Windows Game Programming with Visual Basic and DirectX is the only game programming book on the market that pairs the ease of Visual Basic with the power and flash of DirectX applications. The book is written to teach the skills and thoughts behind game programming, with hands-on examples and a simulation game project that results in a complete application at the end of the book. Topics such as artificial intelligence, animation, sound effects, background music, and multiplayer setups will be covered in detail and put to work in the hands-on game project.
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Maße
Höhe: 231 mm
Breite: 187 mm
Dicke: 22 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-7897-2592-9 (9780789725929)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Wayne S. Freeze started working with computers in 1975 and he hasn't stopped yet. Along the way, he's held nearly every computer-related job available in a large computer organization. Before he started writing full-time, he was the technical support manager at the University of Maryland at College Park, where he was responsible for a large IBM mainframe and a diverse collection of smaller computers.
This is his tenth computer book and his first for Que. Until now, he's spent most of his time writing about Visual Basic, databases, or some combination thereof. He also writes magazine articles for several different magazines on topics ranging from how to create Office macros to digging into the guts of the Common Runtime Library in Microsoft's new .NET framework.
Now, Wayne works out of his house in rural South Dakota with his lovely wife Jill (who also writes computer books) and his two children, Christopher (age 8) and Samantha (age 6). Jill, whom Microsoft crowned an "Internet zealot," is a prize-winning beta tester and has worked extensively with products like Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer. Her books are aimed at consumers and her Sams Teach Yourself Computer Basics in 24 Hours, Third Edition (Sams, 2001, ISBN: 0-672-32301-X) has received rave reviews from her readers. Chris is only eight years old, but is one of the sharpest game players Wayne knows. He can easily beat kids twice his age with most computer games. Wayne rarely plays multiplayer computer action games with Chris anymore, simply because he consistently beats him! Chris was the only person in the state of South Dakota to win a prize in Gateway and Microsoft's nationwide computer game contest, and he ranked in the top 200 players in his age range in the country! When Wayne was looking for a beta tester for Swim Mall, Chris was a natural choice, and made countless valuable suggestions for the game's improvement.
Like Chris, Wayne's daughter Sammy is also a whiz with computers, though given a choice between playing with her computer and dancing, she'll pick dancing every time.
Introduction.
I. DIVING INTO THE GAME.
Introduction.
Creating a Computer Game. Your Challenge. Who Should Read This Book. System Requirements. What This Book Covers. What This Book doesn't Cover. Conventions Used in This Book. Questions and Comments. Other Resources.
1. Developing an Idea into a Game.
Designing the Game. Game Design Document for Swim Mall. Final Thoughts.
2. Introducing DirectX.
Understanding DirectX. Introducing 3D Graphics. I'm a Little Teapot. Final Thoughts.
3. Creating 3D Graphics.
Introducing Caligari trueSpace. Introducing Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Constructing 3D Graphics. Creating a Mall. Final Thoughts.
4. Turning 2D Graphics into 3D Graphics.
Creating 2D Graphics. Tweaking Images with Photoshop. Creating a Store. Creating a Simple Texture with Photoshop. Final Thoughts.
5. Loading Mall Information.
Design Details. Loading a Saved Game. Final Thoughts.
6. Displaying 3D Graphics.
Initializing Graphics Information. Loading Your Mall. Displaying Graphic Information. Rendering Your Mall. Selecting Objects Using the DXGraphics Class. Running the Program. Final Thoughts.
II. SIMULATING REALITY.
7. Random Numbers Ain't Random.
Defining a Random Number. Random Numbers and Computers. Creating Random Numbers. Random Numbers and Visual Basic. Ranges of Random Numbers. Distribution of Random Numbers. Final Thoughts.
8. Simulating Reality.
Introducing Simulations. Parts of a Simulation Model. The Master Clock. Simulation Statistics. Programming Simulations. Final Thoughts.
9. Simulating the Mall.
Understanding the Simulation. Building the Simulation Framework. Communities and Competitors. Initializing the Simulation. Monitoring the Mall. Final Thoughts.
10. Simulating Customers.
The Customer Class. Picking the Best Mall. Priority Queues. Simulating the Customer in the Mall. Final Thoughts.
11. Simulating Stores and Money.
Stores and Needs. Storing Store Information. Customers and Stores. Housekeeping for the Store. Displaying Information for a Store. Managing the Mall's Money. Final Thoughts.
III. MAKING THE GAME FUN.
12. Controlling the Mall with DirectInput.
Exploring DirectInput. Using DirectInput. Integrating DirectInput into Swim Mall. Initializing DirectInput. Handing DirectInput Events. Mouse Recovery. Ending DirectInput. Final Thoughts.
13. Commanding the Game.
Running the Game. Running Commands. Managing Game State. New Graphic Functions. Creating Commands. Converting Keyboard Information into Commands. Converting Mouse Information into Commands. Executing Commands. Displaying 2D Information. Final Thoughts.
14. Attention, Shoppers.
Sounds in the Mall. Introducing DirectX Audio. Integrating Sounds into Swim Mall. Initializing DXAudio. Playing Background Music. Stopping the Music. Foreground Sounds. Polling for Music. Creating Sounds. Final Thoughts.
15. A Map and Customers.
Mapping the Mall. Building the Map. Defining the Map. Loading Map Information. Initializing the Map. Marking Areas. Debugging the Map. Creating Customers. Final Thoughts.
16. Walking Through the Mall.
Drawing Customers. Walking Through the Mall. Final Thoughts.
IV. FINISHING THE GAME.
17. The Mall Strait Journal.
Reading the Mall Strait Journal. Saving News Articles. Writing News Articles. Getting the News. Printing the Newspaper. Displaying the Newspaper. Flipping Through the Pages. Borrowing Money from the Bank. Raymond Speaks. Final Thoughts.
18. Running the Mall.
Building a Command Framework. Managing Stores. Terminating a Lease. Final Thoughts.
19. The End of the Beginning.
Saving a Game. Getting the Filename. Writing the SwimFile. Saving Game Info. Changing SwimFile. Loading a Saved Game. Starting the Game. Choosing a Saved Game. Cheating in Swim Mall. Detecting the Cheat Command. Processing Cheat Commands. Hiding Easter Eggs. Searching for Easter Eggs. Displaying the Easter Egg. Final Thoughts.
Index.
