Books and resources for making games with C++ and DirectX 11 for Windows (and Xbox One!)

To develop games with C++ and DirectX, you can start with the following introductory books and online resources:

 

Recommended by Dave Voyles of ArmlessOctopus.com, ” former XNA MVP Michael McLaughlin [Bob Taco Industries] wrote the free book…” C++ Succinctly. It is written with the idea that you would be transitioning from a C# background to C++”

 

 

Recommended by Nick Gravelyn of Brushfire Games, “For anyone thinking about jumping in to native code and D3D11, here are a couple libraries I’ve been looking at to help simplify D3D11”

 

 

“… they were made by Shawn Hargreaves and Chuck Walbourn, a couple of super smart Microsoft developers. So the code is pretty high quality.”

 

Recommended by Frank Savage (former XNA Development Manager and current Principal Development Manager for Xbox One), “For those interested in going truly deep, there is this book…” 

Practical Rendering and Computation with Direct3D 11, by Jason Zink, Matt Pettineo, Jack Hoxley

 

Suggested by Stuart Green“For anyone wanting to learn 3D programming with C++ using DirectX11. I would highly recommend the tutorials at www.rastertek.com. It helped me get a much better understanding of OOP and encapsulation. There are also some tutorials covering OpenGL, virtual worlds and network programming.”

 

Suggested by Onur Ağbulut, “I would like to suggest Professional C++ . It teaches readers C++ with real life usage examples of the language rather than giving basic examples of each topic such other books do.”

 Professional C++, by Marc Gregoire, Nicholas A. Solter, Scott J. Kleper

 

 

Suggested by Dave Voyles, “I’ve got to say that Ivor Horton’s book has been by far the best to read. It’s broken down into small, simple tasks, and he goes into detail about the whens and whys of why something occurs.”

Ivor Horton’s Beginning Visual C++ 2012, by Ivor Horton

 

 

  • Use cutting-edge technologies like DirectX to make awesome games
  • Discover tools that will make game development easier
  • Bring your game to the latest touch-enabled PCs and tablets

Learning Windows 8 Game Development, by Michael Quandt

 

 

By the time more information is revealed publicly about Xbox One indie game development, you’ll be well prepared to develop games for the next-generation console from Microsoft!

If you want to take a break from technical books, there are a lot of lessons to be learned from the history of game development.

Recommended by Cathy Vice (aka IndieGamerChick): “I would also suggest some gaming history books. Ultimate History of Video Games, The Rise & Fall of Atari, and Game Over by David Sheff. Game creators need to learn from the successes and failures of those great and small that came before them.”

 

2 thoughts on “Books and resources for making games with C++ and DirectX 11 for Windows (and Xbox One!)

  1. Pingback: Shahed Chowdhuri's Blog: Books and resources for making games with C++ and DirectX 11 for Windows (and Xbox One!) | Wake Up And Code!

  2. Pingback: Shahed Chowdhuri's Blog: Online Communities for Indie Game Developers | Wake Up And Code!

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