Reviews for Developing Games in Java

1. Good book, but hard to read

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, March 12nd, 2010

   This is a good book that covers lots of concepts in game programming, it covers lots of stuff, and gives a great solid foundation on java game programming.
   
   Love the book cover, but quite disapointed when I opened up the book.
   The biggest problem is that the fonts layout in the book is too hard too read...its a lot bigger than the fonts that used in most other books. The code font is bigger than the writing font, why? And both the writing and code fonts have way too much line spacing in between. I personally find big fonts with lots of white spacing hard to read, and made the book unecessary thick at almost 1000pages... Nevertheless the source code is supplied and some people may like the opposite. If the font layout is better it will probably worth 5 stars
   
   note this cook focuses on Java 1.4, you may want to implement yourself new features like generics, enumerations, enhanced for loops. Its nice the author did mention them at the end of the book.
   
   

2. A book of two halves

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, December 12th, 2008

   The first part of the book is pretty much the bible of 2D game programming in Java. Its not very easy to only pick and choose the bits you want as you are slowly building a 2D library to create a simple platformer. So those wanting a quick fix on certain ideas may find it disappointing. A few things need updating and are noted at the end of the book or on the website. Most notably sound and a higher resolution timer. Answers exist but they haven't been integrated into the projects. This is a shame as the writing style and subject matter are the most consistent and cohesive I have found. Joypad support could also do with an update.
   A large part of the second half of the book I just couldn't bring myself to read. Creating software accelerated 3d when hardware accelerated 3D exists for Java. It didn't interest me. Maybe it should as flitting between looking into the pros and cons of LWGL, Java 3D, JOGL & Jme I have not managed to make any consistent progress creating small 3D games in Java.
   
   I really hope the author thinks about creating a new book as he does a very good job of explaining every topic.

3. Very good book

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, April 12rd, 2005

   Comments were made in one review about the lack of Java3D in the book. Java3D has become a bit stale in recent times now and is no longer being supported officialy. But whichever 3D alternative you choose, this book will give you a very good grounding on the basic building blocks of creating a game.

   The book seems to pick up pace quickly (but not too quickly - There's a lot of topics being covered here!) taking you over a variety of topics in a short space of time. If you expect to get the full potential of this book, be expected to sit down and take your time messing about with the code which is given. Sometimes I skimmed over a few things and I felt a lost very quickly.

   This is the ideal book for someone with no knowledge of game programming like myself, but a good knowledge of Java is vital.

4. This is not for professionals

   Rated 2 out of 5 stars, May 12th, 2004

   Well, here's a strange thing. A book on Java games programming that as far as I've been able to tell makes no use (or even metion) of the Java 3D API provided by Sun. Instead, the author has provided his own libraries. Although this is probably ideal for those programming purely for fun, it's not at all suited to more formal situations. I bought this book to help with a graphics programming module I'm studying at university, and found that although the 2D sections were useful, the 3D graphics sections were basically of no use to me, due to the non-use of Java 3D.

5. Recommend book for begineers thru to the more experienced

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, April 12th, 2004

   With out a doubt one of the best game programming books written andcurrently available. Do not let reviews that tell you this is the sameold thing put you off - because it is not - and to be frank be careful ofthat kind of snobbery. As Java developers know anyway, a lot of snobberycomes from other language developers at it is, so more in your own camp isnot necessary. The API is dry and you can only learn so much from what islittle more then a reference manual. The API docs are useful for tellingyou how each bit works – books like this tell you how to put the piecestogether into something useful.
   In this book the information is concise, chapters well laid out and thedifficulty curve good. Tricks like getting Swing working in full screenmode and getting a decent timer cross platform is covered.
   I am an industry professional with a decent degree and at time of writing3 years experience since graduating. Although what I do is businessapplications in different languages, this book has been allowing me tomake a leap across to starting building proper games in my sparetime.
   The book is written with good humour and is incredibly easy toread. Take a look at the table of contents; you end up building your own3D Engine without OpenGL or any other third party libraries! Almost everychapter has a working example of the priniciples taught in the text - sowhen you see the Table of Contents you know what code you are going to seeand what you will end up having at the end of a chapter.
   The maths (often a stumbling block) is explained with programming examples- essential for those whom have the programming logic but still need tolearn the mathematics. The maths is taught hand in hand with code anddiagrams.
   Very interesting is the coverage and application of a generic game serverstructure, and examples of multiplayer game principles - again with sourcecode.
   This is a must have book for those starting out with Java whom just wantto see stuff on the screen and dip straight in. It's also good for thosewith strong backgrounds in other languages that want a taste of Java. What's great about all this is that with so many great free tools around,you can experience all this for next to nothing.
   The design of the components are great - this guy properly applies ObjectOriented Patterns in his thinking, and encourages good design decisionsthrough out the book - and more importantly explains those decisionsrather then just telling you this is the way to do it.
   Perhaps not the text for those whom already know it all, but for everyoneelse then this is worth a read.