Beginning C++ Game Programming (Game Development Series)

More OpenGL Game Programming

OpenGL(R) Programming Guide : The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL(R), Version 2 (5th Edition)

Opengl

Beginning OpenGL Game Programming (Game Development Series)

Format: Paperback
Author: Dave Astle
ReleaseDate: 19 March, 2004
Publisher: Course Technology PTR
Rating:

Best OpenGL Book Ever (not counting the sequel to this book)
gamedev. While all the information in this book can be found free on the net, (nehe.net would be an excellent resource and is even mentioned in the book), the book combines all that knowledge into one location with each topic thoroughly covered in an easily accessible way.

It doesn't try to teach you how to program C++ nor does it try to teach you 3D math fundamentals (outside of how matrices and transformations apply to OpenGL specifically). It just teaches you OpenGL. With that said, there are some bonus chapters on the CD that goes into vectors and matrix math, as well as an indepth chapter on how to work with windows. The other bonus chapters are great and worth studying as well, particularly the chapters on DirectInput and DirectAudio (though I would love to see at least some mention of alternative API's such as OpenAL).

Each chapter is presented with sample code and executables demonstrating the topic covered. Chapter 13 has a complete 3D Battle Chess style chess game. It won't win any awards, but it's very cool none-the-less! If that weren't enough, there's also a Bonus game, complete with code, that while not quite as cool as the chess game, is worth studying on how the authors put a game together, complete with (very) basic AI and gives you clues and direction toward implementing your own game.

Get this book and mess with the code! See what you can add to the Bonus Game! Try to make the monsters fight back, remove the double explosion sound bug (at least on my machine), make the world bigger and reduce the density of the fog, go nuts!

This isn't the last OpenGL book you'll need to buy, but it certainly should be one of the first!.

Microsoft specific treatments are pragmatic
But most of the text on the usage of OpenGL is quite independent of the OS. Some reviewers have remarked that the book concentrates overly on OpenGL running on a Microsoft operating system. And the passages specific to Microsoft are a reflection of the market reality on the desktop. I considered Astle to be quite reasonably pragmatic in offering the latter advice.

You might find it handy to have done some graphics programming already. Irrespective of whatever package you used. The details in this book show OpenGL to be very formidable in capability. Luckily, you don't have to comprehensively know all the functions in the book. .

Beginning? Yeah Right...
All it does is explain what each function does rather than teaching you how to use it. This book is utterly useless for both a beginner like me, and someone who knows C++ well. In the 2nd chapter alone, there's a 200-line program of all OpenGL functions that you're expected to understand by about 3 pages of explanation. I'm a beginning programmer who knows a lot about C, but not everything, and this book isn't helping me at all. Also, I can tell that it doesn't teach you much, as the end of book game example is slow and buggy. Go learn C++ then get an online tutorial or reference page, don't waste the money on this book.