after lusting for a copy of andré lamothe’s Black Art of 3d Game Programming for years, i finally found an affordable copy

it does not disappoint. one of the fatal flaws of 95% of 3d game programming books is that they jump straight into mathematical proofs, instead of explaining in human terms how concepts are relevant to making a game. lamothe’s programming concepts are clear, easy to understand, and provide real-world examples before diving into code

to my delight, the book doesn’t limit itself to just 3d. it covers every conceivable topic for building a game engine from scratch in MS-DOS - and includes some great chapters on FM and wavetable synthesis!

#programming #c #retroGaming

A four-inch-tall coffee cup sits beside a girthy copy of the book, rising 2/3rds up the cup's side.
A page from the book, showing how FM synthesis works on sound cards. Two diagrams describe how FM synthesis is produced over time.

  • thezerobit@anticapitalist.party
    3·
    18 days ago

    @vga256@dialup.cafe
    I need this book now. Looking through it online, it even has instructions to build your own sound output device that attaches to the parallel port and uses a resistor ladder (actually, 2 ladders because it is stereo) as a DAC to produce audio. Epic.

    It also covers state machines with probabilistic state selection for controlling enemies. That’s the technique I used for the AI (that’s what we called it) code to control monsters and vehicles in “Godzilla: Unleashed” for the Wii.

  • agersant@mastodon.gamedev.place
    2·
    19 days ago

    @vga256@dialup.cafe The cover art has incredible energy. How did they so perfectly blend the aesthetics of a D&D dungeon master guide and clipart collection CDs?

    • vga256@dialup.cafeOP
      1·
      19 days ago

      @agersant@mastodon.gamedev.place 😆 it really does look like a 3rd party published 3e book

  • Computeum Vilshofen@mastodon.bayern
    1·
    19 days ago

    @vga256@dialup.cafe Andre is well known vor his close to reality books. Don’t get fooled by the sheer number. None of them might be groundbreaking, but all are well worth a read.