A few days ago, I decided to take a break from C# and coding, so I didn't turn Visual Studio on for the entire day. Since it was really cold outside and I prefer higher temperatures, I started to seek some relatively short yet interesting book I can go through.

game programming

While going through my to read list of books, I spotted this Game Programming Algorithms and Techniques title. Well, it sounded pretty interesting and being a game developer was always my childish dream. So I started digging into it.

Brief book review

The book is divided into 14 chapters and there is not much code in it (so exactly what I was looking for). It's mostly pure theory from a skilled developer and university professor that takes you through the entire game development cycle. From basic topics such as user inputs up to artificial intelligence and network games.

I found extremely interesting the linear algebra that is used nearly everywhere. From game physics up to graphics, math is just everywhere. This math isn't really difficult as it is mostly around vectors and matrices. I've passed probably every single mathematics exam in the past, so this stuff was not new to me, but I never realized that algorithms like Dijkstra's Algorithm can be utilized in game development, for example for path finding.

Even though I've enjoyed every single chapter, the “Scripting Languages And Data Formats” chapter was my favorite. I like the idea of scripting languages like Lua or UnityScript, so I will definitely mess around with it in C#. As a result, I've extended my to-do list by developing my own simple scripting language just for the sake of a better understanding. Also, I will need to dive deeper into compilers.

The last two chapters contain two code samples, one for iOS and one for Windows (C#). I will probably recode that C#-based once I have more time.

Summary

This book is short (just 350 pages), so is ideal for dark evenings when you can't sit behind your computer anymore. It is suited for everyone interested in game development or anyone looking for some additional knowledge.

So sad I won't be a game developer.