Learning Windows 8 Game Development: Windows 8 brings touchscreens to the tablet and PC. This book will show you how to develop games for both by following clear, hands-on examples. Takes your C++ skills into exciting areas of 3D development.

Quandt

$22.99 ~~$32.99~~

4.1 (8 Ratings)

eBook Oct 2013 244 pages 1st Edition

Quandt

$22.99 ~~$32.99~~

4.1 (8 Ratings)

eBook Oct 2013 244 pages 1st Edition

What do you get with eBook?

Instant access to your Digital eBook purchase

Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats

Access this title in our online reader with advanced features

DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want

View table of contents

Preview Book

Key benefits

Use cutting-edge technologies like DirectX to make awesome games
Discover tools that will make game development easier
Bring your game to the latest touch-enabled PCs and tablets

Description

With the recent success of a lot of smaller games, game development is quickly becoming a great field to get in to. Mobile and PC games are on the rise, and having a way to create a game for all types of devices without rewriting everything is a huge benefit for the new Windows 8 operating system. In this book, you will learn how to use cutting-edge technologies like DirectX and tools that will make creating a game easy. This book also allows you to make money by selling your games to the world. Learning Windows 8 Game Development teaches you how to create exciting games for tablets and PC on the Windows 8 platform. Make a game, learn the techniques, and use them to make the games you want to play. Learn about graphics, multiplayer options, how to use the Proximity + Socket APIs to add local multiplayer, how to sell the game outright, and In-App Purchases. Learning Windows 8 Game Development guides you from the start of your journey all the way to developing games for Windows by showing you how to develop a game from scratch and sell it in the store.With Learning Windows 8 Game Development, you will learn how to write the code required to set everything up, get some graphics on screen, and then jump into the fun part of adding gameplay to turn a graphics sample into a proper game. From there, you'll look at how to add awesome features to your game like networking, motion controls, and even take advantage of new Windows 8 features like live tiles and sharing to make your players want to challenge their friends and keep playing. This book wraps up by covering the only way a good game can finish development: by shipping the game on the Windows Store. You'll look at the things to remember to make certification painless and some great tips on how to market and sell your game to the public.

Who is this book for?

Learning Windows 8 Game Development is for any developer looking to branch out and make some games. It's assumed that you will have an understanding of C++ and programming. If you want to program a game, this book is for you, as it will provide a great overview of Direct3D and Windows 8 game development and will kick-start your journey into 3D development.

What you will learn

Render sprites in 2D
Use touch, gamepad, mouse, and keyboard input to control the game
Learn the techniques to add multiplayer to your game
Add competition with accessible Windows 8 features
Use motion sensors and GPS to add unique gameplay
Master techniques to maximise your Windows Store effectiveness
Learn tips and tricks to pass store certification
Kick-start the next stage of gaming with 3D rendering

What do you get with eBook?

Instant access to your Digital eBook purchase

Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats

Access this title in our online reader with advanced features

DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want

Frequently bought together

$54.99

Learning C# by Developing Games with Unity 3D Beginner's Guide

$54.99

Total $ 109.98

Filter reviews by

All

Amazon verified reviews

A. Tang Dec 11, 2013

For a book with a rather unassuming title, this book does a great job giving an in-depth technical dive into developing 2D games using DirectX 11.1 for the Windows 8 Metro/Modern interface.Throughout the book, the author presents comprehensive technical information and lessons in a coherent manner, and provides good explanation of the well-formatted code examples. I was pleased to find a good introduction for game loops, graphics, swap chains and the graphics pipeline.The author also uses to good effect, the DirectX Tool Kit that helps with writing DirectX 11 code in C++. Those experienced with developing games using XNA will find some familiar classes and patterns used throughout the book as well.The rest of the technical coverage on input, gameplay, sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, inclinometer, GPS, light) are more than ample to help you include all the features you need in your own Windows 8 game. I also liked the more Windows 8-centric sections, such as Live tiles and sharing on new media.The book rounds off with good coverage on how to get your Win8 app on the Windows Store and other ways of monetizing (vs selling).Some gotcha's to watch out for: Microsoft has released Windows 8.1 and Visual Studio 2013 since the book was published, so you may find the templates described in the first chapters do not really match those you find in Visual Studio 2013. The good news though, is that the code samples from the website will open in Visual Studio 2013, and will compile and run. It would be nice if the author could update the website by providing a list of differences in working with VS2013 (the code and samples were built with Visual Studio 2012), so that folks can work through the examples using VS2013.In all, a good book that provides good, sound technical coverage into building a Windows 8 DirectX 11.1 game.

Amazon Verified review

John R Dec 11, 2013

Obviously the gaming market has turned into all the craze over the passed few years. This has allowed for anyone who is interested read book like this one with the hopes of profits and success. In the book, Learning Windows 8 Game Development, you will learn how to extend your C++ skills to the game development world. This means you'll need some form of C++/programming skill beforehand to easily use this book.You'll learn how to use DirectX 11 to build a 2D space game throughout the entire book. Once you're on your way to completing your game development, the book also has a section on getting the game into the windows store and the way of selling successfully.My background is in iOS development and when I found this book, I was looking for a book with clear examples and sample code to help port my current game to the windows platform. I found that this book was useful for this accomplishment and I constantly reference it when I run into road blocks that relate the the examples they provide.If you are an applications developer but also want to get your hands dirty with game development on windows 8 platform, this is a good book to start off with!

Gianandrea Terzi Jan 12, 2014

I'm usually a bit skeptical toward books trying to explain such a broad argument from scratch : they all end up being too slow on unimportant details or too fast, overlooking some important steps that leave the reader lost from one chapter to another.Learning Windows 8 Game Development has been instead a great surprise. The reader is accompanied page after page by clear writing and examples and while the topics are far from easy (we're talking C++ here) I've seldom found myself asking for a better explanation.Of course some knowledge is required as no time will be spent explaining the language or the architecture but I would definitely recommend this book to anyone willing to undertake the rewarding (although bumpy at times) path of writing games on Windows 8.

Rupert Hollom Jan 31, 2014

Learning Windows 8 Game Development provides the reader with the knowledge to be able to start writing DirectX games for Windows RT, the code samples throughout the book are in C++. If you are coming from a C# background there will be some additional work involved in understanding the code.Starting with an introduction to the fundamentals of DirectX the book builds on this giving the reader the tools to start creating 2D games; 3D topics are briefly covered in an appendix. There are also sections detailing how to allow users to interact with popular social media sites and the different approaches to making money from your game.Overall a good starting point to learn about game development for the WinRT platform using DirectX and C++.

Magnus Jan 17, 2014

After reading this book, overall I would say that I enjoyed it and found it useful. There is a lot of very good information on using the DirectX APIs and creating games from. Also, a plethora of info on the pipeline and the behind-the-scenes behavior of game rendering and display. I would say that this is a great read for anyone looking to get into making games and perhaps they don’t know where to start.That being said, that are a few things that readers should know; This book is based in C++ and you should have a very good handle on using C++ in windows development if you and going to attempt to use this book. Also, this book starts with 2d and sprites with limited 3d content.There is an entire section of the book aimed at the windows store marketplace; Submission, and purchase structures; this is highly valuable for even a veteran Game maker.Overall, I would recommend this book freely. It is worth it if you are interested in building Windows 8 store-styled games.

Learning Windows 8 Game Development: Windows 8 brings touchscreens to the tablet and PC. This book will show you how to develop games for both by following clear, hands-on examples. Takes your C++ skills into exciting areas of 3D development.

What do you get with eBook?