Reddit mentions of Game Programming Patterns

I totally second that. Its a book full of commonplace ideas and pretty thin for such a collection of platitudes. i bought it and returned it to amazon.

Depending what OP's husband motivation is, I would suggest either "Game programming patterns". If he doesn't have access to a machine, then game design may be the only option, since everything else is machine based.
However, pixel art can be practiced with a pen and paper...

FAR too many to list. Here is a very short list of notable topics:

• One of the best game dev books around is Game Engine Architecture, Second Edition It is the book I wish I wrote!
  
  
• Understanding memory and C++'s weaknesses. Tony Albrecht's Pitfalls of OOP should be required reading for all game devs.
  
  
• Game Programming Patterns is very well written.
  
  
• UI: I summarized Secrets of UI which discuses S:N:~N or S:N:A -- Signal:Noise:Anti-Noise.
  
  
• Code
  
• Code documents how, Comments documents why -- My feedback on how to NOT write assembly comments
  
  
• Multiple column alignment using whitespace -- Python example
  
  
• Brace Alignment compared -- Javascript example
  
  
• Matrix Projection Tricks esp. the diagram on page 6
  
  
• Fundamentals of Grassmann Algebra -- cross product --> normal = bivector, trivector, wedge product, etc.
  
  
• Transforms
  
• Transform 3D point with <x,y,z,1>
  
• Transform 3D normal with <x,y,z,0>
  
  Revisions:
  
  
• Edit: Added Projection Tricks, and FoGA
  
• Edit: Added Code examples
  
• Edit: Added link to UI Secrets for S:N:~N

I'll start off with some titles that might not be so apparent:

Unexpected Fundamentals

These 2 books provide much needed information about making reusable patterns and objects. These are life saving things! They are not language dependent. You need to know how to do these patterns, and it shouldn't be too hard to figure out how to implement them in your chosen language.

• Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
  
  
• Game Programming Paterns
  
   
  
  Good General book
  
  
• Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs
  
   
  
  This book is great if you're going to make a browser based game
  
  
• HTML5 Canvas Cookbook
  
   
  
  General Knowledge books
  
  
• Pro HTML5 Games (Expert's Voice in Web Development)
  
   
  
  Provide a working moveable 3D model with C++ and DirectX, Very cool.
  
  
• Character Animation With Direct3D
  
   
  
  More general game base building
  
  
• Game Engine Architecture, Second Edition
  
  
• Programming Game AI By Example
  
   
  
  Working product results books, little if any modification needed
  
  Releasing in a couple months (hopefully) 2 Very good books using C++ to develop by.
  
  
• Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 12
  
  
• Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 11
  
   
  
  Not presented in the best manner but still noteworthy:
  
  
• DirectX 11.1 Game Programming
  
   
  
  I used to love XNA...but now it's not feasible for commercial development. If you're a beginner to game design...starting out with XNA might actually be useful. It's easy to pickup and put out a working product. XNA is C#
  
   
  
  
• Learning XNA 4.0: Game Development for the PC, Xbox 360, and Windows Phone 7
  
  
• XNA Game Studio 4.0 Programming: Developing for Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360
  
  
• XNA 4.0 Game Development by Example: Beginners Guide
  
  
• Beginning XNA 3.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in XNA)
  
  
• XNA 3.0 Game Programming Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Expert's Voice in XNA)
  
  
• Building XNA 2.0 Games: A Practical Guide for Independent Game Development (Books for Professionals by Professionals)
  
   
  
  Working product books, modification needed to make run on current systems
  
  
  Provides a working FPS game in C++ on DirectX 9. Good for some starting out knowledge for an FPS
  
  
• Programming Mutliplayer FPS Direct X
  
   
  
  Good for 3D Terrain rendering in DX9...however much of this is outdated...some concepts still apply, and it's not the worst idea to see a working example.
  
  
• Real-Time 3D Terrain Engines Using C++ and DirectX9 (Charles River Media Game Development)
  
   
  
  TLDR: Click links starting at top, buy, read, profit

There isn't a completely language agnostic book out there like you'd find with say Code Complete, but there are two books that fit your description but neither is really a beginner text.

 

Game Coding Complete

and

Game Programming Patterns, much of which is available on his website.



Once you get a bit more (ok, a lot more experienced), Game Engine Architecture is another great read.

 

Other than those 3 books, almost everything else is technology or language specific... like Learning Unity 5 or Learning Inverse Kinematics for __, etc.

 

While you are just starting out however, you should consider the beginners guide on Gamefromscratch, followed by various tutorial series or game engine overviews, as you aren't at the point where you really need to buy a book yet.

Yes they do!

UMotion Pro

Check out Game Programming Patterns, pretty good.

I can't recommend this book more. Don't be put off by the title -Game Programming Patterns- by the authors own admission too many examples are dry examples such as accounting or library lending systems.


It's easy to read and has far too many important paradigms and lessons to even begin listing them here.

http://www.amazon.com/Game-Programming-Patterns-Robert-Nystrom-ebook/dp/B00P5URD96

SFML Game Development

SFML Game development is super straight forward and simple, this book does a good job of breaking down some of the concepts you will learn in the other book I've listed and applying them with c++ and sfml. Having started with SDL and using both SFML and SDL extensively, SFML is definitely my favorite of the two.

Game Programming Patterns

Does a great job of explaining many of the common programming patterns used in and outside of game development, and it's a great piece to read if you're still conceptualizing how certain modules in your game will function at a high level.

Both are excellent books, and I believe will get you what you are wanting to learn.

Edit: Both books are written for those without extensive knowledge of their topics, the SFML book is written for much more novice c++ programmers, and the Patterns book is written for those with a little more experience. Even if you're familiar with many programming patterns, I'd consider the second book a great refresher course.