I would say the only books someone would ever need to buy is maybe a book to help them start learning the basics of programming, to help push them in the right direction. If you know the basics then you shouldnt really need any books, google.com is all you need.

Heres my thoughts:


2) Focus on 3d Models

- Good, but Focus on 3D Models will only be helpful once you've learned DirectX. It teaches how to parse the various file formats, but you have to know how to display them.

--------------------------

3) 3D Game Engine Programming

- This is a very advanced book, and if you buy it now it may be years before you understand what the hell it is saying. It is a must own for professionals, but there are better books for a beginner.

4) Beginning C++ Game Programming

I'd suggest when learning C++ to learn it outside of the "games" reference. The books that teach general C++ are more thorough and spend more time making sure you understand the language.

My recommendation would be "Teach yourself C++ in 21 days" by Jesse Liberty. Don't be fooled by the cheesy name (it's part of a series that is, for the most part, bad). This is the book I learned from, and every person I have recommended it to has come back and thanked me because it's a great book.

After you've learned the major language features, I'd recommend reading C++ Gotchas, which is a compilation of all of the obscure mistakes that beginners (and some experts) make when writing code. I've read this book over 5 times, and each time I leave it as a better programmer.


After that, theres a huge number of "learn DirectX books" that are fairly good". Just make sure whatever you use doesn't come with it's own wrapper (in other words, use one that actually teaches DirectX, not one that teaches some set of special functions that the author wrote on top of DirectX").

Hope this helps,

just because of interest:
you said that you'd know math up to precalcus...you know that the precalcus covers themes like polar coordinates, matrices, polynomial functions(that's what we have in school atm and i'm 17) and complex numbers? Many stuff in game programming needs knowledge you'll never learn in school (ok i don't really know what you learn in the country where you come from but it surely won't suffice for physics stuff like: fluids, cloth, or advanced lightning techniques.). I hope you have some older siblings, or parents that know a lot about math...

i don't have any books to recommend because i'm german and i don't think a german book would help you...

good luck,
m4gnus

well, the first thing I noticed, when my 7th grade teacher asked us who knew what functions were, I raised my hand, she said to demonstrate, I walked up to the board and wrote:

int main()
{
printf("Function Demo!");
return 0;
}