Get to grips with programming techniques and game development using C++ libraries and Visual Studio 2019

Key Features

Learn game development and C++ with a fun, example-driven approach

Build clones of popular games such as Timberman, Zombie Survival Shooter, a co-op puzzle platformer, and Space Invaders

Discover tips to expand your finished games by thinking critically, technically, and creatively

Book Description

The second edition of Beginning C++ Game Programming is updated and improved to include the latest features of Visual Studio 2019, SFML, and modern C++ programming techniques. With this book, you’ll get a fun introduction to game programming by building five fully playable games of increasing complexity. You’ll learn to build clones of popular games such as Timberman, Pong, a Zombie survival shooter, a coop puzzle platformer and Space Invaders. The book starts by covering the basics of programming. You’ll study key C++ topics, such as object-oriented programming (OOP) and C++ pointers, and get acquainted with the Standard Template Library (STL). The book helps you learn about collision detection techniques and game physics by building a Pong game. As you build games, you’ll also learn exciting game programming concepts such as particle effects, directional sound (spatialization), OpenGL programmable shaders, spawning objects, and much more. Finally, you’ll explore game design patterns to enhance your C++ game programming skills. By the end of the book, you’ll have gained the knowledge you need to build your own games with exciting features from scratch.

What you will learn

Set up your game development project in Visual Studio 2019 and explore C++ libraries such as SFML

Explore C++ OOP by building a Pong game

Understand core game concepts such as game animation, game physics, collision detection, scorekeeping, and game sound

Use classes, inheritance, and references to spawn and control thousands of enemies and shoot rapid-fire machine guns

Add advanced features to your game using pointers, references, and the STL

Scale and reuse your game code by learning modern game programming design patterns

Who this book is for

This book is perfect for you if you have no C++ programming knowledge, you need a beginner-level refresher course, or you want to learn how to build games or just use games as an engaging way to learn C++. Whether you aspire to publish a game (perhaps on Steam) or just want to impress friends with your creations, you’ll find this book useful.