Game programming tricks of the trade

TeamLRN TeamLRN Game Programming Tricks of the Trade TeamLRN This page intentionally left blank TeamLRN Game Programming Tricks of the Trade Lorenzo D Phillips Jr., Editor André LaMothe, Series Editor TeamLRN © 2002 by Premier Press, a division of Course Technology All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission from Premier Press, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review Premier Press, Inc is a registered trademark of Premier Press, Inc The Premier Press logo and related trade dress are trademarks of Premier Press, Inc and may not be used without written permission All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners Publisher: Stacy L Hiquet Marketing Manager: Heather Hurley Managing Editor: Sandy Doell Acquisitions Editor: Emi Smith Project Editor: Argosy Publishing Editorial Assistants: Margaret Bauer and Elizabeth Barrett Marketing Coordinator: Kelly Poffenbarger Technical Reviewer: André LaMothe Interior Layout: Argosy Publishing Cover Design: Mike Tanamachi CD-ROM Producer: Carson McGuire All trademarks are the property of their respective owners Important: Premier Press cannot provide software support Please contact the appropriate software manufacturer’s technical support line or Web site for assistance Premier Press and the author have attempted throughout this book to distinguish proprietary trademarks from descriptive terms by following the capitalization style used by the manufacturer Information contained in this book has been obtained by Premier Press from sources believed to be reliable However, because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by our sources, Premier Press, or others, the Publisher does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or the results obtained from use of such information Readers should be particularly aware of the fact that the Internet is an everchanging entity Some facts may have changed since this book went to press ISBN: 1-931841-69-1 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2001099848 Printed in the United States of America 02 03 04 05 BA 10 Premier Press, a division of Course Technology 2645 Erie Avenue, Suite 41 Cincinnati, Ohio 45208 TeamLRN I dedicate this book to Sayun, Lorenzo IV, Tylen, and to the rest of my other family and friends —Lorenzo D Phillips, Jr TeamLRN Foreword I started programming games over 25 years ago, and although I have been on both sides of the business, that is, the development side and the business side, I can say wholeheartedly, I much prefer making games to selling them! The game business is like magic to me Although, I am practically as old as Yoda compared to many of the new young game programmers, all these years have clarified in my mind that I simply love making and playing games Video games are the most impressive artistic accomplishments of our generation They are the fusion of science, art, sound, music, and prose And the cool thing has been watching them grow from nothing to photo-real simulations that have you blinking your eyes saying, “that looks real!” I remember the very first game that I played—Pong Shortly after, I played Space War in an arcade in Oak Ridge Mall, San Jose, CA I was amazed by these games I couldn’t believe my eyes; it was like magic, but better, since it was real It was real, and I could learn how to it So I decided that I would spend my life learning how to it, and I have pretty much done that In my travels, I have met the most interesting people you can imagine, from Bill Gates to Steve Wozniak I had lunch with the guy who invented Defender, and sat in a dark room and talked about DOOM with John Carmack I can say without a doubt there’s nothing in the world I would rather And now with the turn of the century behind us, it’s up to you, the next generation of game developers, to take games to the places that we all dream about I admit I would much rather make games than write books, but writing books is much more constructive and more meaningful to me, personally, than writing games However, I am eager to start creating games as I did in the ’80s and early ’90s But, for now, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, and this book is one of them When I first came up with the idea for a compilation book, the first comment to me was “the Game Programming Gems series is doing well, and in fact, you are one of the co-authors!” True, but this book is completely different Personally, I have never gotten that much out of books that have small 1- to 5-page articles I believe that a compilation book needs to have coherent and complete chapters wherein explain a topic to a point that the reader really learns how to it So, my goal was to have a TeamLRN Foreword compilation book with hefty 20- to 50-page chapters that are complete, more indepth, and written in tutorial style Additionally, I wanted a cohesive look and feel to them With all that said, this book hits the mark It’s the first in our series of compilation books, but I think that it more than delivers its weight in Pentiums There are some really interesting subjects covered in this book from advanced mathematics to scripting, as well as topics like OpenGL, 2D, Skyboxes, Optimizations techniques, Assembly Language, and so on Each topic is a complete treatise on the subject, not just introductions or little blurbs that leave you wondering Of course, the authors are to thank for the content, but Lorenzo Phillips, the managing editor of the book, is to thank for making this idea a reality If you’re reading this book and have worked on any kind of engineering job in your life, you will appreciate the incredible complexity of getting people to their jobs on time Now, try getting 15 to 20 people to all their jobs on time and it with consistency—that’s a miracle Lorenzo is really the person who I feel should get the most “props”—without his determination and hard work, this book would just be another idea and would never have come to fruition Lastly, as someone with experience in the trenches, and now that I have your attention, I would like to leave you with some real advice about making games—or making anything for that matter This stuff is hard—really hard If you are serious about it, then, as I have said many times, forget about having fun, forget about vacations, forget about that cute blonde next door—it’s not going to happen (especially the cute blonde) You simply don’t have time for anything, but work, work, and work Talk is cheap; don’t waste your time on web boards describing your newest game, engine, technology, whatever—spend your time making it! Remember, the few short moments of free time we have fade away all too quickly, and reality sets in All those things you wanted to do, thought you would do, never get done So while you have the chance, everything you can and finish it Whatever it is André LaMothe “Surrounded by 14 computers in his laboratory and one of them is getting impatient!” TeamLRN vii Acknowledgments Wow, my first book project is finally complete! There are so many people to thank that I hope I don’t forget anyone, but please know that if I forgot you, it was not intentional First and foremost, I have to thank my mother, Novella Phillips, for her guidance, love, and support and for keeping me out of harm’s way all these years I love you, Mom I’d like to thank my wife, Sayun Phillips, for her love, her support, and for growing with me over the years I thank you for making sure that I ate during those long stretches of no sleep and for the times when we just chilled out and played Tetris against each other I love you, babe I’d like to thank my sister, Sharnell Phillips, for being the greatest big sister a little brother could ever ask for I must thank the little people in my life (that is, the kids), starting with Lorenzo IV and Tylen, my two sons, for their unconditional love, Jordan and Shane for the endless hours of game play on the PCs and consoles, and Tessa for all of the laughter she provides on a daily basis To round out the family acknowledgements, I’d like to thank Joe and Kurt (my brothers-in-law), Su (my sister-in-law), and Myong (my mother-in-law), for being the best in-laws a man could hope for when two families are joined by marriage I have to thank my man André LaMothe for getting me involved in the game industry in the way I have always envisioned, for introducing me to book writing, for picking me to grow businesses with, and for simply being a great friend I’d like to thank Emi Smith and Morgan Halstead for putting up with me and my authors and for being such nice people to work with Emi, you have also grown into a good friend, and I know I still owe you a glass of wine –SMILE- I have to thank all of the authors because without them this book would not have been possible Thanks to all of you for your hard work and dedication to make the project a reality I hope the project has been enjoyable for each of you, and I would love to work with you all on future book projects Finally, I would like to thank all of the gamers around the world for sharing my love and passion for creating and playing games —Lorenzo D Phillips Jr TeamLRN ...TeamLRN Game Programming Tricks of the Trade TeamLRN This page intentionally left blank TeamLRN Game Programming Tricks of the Trade Lorenzo D Phillips Jr., Editor André LaMothe, Series Editor... without a doubt there’s nothing in the world I would rather And now with the turn of the century behind us, it’s up to you, the next generation of game developers, to take games to the places that... template of sorts, so that as you're reading each trick or tutorial you see a familiar structure rather than a smorgasbord of layouts Game Programming Tricks of the Trade fills a gap between the game