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Beginning Java 5 Game Programming
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by Jonathan S. Harbour
Sales Rank: 549559
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Discount: 27 %
$15.41
At Amazon
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Paperback: 376 pages
Publisher: Course Technology PTR; 1 edition April 25, 2006
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1598631500
ISBN-13: 978-1598631500
Product Dimensions:
8.9 x 7.3 x 1.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
Book Description
If you are interested in creating games for the casual game market, then get ready to set the wheels in motion! This hands-on guide for beginners allows you to increase your skill level along the way as you create a game full of cool artwork and intricate details. This book is not an introductory guide to the Java programming language, but instead serves as an introduction to the field of game programming using Java. From the basics of creating simple Java programs and writing graphics code to utilizing Java’s advanced 2D library and adding sound effects and music, this book’s step-by-step instructions will help you acquire all the skills you need to create a professional-quality, sprite-based game.
About The Author
Jonathan S. Harbour has been an avid gamer and programmer for 18 years, having started with early PCs like the Commodore PET and Tandy 1000. In 1997, he earned a Bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems, and then spent eight years working as a professional programmer before accepting a position on the faculty at University of Advancing Technology where he teaches game programming and software engineering courses. Jonathan has authored many other books about game programming and video game systems, including the recent Gadget Geek's Guide to Your Xbox 360 and Beginning Java 5 Game Programming. He maintains a Web site at http://www.jharbour.com with news and online discussion forums. Jonathan lives in the Arizona desert with his wife, Jennifer, and children, Jeremiah, Kayleigh, Kaitlyn, and Kourtney.
Customer Reviews & Comments
I think I'm probably right in the target audience for this book, and I think it did a great job at what it sets out to do. There's a bit of a Java review at the beginning, but this so-called "intro to Java" is focused on game making from the very first pages. Don't think that there's enough Java teaching here to get by if you've never done Java before. He covers a couple of topics essential to gaming that many might not have covered in a previous class, like getting keyboard and mouse input, but if you don't know your applet from a hole in the ground, you'd better start somewhere else. Harbour is great at explaining difficult concepts in an accessible way. If you work through the code in the book, you'll pick up a whole lot of valuable info. I did, reading through the book twice along the way, and I got a whole lot out of the experience. If I had to give a couple of criticisms, I'd say that I would have liked this book to be a few hundred pages longer. Harbour touches on so many important topics and gives you the basics, but I'd love to have more from him on all these topics. Maybe a sequel with more depth/advanced topics? If I could have those extra pages, I'd also like it if they were devoted to a different type of game. This book takes you in detail through one game project, beginning to end, but it would have been helpful to get some strategies for dealing with other game types. Don't get me wrong--it's a great idea to work through a project to finish it in such detail. And of course, a lot of the topics can be applied to other games. I'd definitely recommend this one to anyone like me, with a Java foundation looking for a way to apply it to more interesting programming topics beyond the "toy" projects they assign in most programming classes. Read this book, and then go on to _Killer Game Programming in Java_ by Andrew Davison. That one's a lot tougher than this one and covers more advanced topics without much of any Java review, and I think they make good companion volumes. Now if I could just find the right J2ME games book . . .
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Beginning Java 5 Game Programming
Discount: 27 %
Available from Amazon
Price: $15.41
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