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| Delphi Graphics and Game Programming Exposed with DirectX 7.0 by John Ayres Wordware Publishing, Inc. ISBN: 1556226373 Pub Date: 12/01/99
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## Acknowledgments While this book may bear only one name on the cover, it is the result of input from many people who made its production possible. In an effort to recognize the contributions of those who helped bring this book to life, I would like to acknowledge and give thanks to the following: First and foremost, I must thank Erik Unger for his excellent translation of the DirectX headers. Without his dedication to the furthering of Delphi games programming, this book simply would not have been possible. He constantly strives to stay abreast of new DirectX developments, and makes new DirectX headers available almost as soon as Microsoft releases an update. He also has many other headers available for both OpenGL and the Glide API. I hope to shake your hand someday at an Inprise convention somewhere. I must also mention Ari Feldman, who was generous enough to create the freeware sprite library SpriteLib. SpriteLib is included on the CD, and many of the images from this library are used in the examples and illustrations throughout the book. Ari Feldman’s creation allowed me to include some quality artwork whereas little stick men and solid polygons would’ve been used in its absence. Additionally, John Marshall provided some of the graphic artwork gracing the examples in the chapter on bitmap manipulation and special effects. John is an awesome artist, and it’s an honor and a pleasure to have his work in this book. Thanks to the folks at Beachware who were generous enough to donate 50 excellent sound effects from their A Zillion Sounds 2.0 CD. This CD contains thousands of sound effects in WAV format that are perfect for use in many games, from button clicks to explosions and laser blasts. Beachware also offers many other CDs filled with textures and musical interludes that you will find useful in your gaming endeavors. Take a look at http://www.beachware.com. I must also thank David Strahan. An extraordinary musician, he provided several MIDI music compositions used in some of the examples. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Eric Best, Mark Harwell, Jeff Amano, and Dr. Jim Beckett for putting up with this extracurricular activity of mine while in the middle of many, many time-critical projects, and for providing me with a nice, quiet place to write on my off hours. Wordware Publishing deserves a big salute. Jim Hill, Russ Stultz, Beth Kohler, and all the fine people there do a wonderful job. Without Wordware Publishing, many of the more specialized Delphi books would never be published. These more targeted titles help the Delphi community to grow and foster a sense of maturity; may other publishers take note. Of course, no acknowledgment would be complete without mentioning the people who brought us Delphi: Inprise. Inprise is starting to recognize the existence of the many game programmers out there interested in Delphi. Indeed, both Danny Thorpe and Charlie Calvert (native Borlanders) are big proponents of DirectX programming with Delphi. At last year’s Inprise convention, I gave a very successful presentation on Delphi games programming, I believe the first one ever, and I’ve been invited to repeat it this year. I hope that this increased awareness of Delphi game programmers results in more direct support for DirectX and other core gaming APIs. I would also like to mention Kenneth Harrison, Mike Tobin, and Burleigh Wood, three great friends of mine who served as sounding boards for my ideas and tolerated my absences from many multiplayer gaming sessions while I wrote. Burleigh even loaned me his force feedback joystick so I could write the force feedback chapter. They took time out of their schedules to look over several of the examples herein, and I appreciate their feedback and criticisms. Many of you may have heard of the JEDI Project by now. This is an international organization of Delphi developers who are dedicated to converting API headers so that Delphi programmers worldwide have access to a greater range of Windows functionality. The members of this organization, through their many e-mails and discussion threads, provided many of the answers to tough dilemmas experienced while researching many of DirectX’s nuances. For more information on the JEDI Project, see the page at the back of the book. The Delphi Developers of Dallas user group was also very helpful in times of need. I gave many lectures and presentations based on the subject material for this book, and the questions and feedback of the membership helped to solidify and fine-tune many of the topics contained herein. And were it not for the efforts of the growing community of Delphi game programmers, this book would have had no inspiration. Their efforts are slowly fostering acceptance of Delphi within the gaming industry. Indeed, there are several games being published that are written in Delphi, many of which use either freeware Delphi DirectX components or Erik’s DirectX headers included with this book. Keep it up; the next game of the year just might have a “Powered by Delphi” logo somewhere in the About box. Finally, I must give thanks to my family for putting up with the late nights and long hours it took to finish this project. I owe my wife special thanks and gratitude; she was pregnant with our first child during the course of this activity. Even though she denies it, I know that I’ve neglected her, and yet she still gives me her unconditional love. Without her constant support and encouragement, I would not have had the patience or desire to continue when the going got tough. Thanks, baby. ### Dedication To my first child, Cassandra Marie Ayres. She and my wife were still part of each other during most of the production of this book, and as I write this, her “birth day” draws alarmingly near. I’ve never known such panic and such joy as children bring to their parents. It will be good to experience the world again through her eyes, as I intend to vicariously relive my childhood through her as best I can. Only a parent knows how the emotions of panic, alarm, joy, and jubilation can intermingle and become one; may your children bring you the same emotional gratification. Hero, mentor, role model, playmate, dance partner, confidant, keeper of secrets, and healer of wounds—to me, all these things add up to Fatherhood. I hope to live up to my daughter’s expectations of a father, and may she grow to be more than the sum of her parents.
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