Book Should Be Required Reading for Newbies
by Leslie Spring · in Torque Game Engine · 07/01/2004 (10:43 am) · 6 replies
Hey, Ken
Coming from the perspective of an experienced game developer, I gotta say that your book fills a void that has existed for a LOOOONG time. I bought the book because I'm getting up and running on the Torque engine, and it looked like a great reference. But as I dig into this book, it's quickly becoming apparent that it's a truly great reference on almost all aspects of video game development. This is with the exception of design and engine coding, but those have been covered to death anyway. We need another "3D Game Engine Coding in (name your API)" like we need another Rocky movie.
I've been doing the game-dev thing for 20 years, but this is the first time i've seen all of this information in one place. It really is the "All in One" book, as claimed.
And although a lot of the material is intended for beginners, I'm getting a great refresher on the dev process as a whole, all in one place. Of course, I'm getting a jump-start on Torque scripting and Quark, which was my original intent.
Anyway, I'm usually not this enthusiastic about new products or books, but between recently discovering the Torque engine, and now your new book, I'm having a good time!
My only criticism so far is the title... I had passed up the book several times in the store as just another "Rocky movie" because of the "3D Game Programming" part of the title. Luckily, the Torque community pointed me in the right direction.
But title, shmitle... your book needs to be taught as "gamedev 101" at EVERY university so that the dev community can stop getting flooded with new graduates who STILL don't know anything about games, but think that they should be lead designers or something.
Coming from the perspective of an experienced game developer, I gotta say that your book fills a void that has existed for a LOOOONG time. I bought the book because I'm getting up and running on the Torque engine, and it looked like a great reference. But as I dig into this book, it's quickly becoming apparent that it's a truly great reference on almost all aspects of video game development. This is with the exception of design and engine coding, but those have been covered to death anyway. We need another "3D Game Engine Coding in (name your API)" like we need another Rocky movie.
I've been doing the game-dev thing for 20 years, but this is the first time i've seen all of this information in one place. It really is the "All in One" book, as claimed.
And although a lot of the material is intended for beginners, I'm getting a great refresher on the dev process as a whole, all in one place. Of course, I'm getting a jump-start on Torque scripting and Quark, which was my original intent.
Anyway, I'm usually not this enthusiastic about new products or books, but between recently discovering the Torque engine, and now your new book, I'm having a good time!
My only criticism so far is the title... I had passed up the book several times in the store as just another "Rocky movie" because of the "3D Game Programming" part of the title. Luckily, the Torque community pointed me in the right direction.
But title, shmitle... your book needs to be taught as "gamedev 101" at EVERY university so that the dev community can stop getting flooded with new graduates who STILL don't know anything about games, but think that they should be lead designers or something.
#2
I have got my indie license and still waiting for my book from amazon (living in Australia) and now I just cant WAIT to get into it!
07/26/2004 (5:28 pm)
Thats an encouraging post! From a developer of 20 years in game dev saying comments like that!I have got my indie license and still waiting for my book from amazon (living in Australia) and now I just cant WAIT to get into it!
#3
07/26/2004 (5:41 pm)
You won't regret buying the Torque license or that book. :)
#4
I had to pull myself away from the book a few weeks ago due to time constraints but... impressive to say the least.
07/27/2004 (7:51 am)
I partially agree on this thread's subject. In fact, I believe that this book should be required reading for those experienced with Torque as well as newbies. Sure, the experieced modeler can skip the modelling chapters, and those with texturing experience can skip those chapters, but most people are not experts with all of the aspects of game development with Torque covered in this book.I had to pull myself away from the book a few weeks ago due to time constraints but... impressive to say the least.
#5
In a week I have learned a ton. I have installed the engine, built a small town, modified some scripts, exported from Max, exported from Quark. I did this by reading a chapter a night and focusing on understanding how everything is tied together. The book really was encouraging and dealt with newbiehood well. I'm about halfway through it, and I think it made my learning curve less steep.
Thanks and consider me a happy customer.
08/05/2004 (7:14 am)
I just wanted to say that I bought the engine and the book on the same day. I have been studying game design for a long time now, but the combo of the book and the engine really hammered everything into place. In a week I have learned a ton. I have installed the engine, built a small town, modified some scripts, exported from Max, exported from Quark. I did this by reading a chapter a night and focusing on understanding how everything is tied together. The book really was encouraging and dealt with newbiehood well. I'm about halfway through it, and I think it made my learning curve less steep.
Thanks and consider me a happy customer.
#6
Great book, read through most of it today! I'll have to hit it more in-depth this weekend....
Rich
08/11/2004 (1:16 pm)
Heh - I passed this one up twice because of the "all-in-one," since most of those are too shallow to be much help. But it's perfect since it's teamed up with an engine already. It takes a pretty large book just to cover an engine, so those all-in-one books normally don't get very far.Great book, read through most of it today! I'll have to hit it more in-depth this weekend....
Rich
Associate Ken Finney
Tubetti World
Do you still work for Sony ? (EDIT: nevermind, I see in another thread that you do!)