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NetWarriors Online:
The Game Programmer's Guide to Online Resources
by Joe Gradecki
John Wiley & Sons
1-800-225-5945
$27.95

One aspect of the American tradition is that we like to romanticize the lone inventor, the individual who toils anonymously in a spare room or in his garage to come up with a unique product which creates riches for himself. However, in this high-tech world where a simple start-up in the computer field requires several million dollars in capital before it can start up, one wonders if this dream is still alive.

Well, if you enjoy playing computer games and think you have what it takes to design a new one, then there is hope yet. NetWarriors Online: The Game Programmer's Guide to Online Resources by Joe Gradecki should be the first book on your shelf. Even if you don't know how to write computer code, you can still come up with the next DOOM. Unlike some other books which instruct you on how to program, NetWarriors Online shows you where to locate those rewritten programs which you can use as tools to create the next software sensation, as well as major on-line sites dedicated to the game programmer..

This thoroughly written reference book guides you to those Internet and World Wide Web sites which contain libraries, routines, programs, tools, players, tutorials and utilities. I found it astonishing how much is out there which is free or available as low cost shareware. Materials such as 3D game engines (the foundation to games like DOOM), 2D arcade engines, paint programs, graphics manipulation tools, license-free artwork, sound effects, music, sound utilities and complete gaming source codes are all out there for the downloading, if you know where they are.

Each site listed informs you of the filename, location, home site, its author, operating system it works under, system requirements, licensing agreements, updates and a complete description of what it does.

So, whether you're an experienced programmer or an amateur who wants to realize a great new idea, this book will provide one-stop shopping for the gaming professional.

Steven M. Adelson (Steven_M._Adelson@tmug.com)

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