Transcend Into the Digital Domain With “The Black Art of Multiplatform Game Programming”

BELLFLOWER, Calif. - April 16, 2014 - PRLog -- Amidst the anticipation of anxious programmers, “The Black Art of Multiplatform Game Programming” by Jazon Yamamoto has hit the shelves and is available at Amazon.com and fine book retailers.

The announcement of this title has caused a buzz in the game development community considering this is the first commercial game programming book that contains author recorded video lessons to complement the printed material. The book covers game programming on Windows and Linux using the SDL (the Simple Direct Media Layer) API library. The SDL library powers indie hits such as Legend of Grimrock, and Faster Than Light, as well as Linux versions of commercial titles such as Quake 4 and Team Fortress 2. In an interview with the author, he highlighted some of the goals of the book and the inspiration to write it:

"I’ve always read programming books since I was a young boy. Some of my fondest childhood memories include sitting at my computer, way past my bedtime, trying to figure out how to make my games do things I saw in the games I played. At times, it was difficult for me to learn because sometimes it felt like no matter how much I read a paragraph, I could never understand it. I needed a voice to explain things to me in clear and simple language."

"While talking about the problem I had to game development veteran and author André LaMothe, he came up with an unusual idea. He wanted me to give users the voice I needed hear when I was learning this. He suggested that I not only write a beginner book, but that I should make video tutorials for each chapter. I was skeptical at first, but after making a few videos, I showed them to some of my friends and they flipped! That’s when I knew we had something!"

The “Black Art of Mutliplatform Game Programming” covers beginner and intermediate level programming using C/C++. It takes the user from plotting pixels on a window to building a fast-paced space shoot’em up game as well as numerous other mini-games. The book starts by teaching the readers how to use the SDL library until they can program a simple Pong and Breakout inspired game. At that point, the book really picks ups and starts covering more advanced game programming techniques including game engine design, tile mapping, scene management, and a bit of scripting along with Object Oriented tactics.

The “Black Art of Multiplatform Game Programming” is published by Cengage Learning Ptr publishing and available at Amazon.com, CengagePtr.com as well as fine retailers around the world such as Barnes & Nobles and Books-A-Million.