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Java game programming books: A comparative review

Find out if four titles on gaming are worth your time -- and money

By Laurence Vanhelsuwé, JavaWorld.com, 09/01/97

Games programming is what got me into computers some 15 years ago. If you're at all like me, then the magic, brightly colored animation radiating out of computer games attracts you like a moth to light. But being fascinated by computer games (and their internals) and being able to program them are two different things altogether. I had to learn the trade the hard way -- by staring at games for hours until you could see how they worked. These days you can cheat and take a short-cut: Pick up a book and just "mind meld" with the experienced programmer who disgorges all his experience, tips, and tricks.

Bearing in mind that some Java books (see the Laura Lemay book listed below in the Resources section) these days want to lead you up different paths altogether, you could do worse things than trust an ex-(commercial)games programmer to review the currently available Java game programming books.

Four titles landed on my doorstep for this review:

• Black Art of Java Game Programming, by Joel Fan, Eric Ries, and Calin Tenitchi (Waite Group Press)
  
  
• Cutting-Edge Java Game Programming, by Neil Bartlett, Steve Simkin, and Chris Stranc (Coriolis Group Books)
  
  
• Developing Java Entertainment Applets, by John Withers (Wiley)
  
  
• Teach Yourself Internet Game Programming with Java, by Michael Morrison (Sams.net)

Before I review the books in detail, let's start with a table that gives you a bird's-eye view of their main characteristics:

Table 1: Java Game Programming Books Overview.

Title (Publisher)	Price(US$)	Pages	Chapters (Appendices)	CD- ROM?	Authors	Object- Orientation	Networked Multi-User Focus	Game Framework Focus

Black Art of Java Game Programming (Waite)

49.99

933

20 (5)

Yes

3++

Very Good

Good

Good

Cutting-Edge Java Game Programming (Coriolis)

39.99

523

21 (2)

Yes

3

Very Good

Very Good

Very Good

Developing Java Entertainment Applets (Wiley)

29.95

392

10 (0)

No

1

Poor

Poor

Average

Teach Yourself Internet Game Programming with Java (Sams.net)

39.99

416

21 (3)

Yes

1

Average

Good

None

To describe the table headings, the Object-Orientation column highlights to what extent the author(s) of the respective book used Java the way it is meant to be used: in an object-oriented way. Good Java books, whatever their focus, enforce good object-oriented practices. Inferior books use Java as if it was C or Pascal -- that is, in a procedural way. Games are very good candidate applications that benefit from being designed and implemented using object-orientation, so a good Java games book better be strong on OOA/OOD/OOP (OO Analysis, Design, Programming).

The Networked Multi-User Focus column highlights how much the book focuses on Java's strongest game programming potential: networked, multi-user games.

The Game Framework Focus column highlights to what extent the book relies on a game framework to explain and develop games programming. Game frameworks are state-of-the-art game APIs that eliminate many of the standard tasks that all games have to perform (sprite management, screen repainting, score keeping, and so on).

Now, a look at the books in detail.

 

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