Ordered my copy this morning, really looking forward to it.

Order complete, estimated delivery March 12...
Beware the ides of March!!

This book started out as a refresh and tech update to bring it to 2012, but it turned into a HUGE effort. Several of the chapters have been completely rewritten and they've all been given some much needed love.

We couldn't have done it without all of you. Remember that post 6 months ago asking what you'd like to see in a 4th edition? We really took that to heart when planning this book.

Thanks everyone.

-Rez

Sounds Great guys! I loved the old version..:P

Is there much new content then Rez..? Mike ? Is it worth getting if you have the 3rd edition ?

It's completely worth getting! I rewrote AI and Lua chapters completely, I added a chapter on actors and component-based architecture, I rewrote a bunch of the event system stuff (no more giant switch/case statements for listeners), added a new logging system, a much more. Mike kicked ass on the graphics chapters, which is now split into three. There's a lot of great information on shaders as well and he overhauled the entire graphics system to work with DirectX 11 without compromising DirectX 9 at all. Mike did a complete overhaul on the game editor as well and it's looking AWESOME. The entire directory structure has been reworked and the code pipeline was rebuilt from scratch. The new directory structure is much more logical and the dreaded build problems people have been dealing should be a thing of the past..... at least until the next version of Visual Studio.

Trust me, the book (and GCC engine) is by far the best in the series. It's almost a different book.

-Rez

That sounds awesome Rez..:D I guess I will buying it then xP

Cool is this the new cover then I take it. ?? When is this due out in the UK, March or April ? Says April on Amazon.co.uk, but I think I read march on here somewhere [other than this thread].. 30 pounds as well, bargain..I see all of the old editions of this book are also 30 pounds [ish] on amazon.. 27 is the cheapest I saw.. Good books that hold their value well.. I'm looking forwards to this book quite a bit after reading Rez's post about the new stuff..

.

Hi there!

First of all, congratulations for a new release of the GCC series! From the two previous editions I realized of the great effort, love and conviction behind this great project and i have to give thanks because i felt my understanding and enjoyment while programming grew more and more as exploring deeper into the GCC chapters and code ...

Anyway, with the new release announcement, i find myself in a very confusing situation to continue the development of the personal project i have been trying to finish for several years!

Following my project purposes, i had to "branch" the GCC code to accomplish several objectives for my game that weren't included in the book as:
- More Lua-scripting integration (i even managed to debug the code with the network-based lua debugger)
- A more flexible actor creation system,
- Extending functionalities of the physic system, for "linked actors", custom "collision-terrain" system, ...
- A more content-driving level loading functionality using Blender as the Game editor and generating automatic lua level loading scripts
- Custom resource loaders and formats for directx and physics collision meshes...
- a final game sample

Originally posted by rezination

Trust me, the book (and GCC engine) is by far the best in the series. It's almost a different book.

-Rez

Neo, I believe!!

@B^)>

Originally posted by rezination
It's completely worth getting! I rewrote AI and Lua chapters completely, I added a chapter on actors and component-based architecture, I rewrote a bunch of the event system stuff (no more giant switch/case statements for listeners), added a new logging system, a much more. Mike kicked ass on the graphics chapters, which is now split into three. There's a lot of great information on shaders as well and he overhauled the entire graphics system to work with DirectX 11 without compromising DirectX 9 at all. Mike did a complete overhaul on the game editor as well and it's looking AWESOME. The entire directory structure has been reworked and the code pipeline was rebuilt from scratch. The new directory structure is much more logical and the dreaded build problems people have been dealing should be a thing of the past..... at least until the next version of Visual Studio.

Trust me, the book (and GCC engine) is by far the best in the series. It's almost a different book.

-Rez

Sounds awesome! I'm a little sad, that I couldn't be of much help this time around. Well, soon my final exams are over and then I'll have at least the time to enjoy your master piece

If been a C# proffesional programmer since the beginning of .net.(with a little c++). But nothing was more rewarding for me than writing some hobby games on MSX and Amiga years ago in BASIC and machine language. I dont want to be a AAA programmer,i just want to write some small and simple games for free that people can enjoy in my free time.

Ur book (3rd) edition covers also some achitecure stuff (not completly read it) and the code design seems more logical and cleaner to me than some some other books. (im a big fan of uncle bob

The question is should i wait for 4th edition? Or read this edition?

And does it also covers the new winRT runtime changes? (windows 8 with new directx 11.x? or 12)

Yes, you should get the 4th edition. It covers even more architecture stuff (like actors and more about integrating scripting). It doesn't cover Windows 7 directly since nothing much has changed from a game development point of view. Most games use as little of the OS-specific stuff as possible. The book does cover DirectX 11 in detail as well as shader programming.

-Rez

Sounds like the new version is defiantly gonna be a purchase for me.

I do have a question though, I brought the 3rd edition last summer along with a few other game programming book but have only just started reading it (am only just over 100 pages through).

Is it worth to keep reading and then play spot the differences later or stop and wait. Or are there certain chapters I could read knowing that not much has changed and then just read the others when the 4th edition is out.

Many thanks

Andy

Hey astagg,

As Rez mentioned, a lot of things have changed, so I think you'll find the differences leap out at you. That being said, the architecture in the 4th edition is definitely improved and cleaner. I certainly think there's still a benefit to reading the 3rd edition, as hopefully it will give you an appreciation for and insight into some of the changes and improvements that have been made for the 4th edition.

Although the 3rd edition is sadly lacking all of the brand-new Rez's Tales from the Pixel Mines

Cheers,
James

Could we get a confirmation of the UK release date? According to Amazon my pre-order says the 5th of April but the announcement says march everywhere. Which is true? Thanks in advance, as an amateur programmer aiming to have a career in the industry I can't wait for this book

Yes please i'm in the UK too, what we do?

I'v allready purchase few books from the states an takes ages.. 15 days.

There is a kicker way to have it?
Here I want to heavy use it for my final year project.

PLease link or explanation.. Want to buy it Now!! don't mind to pay extra..

Thanks for this woderful book and more..

Well i just bought it from the States through
the link from this dite and pay littel xtra it's says it will arrive to the UK by.. Delivery estimate: Mar. 7, 2012 - Mar. 9, 2012

Hope its true, happy for this...