The Official Guide to 3D GameStudio Review

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The Official Guide to 3D GameStudio ReviewI've owned 3D Game Studio for several years and hadn't seen an English language book, so I picked this up with some excitement. I've created art assets and done some level design in 3DGS but for the most part, I haven't tackled the programming in any significant way. I mention this since, after several years of waiting, I approached the book with some preconceptions about what it should be. Because of this it is not surprising it initially fell short of the 'vision' I had in my brain of a guru-like book of ultimate 3DGS wisdom. I've since taken a step back, considered what other software products 'official guides' were like and prepared what I hope is a balanced review. This is important since whether you love, or just like this book, is going to depend on what you expected out of it.
In my opinion this book is a good 'light' introduction to 3DGS and game programming concepts. In review of other official guides I find they range from minimalist, "hello world" type books -that seem to have been created only to satisfy customer expectation of a manual- to full fledged product bibles crammed with every detail. This book, like most, falls somewhere in-between. If you are brand new to 3DGS, or a student taking a first course on game programming, you'll find that the author has taken considerable effort to provide helpful details about game history, interface design, and playability issues; he also touches on game psychology, the importance of story and marketing. All of these are essential concepts.
The book is well written, easy to understand and adequately illustrated. The chapters on modeling using MED (the 3D Game Studio model editor), skinning and animating your model are satisfactory. The level design chapters are also appropriate and the included project walks you through successfully designing, creating and texturing a level.
The scripting chapters cover some of the basics of scripting, but this is the area that left me wanting for more. In fairness, after reviewing the official guide (for a much more expensive animation and design product I use at work) I find that the level of detail covered is similar.
It is likely that the author generalized or covered some of the programming material lightly because, at the time this book was written a very significant update to 3DGS was on the horizon (and has since been released). A7 is a substantial step forward for the game engine and suite of tools that comprise 3D Game Studio. A large part of that is the inclusion of the Lite-C programming language. This may explain the light c-script coverage since it is likely that c-script, even if in continues to be supported, will become much less important than the much more powerful Lite-C. Having said that, some c-script is covered and basic interactivity walked through in the relevant chapters. There is also some additional material and scripts on the disk.
So we are back to my first paragraph. Whether this book is for you or not depends on what your expectations and point of departure are. If you are a student (or a teacher) using 3D Game Studio as part of an introductory game development class then this book could be a good choice. The coding material would have to be supplemented, in my opinion, by Conitec's in depth written documentation, by guru George Pirvu's free and excellent AUM user magazine and by the extremely active and friendly official user forums.
This book, along with an instructor guided project, could also satisfy the course requirements for an introduction to game programming based on the 3DGS engine.
It's usefulness to people that already have some game dev experience is going to vary by individual and skill level, so look at the TOC, any other reviews and get feedback from the 3DGS forum members who have the book - then make you own determination.
I am generally satisfied with the book, with the sole exception of my desire for more substantial programming tutorials.
If the next version of the book is updated to include good material on Lite-C programming, or perhaps a second companion volume with more significant programming information is created, it would increase the value of the book immensely and likely drag in many of the thousands of current users who are eager to use Lite-C.
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