when i picked this book up, i mistakenly thought it was for the c# absolute beginner, which it is not. i read a 200 page book on the basics, and this came way easier, and once i did that, it was a highway to good programming. this is a good book because it has clear examples, good explanations, and is just plain fun writing the game in it! i started working on another c# rpg, this time in 3d, and the code and explaining is really helping me out, and the game itself we made is fun. there still could be more explaining on what classes to make, but overall is a good book if you know some c# and want to learn more and have fun while doing it!

Visual C# Game Programming for teens is not a book for the absolute beginner. The description of the book may make it seem that it is a good choice for a beginner, and it is if you have some experience with C#. It is better to pick up a book that will go over the basics of C# before beginning this book. It is a book that will require a little bit of work to get through. Programming is an advance topic that cannot be covered with just one book. That is not to say that it is not a good book it is a great book to use as a transition or to learn more on a few subjects your really didn't have much knowledge on.

The book does not go into complicated subjects like direct X and chooses to use GDI+ instead. It is a book that has more of a nostalgic value to it. It shows you the basics of how to make a classic 2D RPG game. The books shows you all the things you need to make a mostly complete game. There is always more that you can add to a game that can make it better and that is just something that is impossible to cover completely. It does supply you with many tools that you can use to improve upon the game such as a level editor, monster editor, item editor, and quest editor. Many of the things that are in the book are basic to allow you to add to them and make the game something or your own not to build the complete game for you.

One problem with this book is some of the explanations can be a little better and more thorough, but this book is not geared towards the absolute beginner someone that knows C# already. At the time of reading this book I was not fluent in C# and it was a little hard to work through but I was able to find many answers to the questions I had by reading a few beginner books. Another flaw with this book is some of the code in the book are not the same as the source code. Sometimes you will find yourself trying to get something to run and just find out that it doesn't but the source supplied does because a few lines of code were changed. This is not something that is too complicated but can be off putting for beginners. Very few of the books that I have learned from have the code in the book perfectly right unless it is a revision of a revision of a revision. If you have problems you can always find help on the forums. The author is always active and willing to answer any questions that you may have.

Over all it is a book that I recommend to someone that likes classic 2D games and RPGs that already knows the language. It is a good guide to building your own game. While it doesn't give you all the knowledge you need it is a good transition point into other subjects.

I do programming as a hobby, and have been doing it for years, have done Visual Basic, some C#, some C++, Assembly, QBasic, Java, ASP, Maya Mel programming and even some Python. I bought this book because I am building a dungeon crawler. On the positive side, the code that comes with the book is great, and all of it works with no bugs that I could find.

On the negative side, I find the code poorly explained. For example: Why does he choose to create the form dynamically? Why is it that when I run his code, the key press works, but I enter the exact same code in my program, in the exact same location, and it does not? It appears to me, as I read the book, that the author was working under a deadline, and and just did not take the time to explain the code and do a good job on this book. The last straw is though, that the author does not provide you any way to contact him with questions, or even mention C# help forums, and, as a result, I cannot give this book a higher review. I would not recommend this book, especially not for TEENS!

The book I would recommend would be:

C# Game Programming: For Serious Game Creation by Daniel Schuller, and, to teens.