Intrinsic Algorithm recommends these books. Some of them are books that we have
read, some have been recommended by others, and others are actually
written or contributed to by people we have met in the game
development community. Please remember that you can click on the
links for each of the titles and learn more about the title and then
purchase them from Amazon.com.
Code Complete, Second Edition
- Steve McConnell
The standard style manual for all programmers. All
programmers, regardless of language, should be required to re-read this
book between each project just so they get their head on straight.
It's amazing how many bad habits we all have and how, if we read this
book, how we would all "just get along."
Game Programming Gems - Mark DeLoura (editor)
Game Programming Gems 2 - Mark DeLoura (editor)
Game Programming Gems 3 - Dante Treglia (editor)
These books are highly regarded
by many people that I have talked to. Each book is divided into
different sections covering the various disciplines in game programming.
Each section contains juicy little tricks and tips that you can use in
your own games.
A few of them were written by my
friends Steve Woodcock and the late Eric Dybsand with generous entries by Steve
Rabin (editor of the "AI Game Programming Wisdom" book below).
All of the entries in the AI sections were VERY well written and broke
things down nicely into understandable presentations of the concepts.
I could recommend the books on an AI standpoint alone... I'm sure
there is more than enough in the other areas of the books to justify
buying them as well!
Personally, I am using a fantastic
singleton class from Gems 1. It has really streamlined my
collection objects in our current project. Also, there is a
great Finite State Machine language by Steve Rabin in Gems 1 that is
also reprinted in AI Wisdom (below). I recommend the one in AI
Wisdom, but if you are going to think about buying the Gems book, this
is a good reason to do so.
AI Game Programming Wisdom - Steve Rabin (editor)
This book was just released in time for the 2002 GDC. I
purchased it after returning from San Jose on the recommendation of
some of the contributors that I had an opportunity to meet while at the
Game Developers Conference.
Steven Woodcock and Neil Kirby... 2 of "the 3 AI guys" and Bob Scott, formerly of
Stainless Steel Studios have contributions littered throughout.
The book is a fantastic resource in the style of the "Gems" books above.
While not a book to give you basic knowledge of the types of AI, it is
great for fleshing out the base level topics. There are many
tricks and tips for everything from designing the structure of your AI
down to speeding up pathfinding and LOS calculations. As I
mentioned before, I am using Steve Rabin's Finite State Machine language
in a number of my projects.
I recommend this book highly!
AI Game Programming Wisdom 2 - Steve Rabin (editor)
I got to meet Steve Rabin at the 2003 Game Developer's Conference.
After kissing his hand to thank him for his FSM language section in AI
Wisdom, I found out that he was toting the CD for AI Wisdom 2 with him.
AI Game Development - Alex J. Champandard
I was honored when New Riders asked me to review this book. In
fact, an excerpt from my review will be appearing in the front cover of
the book itself! Alex is the founder and host of the
AI Depot web site. The
section of the book that I reviewed is a fantastic treatment of the
creation of "animats" or independent agents that are so crucial to the
realism of today's expansive, non-scripted worlds. The book
promises to be something special! You can see more about it at the
book's website.
Game Design: The Art & Business of Creating Games - Bob Bates
This is the first book that Laurie and I bought when we first were
looking at starting Intrinsic Algorithm. It covers many of the
aspects of game design as well as addressing some of the general
business topics such as what the roles of the various people in a game
design company are. We believe that this is a good book for any
person wanting to get into the game development business regardless of
whether a programmer, artist, designer or business person.
Game Programming All In One - Bruno Miguel Teixeira de Sousa
This book had been recommended to me by a number of people.
I did have a chance to browse through it at the Game Developers
Conference and it seemed like a good read so, rather than lugging all
3 tons of it back to Omaha, I ordered it when I returned. It truly
does seem to deserve the title of "All In One". It starts with the very basics of C++
and moves you, step by step, through all of the facets of building a
complete game including DirectX et al. While not absolutely
EVERYTHING you would ever need, it certainly is a good start!
Game Design: Theory and Practice (With CD-ROM) - Richard Rouse III
This book is huge and solid! There
are a lot of case-studies about various titles and "what makes
them tick". In addition, there are interviews with many of
the top game creators like Sid Meier and Will Wright. This is definitely
NOT an entry level book, however. There are a lot of advanced
topics discussed herein. Use
with caution!
Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus - Andre Lamothe
This is another whopper of a book - and also not for the
beginner. (Let's face it... can you go from novice to
"guru" without pulling a few brain muscles anyway?) I
haven't wandered through this one yet myself, but I have glanced
through and there are some hard core topics in there. If you are
good and want to get great... this might be a good buy!
Isometric Game Programming with Directx 7.0 - Ernest Pazera
By no means am I a graphics programmer. However, I did get
the fantastic opportunity to meet and spend time with the author of
this book, Ernest Pazera. He is a very knowledgeable and
personable guy who has the respect of the programming community.
Since we are now buds, I have no qualms about recommending his book!
