Microsoft Silverlight Books

Examples not complete

This text presented the concepts of game programming well. However, the examples available with the book were not complete. They were missing classes that need to be purchased/downloaded from a third party.

Part of learning a new programming/technology concept is having a working model. This book failed this portion of the learning process

Jerry Schenkel
02 August, 2008

Good Online Samples, Friendly Writing, Buggy Book Code

Quick Advice:

Download C# Express from Microsoft's website, it is free right now. Also download the Summer 2003 edition of Direct X.

Everything will compile except Space Wars 3D (I am so happy now, see below). I am missing files, its 3:00 am, I will look for my (or their mistake) in the morning.

Also go to the Apress website to download all the code including the VB.Net version of the book. It seems they left out key files (Like images for chapter 3) for the C# version that you can get in the VB.net download.

My Story:

I got this book because I wanted to learn C# and have some fun. I certainly enjoyed the first 3 chapters. They were very nicely written and friendly, which is why I bought the book. I also like that the book explained the basic concepts clearly (which is all I am looking for right now). So far, fairly self-explanatory, follows with what I already knew and expected (it confirmed how I thought it all worked procedure wise).

However, when I tried the book code in visual studio 2003 I kept getting errors. Mostly from me copying what the book had. I then had to tweak everything to get it to work. I later found it much easier to just load the code from the website. However, this does not help learning if you just compile and view. The step-by-step examples for the later chapters would have been nice for these early ones.

After a short hiatus (6 months of wasteful job searching, which I am still on) I came back to work on chapters 4 onward. I found these to be very difficult to work with. I kept getting errors. After a few 5:00 am nights, I discovered it's not the code it is VS 2003 it just won't run it for some reason. Gives me a .net compilation error. I bet it has to do with patches or version differences of the .net framework.

I was about to bag the book and write a bad review (mostly because I could not find quick help anywhere) when I decided to check Microsoft's website. After downloading their tools and converting the files to VS C# Express everything ran great. By the way, online resources say to use this with 2003, but I keep getting a greater version used error when working with 2003, so they must have done this in 2004. My advice on what to get is above.

So after a bit a fun and a lot of short-term frustration I am happy once more and can continue my studies. My goal is not video games, but research and development for engineering. I just wanted a pretty way to render my results.

To note, Direct X has had some major changes so the book is now dated, but the logic on Direct3D, collisions, and general procedures is still good. Direct Play is out, I am not sure about Direct Sound or Direct Input.

When you buy a book you expect to get higher quality material then what you would find online. Overall, I would say it is better then some information I have found online, but it certainly lacks in certain areas such as better explanation on DirectX functions, though it does a good job where needed. For instance some spots in the DirectX documentation is lacking, the book does a good job of explaining those parts.

Microsoft has plenty of new resources online now including better explanations on what was missing before, so I am unsure if this book is a buy anymore. I will say it is a good first start.


Scott Suhmann
31 December, 2005

Good overview, see patterns in real product

Let me start by saying that I have no intention of being a game developer, but since I need .NET for my job, I thought this would be an interesting read. It doesn't disappoint at all.

What stand out is the author's repeated advice that you need to "just do it" from end to end to understand the process of creating a game. I think that's true for most tasks in programming, but it's especially true here. There are a lot of basic concepts that apply to nearly all games, and it's funny because you begin to think about them when you play one!

Clearly if you want to get deep into 3D math, you'll need another book, but this one gets you started at least with an understanding of the basic DirectX tools.

Greenespace
12 April, 2005

Just an awesome book

What is so cool about this book is that you can read it from start to finish and use it after as a reference book. The authors took a very difficult subject and made it easy to understand. After each chapter, you can code your own game with all the tips they gave you.A must have if you want to start writing small games in C#.

JD
28 March, 2005

Goes through the basics

In programming, one of the single biggest applications is games. The speed of a multigigahertz cpu, plus vast memory and disk space gives you a huge drawing board. Also, since games are a mass market, then you want to code for Microsoft PCs.

In response, the authors show how Microsoft's .NET environment and C# programming within it can be used to make viable games. They start by conceding that the fastest twitch games, like Half Life 2 or Doom 3, can't really be effectively coded using the book's Direct X methods. But they point out that C# is certainly adequate for other types of games.

The book walks you through very basic game algorithms. If you've programmed games before, many of these ideas will be familiar. Like the fundamentals of detection of collisions between 2 objects on the screen.

Naturally, since visuals are crucial, space is devoted to constructing 3D objects and rendering them with various textures. Frankly, for the pure graphics, the book only touches on the algorithms. You will need another text devoted to the latter. But within the space constraints of this book, there is an admirable job of conveying how to write games in C#.

W Boudville
17 September, 2004