Programming an RTS Game with Direct3D

There are many books that teach the basics of Direct3D, but few of these books teach and apply the more advanced topics needed to program complete applications such as games. Programming an RTS Game with Direct3D is such a reference. The book provides intermediate programmers with a step-by-step implementation guide for programming a complete RTS game. And, unlike other books that teach basic game programming, this book teaches programmers how to implement the more challenging parts of an RTS game, including advanced topics such as Skinned Meshes, Fog-of-war implementation, Team-color pixel shaders, AI, networking, and much more. The game is developed from chapter to chapter, beginning with design and storyboards through the development of a fully implemented RTS game, complete with Multi-Tier AI and Networking. This is a must-have resource for intermediate game programmers who wish to increase their skills and learn the more advanced topics required in todays commercial games.

Making a commercial-quality RTS game takes thousands of dollars and a large team of talented people. So is it possible for a book to teach one person how to make their own RTS game? The answer is yes. Programming an RTS Game with Direct3D is such a reference. The book provides intermediate programmers with a step-by-step implementation guide for programming a complete RTS game. In this book you'll learn how to make a very simple RTS game with all of the core elements. Don't be fooled though-even this simple game will take a lot of knowledge and hard work. But during the process of making the game, you'll learn many general game programming skills, including terrain generation, skinned meshes, path finding, visual effects, sounds, networking, how to create a user interface, and much more. Each chapter deals with one or more specific component in the building process to mimic a logical project workflow from concept to completed game. The book begins by laying the theoretical framework and discussing RTS game design and various implementation issues. From there, you'll move on to implement component after component, until you are finally ready to put them all together to form an RTS game. Throughout the book, there is a heavy emphasis on coding and a lot of this code will be found in the example applications on the companion CD-ROM.

Carl Granberg has been creating games on a hobby basis since the old DOS-based Mode 13h graphics, after which he moved on to DirectDraw and finally Direct3D graphics. He received his master of science in computing at Curtin University, Perth, Australia, and has since been working in the Finnish game industry for 3 years. He is currently working as a Tools programmer at Remedy Entertainment in Finland. He's also involved with a group of hobby game developers that goes by the name of BugFactory (www.bugfactory.fi), which has just released its first title, The Tales of Bingwood. For matters relating to this book, he can be contacted at [email protected].