Is The Official Blender GameKit still useful?

Game Engine Game Engine Support and Discussion
1

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if The Official Blender GameKit book was still useful even though it was written back in 2003. . . Or is there another edition that Amazon does not have yet?

On that note, I see all the Tutorials on the Game Engine page, but I rather buy a book. If the above is out of date can anyone recommend another?

Thanks,

2

Hmm, I bought that book! :smiley: I believe it was written for blender 2.25, which there is a significant difference in the GUI, although all the buttons are there…somewhere.

Now, dispite the old GUI, and possibe lack of some logic bricks working (near sensor?), this is still a useful book! It explains some modeling techniques, and some python. There is also some interesting demos (not sure if they still work though). It also covers animation, and how some (if not, all) the logic bricks work!

If you’re willing to pay for it, it can be an excellent resource.

EDIT: oh and, there is a newer book out, although it isn’t based for the game engine, and it’s for blender 2.3! It covers a lot more like rendering, even more modeling, lighting, materials, radiosity, animation, and effects (like particles). Although it isn’t directly related to the game engine, quite a bit of it can be applied to it (like modeling, lighting, materials, and animation! (maybe even effects)).

3

Thanks,

I hope someone out there is working on an update to the book. I would love to make some interactive stuff.

4

to someone who has a month or so to kill before going back to school and wants to do something a little more constructive than play Xbox all day, heck yea!

And the Blender version that it works with is on the CD, so you don’t have to worry about getting lost in the GUI. You can use that version of Blender, and upgrade or install the new version right alongside it.

5

I wished I’d bought the Gamekit earlier. I didn’t buy it because I thought it would be out of date, but infact if has a lot of useful information all in one places thats difficult to get elsewhere. Also its well written.

6

I started with Blender 3 months ago. The Blender GameKit helped me discover some things, but mostly I used the internet to solve problems. And now I have made a game, wich is my graduation project (is that correct english?). I also hope that an update is being made.

I was lucky to find a book. On amazon it was being sold for $279.85 LINK. Luckely I could find it in a booksstore for like 30 euro’s and new :D. There were only 5 copies left in that store.

7

I think I’ll get the Game Kit.

Blinder.org e-shop is selling an electronic (I guess PDF) version for $10 (about €8):
http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info.php?products_id=83&currency=USD&PHPSESSID=

My only question now is, would this book still work for me? I’m a Mac user. Anything I make would be for Mac. I guess it wouldn’t be too much of a difference. Blender is the same for Mac. . . Any thought?

8

I’ve never bought the game-kit nor have i ever used a Mac, but, as far as i know Blender is exactly the same on all systems, plus if the book was designed for a certain version of Blender, it should, by law be outlined on that page.

9

You can look into the book here (for a few chapters): [LINK"]LINK](http://download.blender.org/documentation/NaN_docs/BlenderGameReference/)

It covers

  1. Real-time Materials
  2. Blender game engine
  3. Game LogicBricks
  4. Python

I used chapter 27 a lot to learn about the logic bricks…

10

ummm,

Read the Blender Wiki, and blender online manual… you willl get a lot more information than you will from that book.

The biggest thing is Bullet physics VS Sumo. Trust me you want to use bullet.

We have quite a few new things for the game engine science that book was published.