Reader reviews

Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

Solid and well-organised. A couple of chapters dragged a little.

I have been working with game design for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

I have read a lot of books on this subject and this is the clearest.

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. One of those books that pays for itself within the first few chapters. Highly recommended.

Well worth picking up if you already have the basics.

I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between tutorials and proper reference material, and this does that well. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.

Good value. Not perfect, but I would buy another book from this author.

This is the third book I have read on game production this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. Worth picking up if you already have the basics. Set realistic expectations and you will get a lot out of it.

Well worth picking up if you already have the basics.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.