programming

The book is fine - but don't buy the book for the CD. The entire CD is almost all trial software. The only full versions are very old, buggy, and a few of them won't install on Windows XP.

The book is more a tutorial of the trial software included on the CD than anything else. If your looking for a way to create your first game ever and don't care to go farther than that - this is the book. If your looking for a road to a 'good' game - then go get something else.

Elementary graphics stuff. Beginner material about how games came to be - and are. An acceptable resource for developing 2D games (sans programming), though the 3D part is pretty dated.

Now in its second edition "Awesome Game Creation" is a complete course in computer game creation. The first chapters cover the basics of graphics and sound creation, manipulation, and editing. This is followed by a somewhat nostalgic chapter on the history of game development and the various genres of games. Finally, the last of the foundational information is supplied in the chapter on game designing elements.

With that background firmly in mind, the authors take you on what is basically a visual tour of game development history. First you start out making simple two-dimensional games with simple graphics and move from there up to making three-dimensional games with advanced polygon graphics.

Some of the software supplied with the book are complete versions, some allow you to create a fully functional game but don't allow you to make a game you can distribute, and others are thirty-day demo versions of the software.

Besides basic image editors and sound editors, the supplied software includes game creation engines and commercial game editors. The game creation software includes Game Maker, Games Factory, Pie 3D Game Creation System, and 3D Gamemaker. Other software includes GMax to modify commercial games, MilkShape 3D polygon modeler, and Paint Shop Pro.

How awesome of a game can you create with the knowledge gained from this book? Well that is actually a function of the creativity of the game creator. Even with the best software you can't create a truly awesome game if you have limited creative ability. On the other hand, I have seen creative people make amazing games with far more simplistic software than this. This is a recommended book for anyone with more of a creative spirit than a knowledge of programming.