dedicates more than 50 pages and it is all meat. Chap 20 - building a game engine It provides a object-oriented game engine to be used to develop simple games quickly and efficiently. Again none of the other books supply a so important tool.

Excellent!

I've read several OpenGL books, and this one ranks with the best of them. The best thing about it, though, is that it's not just an OpenGL book, it's a game programming book, so not only will you learn OpenGL essentials, you're learn how to specifically apply them to games. The book is very easy to read and understand. It's been written in such a way that I think even someone with no experience programming games will be able to pick it up and soon be able to create a simple 3D game. In addition to the OpenGL coverage, the coverage of DirectInput and DirectSound is some of the best I've ever seen. The chapters on special effects and physics were of particular interest, as were the chapters on engine design and the final creation of a game. Whether you're just getting interested in game programming, or have been doing it for a while but don't know OpenGL, you need this book.