C++ Game Development Cookbook

C++ Game Development Cookbook

By : Druhin Mukherjee

Buy this Book

C++ Game Development Cookbook

By: Druhin Mukherjee

Buy this Book

Overview of this book

C++ is one of the preferred languages for game development as it supports a variety of coding styles that provides low-level access to the system. C++ is still used as a preferred game programming language by many as it gives game programmers control of the entire architecture, including memory patterns and usage. However, there is little information available on how to harness the advanced features of C++ to build robust games. This book will teach you techniques to develop logic and game code using C++. The primary goal of this book is to teach you to create high-quality games using C++ game programming scripts and techniques, regardless of the library or game engine you use. It will show you how to make use of the object-oriented capabilities of C++ so you can write well-structured and powerful games of any genre. The book also explores important areas such as physics programming and audio programming, and gives you other useful tips and tricks to improve your code. By the end of this book, you will be competent in game programming using C++, and will be able to develop your own games in C++.

C++ Game Development Cookbook

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewer

www.PacktPub.com

Preface

Free Chapter

Game Development Basics

Introduction

Installing an IDE on Windows

Choosing the right source control tool

Using call stacks for memory storage

Using recursions cautiously

Using pointers to store memory addresses

Casting between different datatypes

Managing memory more effectively using dynamic allocation

Using bitwise operations for advanced checks and optimization

Object-Oriented Approach and Design in Games

Introduction

Using classes for data encapsulation and abstraction

Using polymorphism to reuse code

Using copy constructors

Use operator overloading to reuse operators

Use function overloading to reuse functions

Using files for input and output

Creating your first simple game

Templates – when to use them

Data Structures in Game Development

Introduction

Using more advanced data structures

Using linked lists to store data

Using stacks to store data

Using queues to store data

Using trees to store data

Using graphs to store data

Using STL lists to store data

Using STL maps to store data

Using STL hash tables to store data

Algorithms for Game Development

Introduction

Using sorting techniques to arrange items

Using searching techniques to look for an item

Finding the complexity of an algorithm

Finding the endian-ness of a device

Using dynamic programming to break down a complex problem

Using greedy algorithms to solve problems

Using divide and conquer algorithms to solve problems

Event-Driven Programming – Making Your First 2D Game

Introduction

Starting to make a Windows game

Using Windows classes and handles

Creating your first window

Adding keyboard and mouse controls with text output

Using Windows resources with GDI

Using dialogs and controls

Using sprites

Using animated sprites

Design Patterns for Game Development

Introduction

Using the singleton design pattern

Using the factory method

Using the abstract factory method

Using the observer pattern

Using the flyweight pattern

Using the strategy pattern

Using the command design pattern

Creating an advanced game using design patterns

Organizing and Backing Up

Introduction

Versions of source control

Installing a versioning client

Selecting a host to save your data

Adding source control – committing and updating your code

Resolving conflicts

Creating a branch

AI in Game Development

Introduction

Adding artificial intelligence to a game

Using heuristics in a game

Using a Binary Space Partition Tree

Creating a decision making AI

Adding behavioral movements

Using neural network

Using genetic algorithms

Using other waypoint systems

Physics in Game Development

Introduction

Using physics rules in your game

Making things collide

Installing and integrating Box2D

Making a basic 2D game

Making a 3D game

Creating a particle system

Using ragdoll in your game

Multithreading in Game Development

Introduction

Concurrency in games – creating a thread

Joining and detaching a thread

Passing arguments to a thread

Avoiding deadlocks

Data race and mutex

Writing a thread-safe class

Networking in Game Development

Introduction

Understanding the different layers

Selecting the appropriate protocol

Serializing the packets

Using socket programming in games

Sending the data

Receiving the data

Dealing with lag

Using synchronized simulation

Using area of interest filtering

Using local perception filter

Audio in Game Development

Introduction

Installing FMOD

Adding background music

Adding sound effects

Creating a sound effect manager

Dealing with multiple sound file names

Tips and Tricks

Introduction

Effectively commenting your code

Using bit fields in a struct

Writing a sound technical design document

Using the const keyword to optimize your code

Using bit shift operators in an enum

Using the new lambda function of C++ 11

Index

Customer Reviews

5 star

4 star

3 star

2 star

1 star

Installing an IDE on Windows

In this recipe, we will find out how easy it is to install Visual Studio on your Windows machine.

Getting ready

To go through this recipe, you will need a machine running Windows. No other prerequisites are required.

How to do it…

Visual Studio is a powerful IDE in which most professional software is written. It has loads of features and plugins to help us write better code:

Go to https://www.visualstudio.com.
Click on Download Visual Studio Community.
Download Visual Studio Community
This should download an .exe file.
After it downloads, double-click on the setup file to start the installation.
Make sure you have all the updates necessary on your Windows machine.
You can also download any version of Visual Studio or Visual C++ Express.
If the application asks for starting environment settings, select C++ from the available options.

Note

A few things to note are listed here:

You need a Microsoft account to install it.
There are other free IDEs for C++, such as NetBeans, Eclipse, and Code::Blocks.
While Visual Studio works only for Windows, Code::Blocks and other such IDEs are cross-platform and can work on Mac and Linux as well.

For the remainder of this chapter, all code examples and snippets will be provided using Visual Studio.

How it works…

An IDE is a programming environment. An IDE consists of various functionalities that can vary from one IDE to another. However, the most basic functionalities that are present in all IDEs are a code editor, a compiler, a debugger, a linker, and a GUI builder.

A code editor, or a source code editor as they are otherwise known, is useful for editing code written by programmers. They provide features such as auto-correct, syntax highlighting, bracket completion and indentation, and so on. An example snapshot of the Visual Studio code editor is shown here:

A compiler is a computer program that converts your C++ code to object code. This is necessary in order to create an executable. If you have a file called main.cpp, it will generate an object code called main.o.

A linker is a computer program that converts the object code generated by the compiler to an executable or a library file:

Compiler and linker

A debugger is a computer program that helps to test and debug computer programs.

A GUI builder helps the designer and programmer to create GUI content or widgets easily. It uses a drag and drop WYSIWYG tool editor.

C++ Game Development Cookbook

By : Druhin Mukherjee

C++ Game Development Cookbook

By: Druhin Mukherjee

Overview of this book

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Current Title:

C++ Game Development Cookbook

Installing an IDE on Windows

Getting ready

How to do it…

Note

How it works…