Hey mates,

I have little to no XP in programming for the Mac... i already bought the Learning Cocoa with Objective-C book, and im reading through it...

I was wondering if anyone has suggestions about what good game programming book is there for the Mac

If no one has any suggestions, what would be a good game programming book anyway?

Cairo Egypt... That's a new one. Welcome to iDevGames alihelmy!

Unfortunately there aren't any really good game programming books for the Mac right now (that I know of). Pangea Software's Utimate Game Programming Guide for Mac OS X is about the only one I can think of off the top of my head. Unfortunately it's all Carbon, but there is plenty of relevant info in there anyway. I still think it's worth picking up. Some of it is getting slightly dated; for instance, we use VBOs now instead of VARs, plus the book came out before Intel Macs.

You will also need to learn how to use OpenGL. For that, I don't have any better suggestions than the Red Book (OpenGL Programming Guide) and the NeHe tutorials. There are some other books on OpenGL which I haven't tried which others can suggest (because I can't remember them right now).

OpenGL SuperBible (a new one just came out)

what kind of games are you trying to make?

bronxbomber92 Wrote:OpenGL SuperBible (a new one just came out)

Yes, that's the one I was trying to remember! I've heard good things about it.

bronxbomber92 Wrote:OpenGL SuperBible (a new one just came out)

Hi,

I know that OpenGL that we know of is not going to disappear but this year two majors versions of OpenGL will come out and this book do not cover them.
I understand that they're not out yet and that Apple will not implement them fast enough but it should have been covered for future use IMHO.

Kamelito

Nobody even knows what either will look like yet, it would have been difficult for them to write a book about them

But yes, I agree that now is not a good time to be buying OpenGL books in general.

OneSadCookie Wrote:Nobody even knows what either will look like yet, it would have been difficult for them to write a book about them

But yes, I agree that now is not a good time to be buying OpenGL books in general.

Why not? Are big changes coming or something?

Longs Peak and Mount Evans

I don't want to sound snarky, but I'll wager it's a year at minimum from when Longs Peak and Mount Evans are available on Windows to when we get to use it on OS X.

I recall from somewhere that Leopard would have OpenGL 2.1, however, which makes me happy.

2.1 was released only semi-late last year. I don't seriously think Apple would go past 2.1 for at least another system cycle. So according to how things have been going lately it'll be *at least* two more years from now for that to happen. Unless of course there is some surprise coming from Apple... but I doubt it.

wow... LOADS of info and book names... thanks guys... ill check Panges Software's one and also the Red Book and the OpenGL SuperBible...

thanks really

Nayr Wrote:what kind of games are you trying to make?

Well, i figured if i tried out a full 2D (no 3D at all) clone of something like River Raid (i blv they're called vertical shooter scroller, or something), that could teach me the basics of game programming, and then maybe ill advance to whatever else...

If you are going to clone River Raid, then you might want to enter the Shmup-Dev Competition. Or not.

igame3d Wrote:If you are going to clone River Raid, then you might want to enter the Shmup-Dev Competition. Or not.

I seriously doubt im good enough plus, it seems the comp is already under way in round 2... anyway,

I decided to get the OpenGL SuperBible, 4th Edition along with the Learning Cocoa book...

What i need though is a Source-Code independent game development book... i mean, one that teaches how games work, what the gfx engine does, how collision detection works, audio, how to design games, the game loop, etc etc (not in too much detail off course)... but that is independant of OpenGL/Direct X/Java/Objective-C, etc...

Any ideas?