A book

[Alberto]

Hello

 

Is a Leadwerks book available ? or is anybody writing a Leadwerks book ?

Even an E-book would be ok

I will pay up to 30 usd

[gamecreator]

I'm curious what you'd like the book to do that the user guide, videos, tutorials, documentation, examples/snippets, forum posts don't. Also curious: are you looking for Lua or C code?

[cassius]

game engine books get out of date quickly

[Alberto]

well, the documentation is quite poor in my opinion

Leadwerks is known to be the most user friendly engine around but a beginner does not even know how to get started

What I am looking for ?

The development of a full game or even better of 3 - 4 small games using both C++ and LUA

[cassius]

There are plenty of official and third party tutorials in c++ and lua.Finding them could be made easier it seems judging by the number of complaints we get from newcomers.

[Alberto]

Yes there are plenty of official and third party tutorials but the engine is lacking an exhaustive doc written one expert developer only

Some key topics are missing , some other even overlap

[Rick]

Everyone has their own idea of what is needed. It's an impossible task to please everyone.

[Alberto]

Well I dont think it is a matter of personal tastes

I suppose that every beginner would prefer to have a book rather than a lot of tutorial on specific topics while missing key topics

The point is :

How many copies can you sell ? and at what price ?

There are more than 10 Unity books around, ok right or wrong Unity is the king but even C4 engine supplies a book

I dont think that this engine is more popular than Leadwerks

[gamecreator]

Considering that there are hundreds of Leadwerks users and that you're the only one who asked about books in the last two years, I think it's safe to say the demand for it is pretty low. It's understandable when there are so many free resources out there.

[randomkeyhits]

Considering that there are hundreds of Leadwerks users and that you're the only one who asked about books in the last two years, I think it's safe to say the demand for it is pretty low. It's understandable when there are so many free resources out there.

 

Well, I didn't ask for one but I'd as sure as anything would have been interested in buying one if it was decent. Pulling the official documentation, an overview of system flow with discussions on how each section works and its impact on the overall pipeline would have been invaluable when I started. Add to that a bunch of solid examples, thoroughly checked and cleaned and well documented for use as references and things would have been a lot easier for me.

 

This is only my own observation but I see LW as definitely an indies game engine by an indie team, its does what it does well and has a lot of potential. The dev team is very small but also close to the community in a way the bigger systems tend to lose. Because the team is small their time is precious. It gets spent where they feel it has the best impact. The problem with documentation is that it does take time to do it right, quite a lot in fact which they will have trouble sparing.

 

Once I feel I'm getting out of the amateur phase with LW I do intend to add more guides here, especially of the stuff that kept tripping me up at the beginning. Hopefully they'll be of use but unfortunately it will be a while before I start any.

[Alberto]

C4 engine book has been written by a senior developer, initially as an E-Book only

[Josh]

Considering that there are hundreds of Leadwerks users

There's a lot more than that, actually.

[Imchasinyou]

A book would have to be updated constantly. This would pull away from further development unless some one was willing to do it for the engine that isnt involved in the development. I dont know how big the team is so I cant even say that its worth it. You can easily find alot of information either by asking for specific help (condescension will come) and searching the forums and youtube. Theres alot of Tutorials out there by Rick and Aggror (the 2 Ive used the most) Almost every one here will help you if we understand what you are wanting to do. I am a complete moron when it comes to game development (I have no dreams of making anything from what i work on) and have been able to impress myself. The community is weak in alot of areas but with the right questions, you will surely be able to produce something and get help as needed.

[Alberto]

nope the updating is a false problem

A book target an audience of beginners , basic features never change or at least should not change

Tutorials are of use for intermediate users looking for specific features

For a beginner it is annoyng to have go through a documentation just to learn key features

It is much more funny to learn by developing step by step a simple game with the help of a book

For example I come from Unity so I am not a real beginner

I was looking for the Leadwerks equivalent of the Unity buttom "F"

I was sure that Leadwerks supplies some thing like that but where is it written ?

After all game programming is just an hobby . at least for me

[Olby]

I can agree with the sentiment. Books do get outdated quite fast these days. But directing new users, who have never developed games, to resources dedicated to other engines is a financial suicide since majority will probably never return to Leadwerks after learning something else.

 

A Leadwerks specific A to Z beginners guide aimed at creating a game and publishing it on the Steam Workshop would definitely attract more users. It does not necessarily have to be very in depth but it should briefly cover things as input, levels, AI, game logic, GUI, sound, optimisation etc. We have plenty of people in the community who are gifted enough to write such a guide, perhaps a little financial incentive from Josh can stimulate them.

 

Look, someone can take the Pumpkins in Space and turn that into a "game development in LE" guide, it would be a solid resource that newbies can reference.

[Rick]

While I agree, after you have this higher level guide it will become neat but not enough in depth. Not to mention there are many ways to structure a game. This is something that nobody really knows the sweet spot on how complex the game should be and how in depth the guides should go. Maybe if people gave ideas on how this should work someone will look into it.

[bansama]

Maybe if people gave ideas on how this should work someone will look into it.

 

Something that introduces a new user (or returning one, wanting a refresher) to the features in Leadwerks, in a coherent and consistent manner. The tutorial levels, etc., are nice but each one is individual and self-contained. If the features could be introduced while guiding the user in the creation of an end product, it may help with learning how everything interacts together. This need not be anything too complex. It just needs to be a consistent project that walks through each feature.

 

The actual documentation is okay, but many of it lacks a working example to help explain how that feature works. Some have script examples of course, but many of those don't do anything but cause an error if you try to plug that script into a default Leadwerks setup.

[Alberto]

exactly what I meant

[cassius]

I suppose an "end product" means a finished game that begginers can modify without too much effort to learn coding.I think the current tutorials are enough to get you started ,but more are always welcome.

One observation I would make is if you make video tutorials please make them full screen sizeable for the sake of visibility

[Einlander]

There is always the option to make a wikibook for leadwerks. We can always use the same game idea and book structure as unity or a similar engine. This way when it needs to be updated someone can and new sections can always be added.

[AggrorJorn]

Well there is the unofficial wiki: http://leadwerks.wikidot.com/

 

There are some useful items there, but it is not enough for a book.