1480890455 Game Programming Gems 2 (Game Programming Gems (W/CD)) (Vol 2) - Game Programming - Books - Books - GameDev.net
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# Game Development Books

## Game Programming Gems 2 (Game Programming Gems (W/CD)) (Vol 2)

 Buy it now: Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk Amazon.ca Amazon.de Amazon.fr By Mark DeLoura Published July 2001 List Price: $69.95, Your Amazon.com Price:$62.54 Amazon.com Sales Rank: 904,722 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Summary: Contains over 70 articles written by game programming experts. Similar Books: Buy it now:

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This book is required for any serious game developer's library. It complements the first volume nicely and provides a good basis for some fairly advanced stuff.
Like the first volume, Game Programming Gems 2 features an exceptional collection of articles written by a knowledgeable group of authors, most of whom are well-known and respected in the area they write about. This series (the third volume is already underway, as are related books focusing on AI and design) isn't intended to be a complete guide to all aspects of game development, but rather, a resource you turn to when you need help with a specific problem. As such, the series truly shines, and this volume is a worthy follow up to the first.

The articles, or gems, included in the book cover intermediate to advanced topics in the areas of general programming, mathematics, artificial intelligence, geometry management, graphics display, and audio programming, each edited by an expert in the field. Most of the gems assume that you have a fundamental knowledge of the issues related to the topic, and get to the point quickly. As a result, on average the gems are shorter than the previous volume. Both of these things could be viewed as either positives or negatives, depending on your experience level. Regardless, almost all of the gems are well written and relevant.

Most game programming books these days come with CDs packed full of demos, source code, and other information supplementing the book. Unfortunately, the CD that comes with this book isn't one of those. It does have source code from most of the chapters, but there are very few demos and no extras (unless you count GLUT and the DX8 SDK, which I don't since you can easily get those elsewhere). However, I'd count the CD as only a minor disappointment, since the book itself is so good.

If you're serious about game development, I'd highly recommend adding Gems 2 to your library. You'll definitely find things in it that you can use.

It is even better than the first book!. I like it very much. It is not for beginners though.
Very nice!. I even liked it more than the first volume. If you are at intermediate-advanced level: buy it!. Otherwise, it is not for beginners...
Great for people who want to know some nice techniques on modern tricks...
but not for beginners