The Game Programming Starter Kit was software that was released in 6 different versions by 2 different publishers (Sams and then McMillan). It was one of the best ways for new developers to learn game development with industry standard technologies. It is one of the few products that could almost guarantee to put students on the right path for the games industry.
Not only that but it contained the full retail version of Microsoft Visual C++ 1.0 along with the eBook version of Teach Yourself Visual C++ in 21 Days.
It also claims to have a full 2D DOS game engine on the CDs but we don’t know much information about it.
Teach Yourself Game Programming in 21 Days is a comprehensive guide authored by André LaMothe, published in 1994. This book is designed to introduce readers to the fundamentals of game development, particularly within a DOS environment using the C programming language.
The Book is split into 21 Chapters, one for each of the days, you can see the table of contents in the table below:
| Day | Description |
|---|---|
| Day 01 | Today you learn about all the components that make up a complete video game—and probably get a workout lifting this book! |
| Day 02 | Today you see a complete game called Mech War and learn what went into making it. |
| Day 03 | Today you learn everything you ever wanted to know about the VGA card. You also learn about the 320x200 256-color mode. |
| Day 04 | Today you learn about little elven creatures called sprites and how to force them to participate in your games. |
| Day 05 | Today is a long one. The world of polygon-based graphics and all its related math is laid out in gruesome detail. |
| Day 06 | Today you learn about advanced topics in bitmapped animation and graphics, and how a video-game display is rendered flicker-free! |
| Day 07 | Today you learn how all the input devices, such as the keyboard, joystick, and mouse, really work. |
| Day 08 | Today moves really fast because it’s about optimization techniques. So, put on some hard rock music and get moving. |
| Day 09 | Today you’re introduced to computer sound and music. You learn how to play digitized FX with the Sound Blaster, and more. |
| Day 10 | Today you learn how to implement synthetic intelligence algorithms for video games. |
| Day 11 | Today the mystery behind interrupts, real-time programming, and multitasking are uncovered, and a complete multitasking kernel is presented for DOS. |
| Day 12 | Today you learn about all the different ways the virtual game universe can be represented in the computer. |
| Day 13 | Today you learn about physics modeling, which is very useful when you try to simulate the motion and interactions between game objects. |
| Day 14 | Today you see all the tools used by a video-game programmer, as well as some of the price tags for them! |
| Day 15 | Today you learn gaming details, such as scoring, introductions, saving the game, and demo modes. |
| Day 16 | Today things start getting fun. You get to play and analyze the first full game you make, called Sea Shark. |
| Day 17 | Today you take a look at a more complex adventure game named Venture. It has scrolling, cool creatures, and a real plot! |
| Day 18 | Today I hope you’re hungry because you play Sim-Pizza—a pizza delivery simulator—that teaches that crime doesn’t pay! |
| Day 19 | Today the book changes gears and covers text-based games, and the basic parsing techniques and data structures used to create them. |
| Day 20 | Today you learn about the world of 3-D games, ray casting, polygon engines, and voxel graphics. |
| Day 21 | Today it’s time to make some money. You learn how to market and distribute your games. |
Authored by Namir Clement Shammas, this edition introduces readers to C++ and Windows application programming using Visual C++.
It follows the “Teach Yourself in 21 Days” format, covering the complete Visual C++ environment and providing an overview of object-oriented programming
This is the original Version 1.0 of the book, but I can only find details of version 1.5 of the book online, not even the cover is available.
The Second version was released in 1997 by Macmillan Digital Publishing but I have never seen a copy to be able to detail what it contained and information online is severely lacking.
The Third version was released in 1999 by Macmillan Digital Publishing and consisted of 3 CDs and the full physical copy of Game Design Secrets of the Sages!
It also includes the DirectX 6.1 SDK and an SDK called Genesis 3D but only included the Introductory Edition of Visual C++ 6.0. Genesis 3D did come with its own level editor which supported Direct3D and 3Dfx Glide drivers.
This time it contained three ebooks on the CDs:
The first CD contains Genesis3D along with the 3 ebooks.
The Second CD contains Introductory Edition of Visual C++ 6.0.
The third CD contains DirectX 6.1 SDK.
You can download the contents of the three CDs on Archive.org
On those 2 CDs was the same Introductory Edition of Visual C++ 6.0 as the previous version and version 3.1 of the Genesis 3D SDK. The DirectX SDK was updated to version 7.0 and it came with a new 3D animation tool called Shadow Realm Model Animator.
This time it only contained two ebooks but they were arguably better for game development as it now includes DirectX:
The physical book that was included this time was the Second Edition of Game Design Secrets of the Sages by Marc Saltzman which is a really interesting book published by BradyGames.
We know that one of the eBooks included on the CDs was:
We do know however that the physical book that was included this time was the Third Edition of Game Design Secrets of the Sages by Marc Saltzman. This books seems to be rather rare as I have never seen it for sale outside of this bundle.
The mythical sixth version may have released in 2002 but there is no photos of it existing at all online. One source claims it included DarkBASIC SE which is a large departure from the standard Visual C++ and DirectX combo of the previous versions.
Did it include a Fourth edition of Game Design Secrets of the Sages? Who Knows?
