Twenty-one years ago, I read a book that changed my life. Today I hope to write a book
that will change yours. This is not a self-help book or some form of new philosophy. This
book is the gateway to the inner sanctums of game programming, past and present. Bold
words, I know, but I believe in this book with my whole heart. To someone who has never
touched a keyboard or written a single line of code, game development can seem daunting.
In the old days, this was usually the result of a lack of information. Game programming
books weren’t available at your local bookstore, so it was very difficult to learn the
skills needed to build games unless you were very intuitive and willing to dedicate a large
amount of your time to trial and error.
Today, game programming is difficult to learn because there is almost too much information:
DirectX, OpenGL,Vertex shaders, pixel shaders . . . the list goes on and on. Ironically,
most information about modern computer systems is in the form of closely guarded trade
secrets. Even if this were not the case, it would take a lifetime for the average person to
master all that information. Finally, even if he could master it, the hardware would be
obsolete long before he could use his knowledge!
"Retro Game Programming" is the gateway to the inner sanctums of game programming, past and present. It is designed to make retro game programming easy for anyone to learn. The staggering advances from the arcade games of yesterday to today?s realistic computer games may seem daunting. When you conquer the underlying principles of retro game programming, however, you are on your way to understanding the complexities of modern game programming-by mastering the past, you are more likely to understand the present. The machines studied in this book are a part of a great legacy that began the journey leading us to the mind-blowing capabilities of today's computers. By studying the programming concepts used to create these classic games you will develop solid programming techniques that you can apply to more modern machines and software. What better way to accomplish that task than to start at the beginning-with the games that launched the video game craze!