Reader reviews

Hard to recommend. The examples assume too much and explain too little.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. I found myself making notes in the margins, which is always a good sign. Not one I will be returning to. There are better introductions to game design available.

A superb guide. The examples are small but complete.

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. I found myself making notes in the margins, which is always a good sign. I have already recommended it to two colleagues and will recommend it to more.

Exactly the book I needed. Straight to the point and genuinely useful.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. One of those books that pays for itself within the first few chapters. Highly recommended.

Very good, with a few caveats. The core material is strong.

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. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

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 author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. Useful as a reference, less so as a straight read from cover to cover.

Useful in parts. Fine as a reference, less so as a cover-to-cover read.

This is the third book I have read on game development this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. Borrow it first if you can, or at least check the table of contents carefully before buying.