How to Write Retro Games - Web Programming (Paperback)

Three stars feels about right. Useful, but not essential.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. Useful as a reference, less so as a straight read from cover to cover.

An enjoyable and informative read, though it could have been shorter.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.