Beginning DirectX 9

There exists a gap in the game programming market where beginning programmers are finding themselves without an introductory guide. Existing books focus on the 3D component of DirectX only, leaving readers without a complete understanding of DirectX. In order to fully understand DirectX and the game programming process, readers need examples that build on previous chapters to guide them through to the completion of a playable game. "Beginning DirectX 9" does just that. Readers should have basic understanding of 3D math and C++. With this rudimentary experience, "Beginning DirextX 9" enables readers to create a playable game using easy-to-understand examples.

After explaining the creation of DirectX programs in the Visual Studio .NET environment, this guide shows how to design 3D scenes for games using Direct3D, process sound using DirectSound, and capture user input using DirectInput. A familiarity with C++ is recommended. The CD-ROM contains code samples and the DirectX SDK. The CD-ROM contains code samples and the DirectX SDK. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Wendy Jones devoted herself to computers the first time her eyes befell an Apple IIe in elementary school. From that point on, she spent every free moment learning BASIC and graphics programming, sketching out her ideas on graph paper to type in later. Other computer languages followed, including Pascal, C, C#, and C++. As Wendy's career in computers took off, she branched out, teaching herself Windows programming and then jumping into the dot-com world for a bit. Although Internet companies provided a challenge, they didn't provide fulfillment, so Wendy started expanding her programming skills to games, devoting any extra energy to its pursuit. Wendy's true passion became apparent when she got the opportunity to work for Atari's Humongous Entertainment as a game programmer. During her time at Atari, she worked on both PC and console titles, thrilled with the challenge they provided. Wendy can now be found at Electronic Art's Tiburon studio in Orlando working with some wonderfully talented people on Next Generation consoles. If you have any comments or questions about this book, you can reach Wendy at her website at http://www.fasterkittycodecode.com.