Game Programming Gems - Which 2?

nikki · Post by **nikki** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 1:10 pm

I'm thinking about buying 2 or 3 books from the series 'Game Programming Gems', about which I've heard good things many times on the forums (its also been recommended by sinbad according to the wiki).

So, I wanted to ask you guys, which 2 books of the series do you think are the best? Also add one book in case I decide to buy 3.

Thanks!

twilight17 · Post by **twilight17** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 3:00 pm

Well first of all, here is an online version of Game Programming Gems

http://developer.download.nvidia.com/bo ... art01.html

Ok now for the books...

Game Programming Gems 7 (Newest One avail)

GPU Gems 3 (I don't think this book is from the Game Programming Gems series)

If you are learning GLSL, CG, Or HLSL... then try these

Glsl:

http://www.amazon.com/OpenGL-R-Shading- ... 0321334892

Cg:
http://www.amazon.com/Cg-Tutorial-Defin ... 784&sr=1-1

Hlsl:

I couldn't find a great one for Hlsl specifically but here is an OK one
http://www.amazon.com/COMPLETE-Effect-H ... 98&sr=1-16

Post by **tuan kuranes** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 4:50 pm

You should really read online TOC of each and select according to the one that suits you best.

Note that I found the very first set (1, 2, 3) were much more dense that later series because "AI game wisdom", "Gpu Gems" and "shaderX" series didn't exist yet, and therefore prevent it to gather all contributions. So you may get much more 'overall' (Maths, AI, Graphics, network, Sound, Physics, etc...) insights from these. Time didn't outdated them that much.

nikki · Post by **nikki** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 5:36 pm

tuan kuranes wrote:Note that I found the very first set (1, 2, 3) were much more dense that later series because "AI game wisdom", "Gpu Gems" and "shaderX" series didn't exist yet, and therefore prevent it to gather all contributions. So you may get much more 'overall' (Maths, AI, Graphics, network, Sound, Physics, etc...) insights from these. Time didn't outdated them that much.

I've noticed that too. I've looked at the table of contents, and I must say that the first book has a lot of good topics worth checking out.

I know you said so, but are the first few books really not that old?

twilight17 wrote:Well first of all, here is an online version of Game Programming Gems
http://developer.download.nvidia.com/bo ... art01.html

Hehe... I think you got mixed up with Game Programming Gems and GPU Programming Gems.

And about the shader books, thanks for the info (I already know about the second two books though). I've just started learning about Cg and the Cg books seems like a good one. HLSL is very similar to Cg, so it shouldn't be difficult to move from Cg to HLSL at any time.

Anyway, this topic is about the Game Programming Gems series so lets stick to that.

Post by **tuan kuranes** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 8:15 pm

I know you said so, but are the first few books really not that old?

Only the graphics part can be old which is a small subset of papers, and even in those, some are still usable or transposable to shaders. A very few can be stated as 'old' as in 'unusable'.

twilight17 · Post by **twilight17** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:44 am

nikki wrote:
tuan kuranes wrote:
twilight17 wrote:Well first of all, here is an online version of Game Programming Gems
http://developer.download.nvidia.com/bo ... art01.html
Hehe... I think you got mixed up with Game Programming Gems and GPU Programming Gems.

Oops!

nikki · Post by **nikki** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:47 pm

My Dad's going on an official trip to London pretty soon, and he said he could buy the books (The Cg Tutorial, and Game Programming Gems 1, 4, 6) in a bookstore there if he finds them. Since many of you live in London, I'd like to ask: Which bookstores do you think these books could be found in?

Thanks!

Post by **tuan kuranes** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:49 am

Cg tutorial is now free online...

nikki · Post by **nikki** » Sat May 03, 2008 8:03 pm

Wow! That's good news! Thanks!

I think I'll still consider buying it though. Its much nicer having a printed, hard copy of a book you can actually hold and flip through.