This was my very first game programming book. Eversince I have read 2 other books about programming, and am working on two more.

Not only does this book give you a very good head start in game programming, it also gives you a sense of pride in programming. I don't know why, but it's just how the author explained everything.

Overall, the book is very well put together, and it gives you a basic head start in programming in genaral.

But be warned. If you want to do some 3D programming, this is not the book for you. It will only teach you the basics in both programming, and a little in graphics. Don't get me wrong, it teaches enough graphics to make a fine game. But you it doesn't teach you anything about maps, side scrolling, or other gene's. The only genre it really teaches would be like a space shooter.

Use this book for a beggining in programming. Don't stop here though. Find another source that can teach you other programming techniques and languages.

5 stars, all the way.

Short: I am writing this review from the perspective of a high school student who started with Blitz, went on to a more advanced language, and is now revisiting Blitz again.

Long: When I first picked up the book, I was a high school student with no prior programming experience. I had written code before, but it was HTML so I didn't actually write programs.

I abandoned Blitz for a while when I finally got the chance to take a programming class(C++) in school and have recently returned and thus revisited the book to brush up. I took this oppertunity to write a review here.

C++ is a more advanced, powerful, and widely used language but I still use Blitz to make simple games because it's hard to get good graphics in a C++ compiler without costly graphics pacakges to go with it.

Opinion

Short: The book is very intuitive and well written. The author does a very good job at explaining things and the book is very well paced. When going to a more advanced language I was helped significantly by the concepts I learned when using Blitz. I would highly recommend this book.

Long: When I first got this book, I thought programming would be a daunting task. This book goes through it very well and has a nice pace that keeps you from getting overwhelmed. The author writes very clearly and is very good at explaining concepts. This is a great book to get started with programming.

When I dropped this because I started programming in C++, I found transfering languages easier than I had hoped. I learned a lot of basic concepts in Blitz and was able to take many of them over into C++.

For a short time, the only real changes that I experienced were different syntax between the two languages and some other basic priciples (such as library functions) not used in Blitz. By the time I got to a point where most of the material I was learning had no equivalent in BLitz, I had been using C++ long enough not have any problems.

Conclusion

Short: It's a great, well written introductory book for those looking to program for fun or those who want to go further but need a good starting point.

Long: When I got this book, my purpose was to get something to introduce me into programming in a simple, easy to understand manner. I am happy to say that it works very well for this purpose. The Blitz language will not carry you especially far but if you are in it for fun or are just looking for a starting point, this will work very well. I still program with it myself a bit even after learning a more advanced language.

The reviews for the first edition of this book, and its software, were very positive. I bought it for my kids shortly after the second edition came out. This edition of the book is useful, but the software--supposedly the key to making the book work, since it is supposed to allow you to actually design games as you go along--is advertised on the back of the book as being unlimited, and it's not unlimited. It's a demo that expires after several uses. Supposedly there's an unlimited version on the author's web site; good luck finding it.

Followup: I'm told the URL for the software is at www.maneeshsethi.com/BlitzPlusDemo.exe but I haven't used it yet to see if it's completely unlimited, or just has more uses.

Being that I am 25 years old, I have learned a lot for game programming from this book. Also, I own Blitz 3D, which is perhaps Blitz's best language. However, all of the code from this book is geared more towards 2D, which is good. However, I was hoping that Maneesh would have covered more with the 3D aspect, as most good games these days do involve the third dimension.

Needless to say, this is perhaps the best game programming book for the beginner/hobbyist. You can create SNES/Genesis-quality games right out of the box with no problem. If you are a great artist, you can even make games comparable to today's console games, if only Maneesh would've covered more detail towards Game Programming in Blitz 3D. Great start to starting a hobby in making your own games, and it really has me sold on this book. I'm hoping that more books can come with this simplicity, and it's perhaps the most defined code I've used.

Bottom line, good job Maneesh, great book, but just include some game code for the 3D version of Blitz in your Third Edition.

I am an adult and this looked like a good place to start....it was. A good beginning, sorta like yer first year as a padwan.