Programming 2D Scrolling Games (V 4.61 & 5.0) Book Released!

[Krylar]

Hey gang!

The physical edition (print version) of the book is ready and up on lulu.com. The direct URL to my lulu page is:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/john_p_logsdon

...and the source and K2D Map Maker can be found here.

http://krylarskreations.com/purebasicbook/

The digital version is still in the works. I'll post an update when that's done.

Also, note that all of the source has been tested with PB 5.0 and it all works fine except one section, which is pointed out in the book and the source. Essentially the CountList function has been deprecated. It still seems to compile, but the compiler complains. It's in Example 7-3, List of Structures:

Code: Select all

     
; Use ListSize(Missile()) for PureBasic 5 as CountList(...) is deprecated.
; If you have PureBasic 5.0, replace CountList(Missile()) < 19 with ListSize(Missile()) < 19
; If you have PureBasic 4.61, replace ListSize(Missile()) < 19 with CountList(Missile()) < 19
If CountList(Missile()) < 19 

....

Thanks for the support, everyone.

-John

[Comtois]

Code: Select all

     
; Use ListSize(Missile()) for PureBasic 5 as CountList(...) is deprecated.
; If you have PureBasic 5.0, replace CountList(Missile()) < 19 with ListSize(Missile()) < 19
; If you have PureBasic 4.61, replace ListSize(Missile()) < 19 with CountList(Missile()) < 19
If CountList(Missile()) < 19 
....

Extract from history

16th December 2008 : Version 4.30
Changed : CountList() to ListSize()

I think nobody uses this version except for testing old codes.

[Krylar]

Cool deal. Thanks for the info. Note though that it's only in 5.0 that it's showing up as deprecated.

Thanks again!

[bembulak]

+1

Thanks, Krylar!

[Davy]

cool, thanks Krylar!

[IdeasVacuum]

Great job Krylar!

I think it would be a good idea if Fred gave the book some real estate on the front page of the Fantaisie website. It would give any Newbie (New to PB or indeed new to programming) a big hand in starting their adventure. I think many people fall by the wayside because they simply do not understand how a program is built and after a while they get disillusioned and just give up.

Of course, the book is not just for newbies and not just about creating games, it has a lot of 'strength in depth'. The reason this book is a winner is that it's both very informative and very easy to follow.

[LuCiFeR[SD]]

/me agrees with IdeasVacuum again

[Davy]

Hi Krylar,

You'll hear from Lulu but just thought I'd let others know who are thinking of ordering the book: A couple of days after ordering I received this email from Lulu.com -

It has come to our attention that your order 7650236 cannot be completed because the source files for the project "Programming 2D Scrolling Games" contain errors that are preventing it from being printed. We have canceled the item in your order and have issued a full refund.

I have also contacted the author to make them aware of the problem. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

[user3162]

Hi Krylar,

You'll hear from Lulu but just thought I'd let others know who are thinking of ordering the book: A couple of days after ordering I received this email from Lulu.com -

It has come to our attention that your order 7650236 cannot be completed because the source files for the project "Programming 2D Scrolling Games" contain errors that are preventing it from being printed. We have canceled the item in your order and have issued a full refund.

I have also contacted the author to make them aware of the problem. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Odd, since my email said

We thought you would like to know that your Lulu order has shipped on 11/9/12 8:37 PM via Ground.
(You can check out all the details below.)

Order #7651053

All items in your order have been shipped.

[Krylar]

Hey guys...I got contacted by Lulu last night about this too. It is weird since the first thing I did was order a copy of the book to make sure it looked good before putting it live. My copy arrived two days before I opened the book to the public and it was fine. :/

Anyway, I spent a few hours last night going through new steps from their tech support team that were different than the ones on their site. The guy assured me that everything would be working as planned now. I have requested another copy, but I have also set the status live since the Lulu rep said everything was now fine.

Sorry for the issues. On the plus side I got to update the text in the book and on the cover to say that it was for 4.61 & 5.0, so that was cool at least.

user3162 : You may have ordered after I put up the new book files. The files were up last night around 8:30pm U.S. Eastern.

[wysardry]

Will this be available in Amazon Kindle format?

[Krylar]

Will this be available in Amazon Kindle format?

I've been trying to get that to work. It works on iBooks with no problem (using ePub), but the .mobi format has been terrible to work with. The issue is that the code-formatting gets all goofed up and it's really bad. I called BookBaby and asked them what the deal was with the layout and they have their tech folks trying to figure it out. Hoping to hear back from them this coming week. So...for now, the unfortunate answer is no. Hopefully that answer will change.

[Zach]

Any word on the price of a digital version?

And I know it seems like different formats are being considered, but curious if it will be a PDF ?

I don't have an e-reader, and I'm not keen on any special formats that require any other software/plugins just to read, but I am really interested in the book. If not digital then I will save up to buy the physical copy.

[rsts]

It works on iBooks with no problem (using ePub), but the .mobi format has been terrible to work with.

Very interested in ePub or pdf - anything that I can read on android. Please let us know when a digital version is available.

Best to you.

[Krylar]

Target price is less than $10US for digital. It may be $9.99 or $9.95, depending on the service provider. I am finding the entire digital publishing system quite a challenge to work through at the moment. I want to make sure that book purchasers get their products correctly and securely.

With that in mind I was looking at a few different sites. Has anyone used e-junkie, by chance? I have read horror stories about PayLoadz, but e-junkie seems to be getting decent reviews. I've already put a good deal of money into a few services trying to get them to work properly, so I wanted to check around first to see if anyone here has used a service that they feel comfortable with. If anyone has experience with a really solid service that allows authors to publish in a secure fashion using PDF and ePub, and where customers are protected and ensured to get their purchases properly, I'm all ears!

Until then, the physical book product is going to be the only delivery medium. Well, at least until iBooks houses the book, which I was told would take up to 6 weeks for them to get it into their rotation. And, until I've purchased that one myself and made sure that it looks correct in the layout from the actual delivery, I wouldn't feel comfortable providing information on it. Hopefully it looks as good via the iBooks delivery as it does on my auto-installed copy into iBooks.

Also, please recall that BookBaby is working on the mobi version which should mean that the book can be snagged for amazon kindle as well. But I have yet to hear a result of their findings as yet. I will keep everyone informed on that front as more news surfaces.

Thanks to all of you for your support.