RPGDX > Forums > General Discussion > Your Opinion Please

DeveloperX · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 10:35 pm Post subject: Your Opinion Please

{edit} there aint gonna be no damned book. guess yall are happy now.{/edit}
_________________
Principal Software Architect
Rambling Indie Games, LLC

See my professional portfolio

valderman · Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2003 12:58 am Post subject:

I think it would be too much to cover virtually all genres except RPGs in a single book. Maybe if you made it Wheel of Time-sized...
_________________
http://www.weeaboo.se

akOOma · Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2003 11:27 am Post subject:

You could make one book for every genre like "How to code action games", "How to code strategy games" and so on
_________________
Keep on codin'
-----------------

-----------------
Just another post to increase my rank...

Rainer Deyke · Demon Hunter Joined: 05 Jun 2002 Posts: 672

I have more or less given up on game development books. They never tell me anything that I didn't already know.

DeveloperX · Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:47 am Post subject:

DrunkenCoder · Demon Hunter Joined: 29 May 2002 Posts: 559

Really you'll have a reallly hard time doing anything better than the books written by Andrew Rollings that talk about general game design. And packing every single genre besides RPGs into one book would give you some quite huge problems with the page count.

And heck... I don't even think you're qualified to write a "how to code" series. You may have fixed some of the errors in your base code (tutorial) but that piece really doesn't give the picture of someone that knows what he's talking about.
_________________
If there's life after death there is no death, if there's no death we never live. | ENTP

DeveloperX · Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:49 am Post subject:

Adam · Mage Joined: 30 Dec 2002 Posts: 416 Location: Australia

I don't think your qualified to write these things. You'd be needing actuall industry experience.
_________________
https://numbatlogic.com

DeveloperX · Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2003 2:14 am Post subject:

Adam · Mage Joined: 30 Dec 2002 Posts: 416 Location: Australia

I think thats just a fact of life. No one is going to listen to me writing a thesis on quantum mechanics beacuse i don't have a phd nor have i proven myself in that field.
_________________
https://numbatlogic.com

Warspawn · Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2003 4:48 pm Post subject:

I disagree, if the content is there, and the information that he puts in the book is valid, then who cares if he made Quake 3 or not?
_________________
-Warspawn

Rainer Deyke · Demon Hunter Joined: 05 Jun 2002 Posts: 672

Personally I think industry experience is irrelevant. Either you can program or you can't. A good indie game is as valid as a commercial game.

DrunkenCoder · Demon Hunter Joined: 29 May 2002 Posts: 559

Let's put this into perspective, DeveloperX is a nice guy but none would buy the books and he's nowhere near qualified to write them.

Industry experience in this case would mean having at least something to show and in this case from multipele genres.
A breakout clone in QB really won't cut it. Honestly it would be a waste of effort to start writing books about something you don't have half a clue about.

Adam is right, to be successfull as an author in a given field you at least need above average experince in that field.
_________________
If there's life after death there is no death, if there's no death we never live. | ENTP

Warspawn · Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2003 5:13 pm Post subject:

I still disagree. If the book is well written, and teaches you how to make games of the types that it says it will, then what's the problem?

If he can get it published. If it's on the shelves, and I see it, chances are, I'm not going to know the author anyway. (I know who some authors are, but there are TONS of computer books and I would never recognize them all).

Really, when I am going to buy a computer book, I dont read the little author blurb and say to myself, "This guy has a Masters in C++! This MUST be a good book.", I open the book and read a chapter or an exerpt, if it looks like good information that I dont have, then I would want it. I really wouldnt care if it was written by Ronald McDonald, as long as it had the information. In fact, I am sure that there are many books written out there by Masters Degree holding super geniuses, that I wouldnt consider to use to wipe my ass with!
_________________
-Warspawn

DrunkenCoder · Demon Hunter Joined: 29 May 2002 Posts: 559

Did you acually read my post?

Your arguments are from the wrong angle, he actually won't be able to write the books or get them published until he have proved that he actually know what the fuck he's talking about.

Having a track record of 1 published breakout clone in coded
in QB won't qualify you to write the books and be taken seriously they actually to check what the hell you write they do have editors with half a clue you need to have someone that can actually verify you're not just talking out of your ass and grabbing facts from the backside of a cereal package.

Sure there's lots of bad boosk written by people with good degrees but Im still awaiting the day when someone who's not qualified to write about something manages to write a book about it and do it good. Have you looked at his published works? have you examined his flawed base code?

Really he doesn't have the experince todo this, he simply put can't write anything of the things he want to write books about.

Really he's a nice guy but a nice unqualified guy.
_________________
If there's life after death there is no death, if there's no death we never live. | ENTP