Rating: 
Summary: not really a review
Review: I want to say to some guys here that There is a delphi 4 serial number and a authorization key. But these guys are just too lazy to look. It's right at the page where also the cd is. page 550.
Rating: 
Summary: Very poorly done, very little useful info
Review: I work for a Dallas-based PC games engineering firm. We produce several popular games and a couple of them have even been bestsellers. We first began targetting Windows DirectX development about four years ago. This means that we've been working with DirectX from the start. In that time, we've built and shipped a 3-D "build" engine for DirectX 3D and two new games that use it, so I'd like to think we know the technology pretty well.About six months ago, we began looking at Delphi to see whether it would allow us to turn around projects more quickly than C++. It had a faster compiler, great 3rd party support, and, after all, there's something sexy about using a language no one else is using for games development. Our one reservation was that we couldn't find any books on Delphi games programming -- they were simply nonexistent. Finally, someone came out with one and we enthusiastically ran out and grabbed several copies when it first shipped. We had reservations because we'd never heard of the author and the gaming community isn't that large. We usually bump into one another at conferences, tradeshows and the like, but had never heard of this guy. Still, we assumed he was the expert the book purported and happily plunked down our hard-earned cash for his book. To say that we were disappointed by the book would be putting it mildly. Without exception, everyone on my team felt the book was very poorly done, and, despite the title, was a beginner book at best. The reasons for this are many. First and foremost is its inexplicable focus on 2D sprite games. This alone makes it virtually useless for modern games development. Second, is the fact that the examples don't work. I'd like to think that few people know DirectX better than we do and, yet, we weren't able to get many of the example games in the book to work consistently from machine to machine. The book claims to target DirectX 5-7, but, really, much of the code appears to have been developed for DirectX 2. Whatever the case, the examples simply don't work consistently. In large part due to the dearth of good works on the sujbect, we ended up scrapping the idea of using Delphi for games development for right now. If you are looking for decent coverage of games development in Delphi, keep looking.
Rating:
Summary: I finally gave up on this book
Review: I've been trying to work through this book for the better part of a month. I finally gave up today when I discovered that the "pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow" was learning how to build 2D sprite games. I wouldn't have purchased the book had I known that all I'd learn was how make simplistic, outmoded 2D games. Come on, 2D games have been passe since Wolfenstein 3D came out way back in the early 90s. I kept thinking the book would get better as we went along, so I glossed over code that didn't work, techniques that even Microsoft has said not to use, and generally poor Delphi coding. I kept thinking that eventually I'd get to the mountain top and I'd actually learn to build a modern, interesting type of game and know how to do so in my favorite development tool, Delphi. Boy was I wrong. This book is like a timecapsule of where games development was five years ago and more. It was a complete waste of my money, and sad to say, of my time, too.
Rating:
Summary: Worst computer book I've ever read, maybe the worst ever
Review: Is it possible to award a book *negative* stars? I think they should have to pay ME for causing me to suffer through such garbage. Ayres should be embarrased to put something like this out. It's trite, shallow, and doesn't deliver on what the cover promises it will talk about. It's poorly written (really poorly -- Ayres should definitely keep his day job) and loaded with stuff any beginner games developer could write. Ayres is no writer and certainly no games expert. He's a rank amateur as a developer and his book reflects that.
Rating:
Summary: Should not have been published
Review: Let's see: poor examples that often don't work, perfunctory coverage of complex, integral topics, amateurish writing -- what else is there? This book should not have been published. Save your money.
Rating:
Summary: Beginner book, at the most
Review: One of the problems with the computer publishing boom is that people are becoming authors who don't really write very well, and books are getting into print that shouldn't be. This is one of those books. Its faults are many. Among them: * Poorly written, dry, befuddled prose * Claims to target advanced users, when it is actually beneath most beginners * Does not cover material its Web site claims. There are no voxel or 3D engines in this book. It is about 2D games development only. * Simplistic examples that often don't work. "Shoot 'em" does not work on half the machines in my office. The only recommendation I can make regarding this book is not to buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Not that great. Should be called a PRIMER...
Review: Simply put, this book is not that great. It's not BAD, per se, but it certainly doesn't live up to the title. What is actually "EXPOSED" by this book is the dire LACK or depth in the Delphi community for people who want to seriously tackle this subject and publish something in-depth about it. Given the fact that this book is really the only book quite like it, I do have to give Ayres credit for venturing out there and doing something about it. Also, I have no gripes about the writing QUALITY or style. I think Ayres has a fluid and readable touch. HOWEVER, that's as far as I can go to really compliment this book. Frankly it just skims the surface of DirectX and Graphics programming in such a way that if you are an experimental or semi-experienced programmer you'd think it's overly simplistic information. There's just not enough MEAT in this book. You can get much more out of some C/C++ books that are MUCH older and that tackle the subject better. Many of the techniques explained in this book can be found in so many other places in superior depth and detail it surprises me that Ayres would spend so much time on the basics. Still, the book has its good points and serves its purpose. The title is very misleading, and this is really the crux of my gripe with the book. If this book were titled: "Delphi Graphics and Game Programming PRIMER" I would say this is easily 4 or 5 stars. But the word "EXPOSED" in the title is so far from true I can only recommend it for BEGINNER Delphi game programmers. Better to spend your time searching for good websites and emailing colleagues to get the real dirt. If you want to get serious about DirectX you're going to have to buckle up and learn the DirectX ropes in C/C++. I have no doubt about the capability of Delphi to deal easily with the challenges of serious game programming. I think it's a perfect platform, but you'll have to look deeper. The manual for Ted Gruber's FastGraph graphics library has more insight to game programming than this book.
Rating:
Summary: 2D games ONLY! Save you money!
Review: The biggest letdown with this book is that it only shows how to build 2D games. I think most readers would expect it to show *all* types of games -- from vectors to 3D games to those using build engines. Even the book's Web site claims it covers these things, but it doesn't. The second biggest letdown are the examples. They're too simple, and, to add insult to injury, many of them don't work. I've tried them on DirectX 7.0, and many have problems. I recommend you consider Jon Jacobs' book instead. It's a good Delphi-oriented graphics book. Also, Inside DirectX is a far superior and useful work -- get it if you *really* want the secrets of graphics programming exposed.
Rating:
Summary: not really a review
Review: This book barely scratches the surface of what a book on DirectX should. It's a shame that this is all we Delphi people have. My advice is toi go buy a book on C++ and a DirectX book (that uses C++) and just convert the examples (Plenty of people online would probably be able to help with that. All of the DirectX units and headers have been translated into Delphi).
Rating:
Summary: Not good at all
Review: This book barely scratches the surface of what a book on DirectX should. It's a shame that this is all we Delphi people have. My advice is toi go buy a book on C++ and a DirectX book (that uses C++) and just convert the examples (Plenty of people online would probably be able to help with that. All of the DirectX units and headers have been translated into Delphi).
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