disappointed in Blitz 3D book

I usually am not one to complain and I should have known better I guess ... I am not trying to discourage anyone and this is only my opinion ...

I do not know the language that much and hoped that the manual Blitz 3D that was shown on the blitz web site might really help me learn the language some

But alas in its 390 pages from page 90 on is nothing more than a copy of the command reference file with no real examples of command usage at all .

The first 90 pages is pretty basic and some of it is just a straight copy of the tutorial section from what is included with the blitz 3D language itself.

I guess having a hard copy of the command file reference wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't already printed it out from the refernce files obtained from the included language.

There is some good info for the very beginner but what I need is
a book that gets in to the meat of the language explaining with
real examples how things work ...

Is there any hope for a book like that ?

I would imagine this post makes me out as a bad guy but I really am just looking for a book that can really teach something about the language. Not just be a hard copy of the command reference file.

I really appreciate the forum but wish there was some way that the blitz 3D beginner section could have some type of logical progression links that have a format that starts with the very basics
in topics and then have progressive links as one becomes more comfortable with the language instead of everything just thrown
in together

That is just my two cents and probably isn't worth much but I again
want to say that I am thankful for this forum and even though I still
pretty much don't have a clue hope that I can search and find the info I am seeking because I know there already is a great deal of
knowledge to be extracted from this forum.

Well that is what a 'Manual' is.

Maybe you were after a book more like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/3D-Game-Programming-Teens/dp/159200900X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214339903&sr=1-1

Which covers making games in Blitz3D in a more guided way.

What I would like to see is a book or tutorials on here that would provide a step through/summary explanation of each of the blitz 3D
sample files.

i.e. the Bird Demo of AGORE's explaing how the Apply_Motion function works
and basic explanation of the KBsplines file referencing how the
routine works for the Head Demo file as well etc.

Have you tried looking through the tutorial section on this forum board?

For instance, this?

http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=27913

The tutorial forum is full of good stuff, mostly written by users, and includes things to watch out for and good tips.

Try creating a very simple game and you will bump into problems along the way no doubt. Just post here and people will help you through them. It's always a good way to learn i've thought :o)

I agree,
I would suggest trying to make a simple demo or even a simple game. Most sites I've checked out along my little path always pointed in the same direction...

Make a pong Clone game
Make it multiplayer
add features to it
Make a Tetris Game
Make a Side scroller game like Super Mario bros
Make a defender clone
Of course these are just ideas and guide to get into game programming. They may not be in the exact order, but the idea is there. I do know pong Clone is the first game that everyone suggests on making.

This is a pretty good article dealing with the progression. The only thing I would change is to start out with pong...
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article892.asp

As Ross said, once you get going and start, come here and post any problems you have, this is def one of the friendliest communties that Ive ever dealt with in terms of help and such.

Thanks for the suggestions -- I agree it looks like that is the way to go and I definetly appreciate the forum being here to help.

What I would like to try is to make a demo driving simulation of
a small town city block.

I believe that my first course of action is to start with a terrain
and build a semi-realistic looking road. I would want to create the
block with some degree of realism as to measurements of an actual city block.
I would want to be able to create additonal blocks that I
could load as they were needed based on camera location/range.
(obviously down the line after I learned how to create the first one)

I think I would want to create each block with the road on the border
of the terrain block and the road would actually only be half of the
full road so when another city block is linked with it the road would then be complete.

Once I was able to create that first feat of creating a realistic road
and being able to simulate driving around the block then the next step would be to
start adding some detail like side walks street lights and some street signs and street lights.

Obviously I understand this is going to take some time for my
limited understanding of the language as of now but I think it
would be a great learning experience.

Ultimately I would hope to get to the point where I could add
in parking lots to turn into and then be able to add textured
model buildings and landscape.

Does this sound reasonable to take on as a beginner -- starting
with the road and going from there ?

Perhaps if it works out I could make a tutorial on the experience
that might help other newbies that might have similar ideas and
need some guidance on how to accomplish there projects.

Sounds good to me :o)

Just make sure you don't get too bogged down on the car physics. Stick to moving forward and turning, just to get it working first :o)

i agree with xyle on making clones of basic games like pong, breakout, spaceinvaders and tetris etc as they give you the basic building blocks to gaming and programming methods

eg the first three games came out in that order
pong was stripped of the 2nd player and put on the bottom to battle bricks
the bricks were then turned into spaceinvaders who moved side to side and down and shot back

packman begat gauntlet who begat the 3d games in the style of dungeon master and (when better specs came along 'propper' 3d) wolfensteen and that begat doom etc

but i wouldnt recomend sticking the gazzillionth pong online, i think the world doesnt need another pong exept for code examples ;)

...

but you can jump headlong into a project if you know enough about what you want ot achive and its all a case of putting what you know about the 'game' and the language together

Actually now that I think of it , this was my dumb mistake thinking that this book was more than the printed reference that I speak of. It is a
good reference to have as well and I thank all for there help and support

I am looking at the suggested links and they are great points to start
with


Looking forward to learning all I can and then some...