Chapter 1, Getting started with SDL, covers setting up SDL in Visual C++ 2010 express and then moves onto the basics of SDL including creating a window and listening for quit events.

Chapter 2, Drawing in SDL, covers the development of some core drawing classes to help simplify SDL rendering. The SDL_image extension is also introduced to allow the loading of a variety of different image file types.

Chapter 3, Working with Game Objects, gives a basic introduction to inheritance and polymorphism along with the development of a reusable GameObject class that will be used throughout the rest of the book.

Chapter 4, Exploring Movement and Input Handling, gives a detailed look at handling events in SDL. Joystick, keyboard, and mouse input are all covered with the development of reusable classes.

Chapter 5, Handling Game States, covers the design and implementation of a finite state machine to manage game states. Implementing and moving between different states is covered in detail.

Chapter 6, Data-driven Design, covers the use of TinyXML to load states. A class to parse states is developed along with examples for different states.

Chapter 7, Creating and Displaying Tile Maps, brings together everything from the previous chapters to allow the creation of levels using the Tiled map editor. A level parsing class is created to load maps from an XML file.

Chapter 8, Creating Alien Attack, covers the creation of a 2D side scrolling shooter, utilizing everything learned in the previous chapters.

Chapter 9, Creating Conan the Caveman, covers the creation of a second game, altering the code from Alien Attack, showing that the framework is flexible enough to be used for any 2D game genre.

To use this book you will need the following software:

This book is aimed at beginner/intermediate C++ programmers who want to take their existing skills and apply them to creating games in C++. This is not a beginner's book and you are expected to know the basics of C++, including inheritance, polymorphism, and class design.

In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text are shown as follows: "We can include other contexts through the use of the include directive."

A block of code is set as follows:

void Player::update()
{
  m_currentFrame = int(((SDL_GetTicks() / 100) % 6));

  m_acceleration.setX(1);

  SDLGameObject::update();
}

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "Right-click on the project and choose Build.".

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