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after lusting for a copy of andré lamothe's Black Art of 3d Game Programming for years, i finally found an affordable copy
it does not disappoint. one of the fatal flaws of 95% of 3d game programming books is that they jump straight into mathematical proofs, instead of explaining in human terms how concepts are relevant to making a game. lamothe's programming concepts are clear, easy to understand, and provide real-world examples before diving into code
to my delight, the book doesn't limit itself to just 3d. it covers every conceivable topic for building a game engine from scratch in MS-DOS - and includes some great chapters on FM and wavetable synthesis!
@vga256 "2D modem-to-modem space combat simulator"
yesssssssss
@vga256 that has some Zen of Graphics Programming vibes, a book which I will never get rid of
@sinbad very much Abrash-level depth
@vga256 His electronics course on Udemy is also good and costs like $15.
@vga256 I never know I needed this!
@vga256 The cover art has incredible energy. How did they so perfectly blend the aesthetics of a D&D dungeon master guide and clipart collection CDs?
@agersant 
it really does look like a 3rd party published 3e book
@vga256 this post has awakened a deep need
@vga256 I found a copy a few years ago; I've thought about doing some sort of DOS gamedev twitch series but never found the activation energy to pull it off (yet..?!)
@nathan i can understand why. that could easily spin out into a huge commitment
@vga256 Andre is well known vor his close to reality books. Don't get fooled by the sheer number. None of them might be groundbreaking, but all are well worth a read.
@vga256 what a nice copy! Does it have the CDROM? Here's mine on the shelf with friends
@voxel sadly, the disc is missing :\
@vga256 @voxel
I'm sure you found this, but just in case: https://github.com/64kramsystem/black_art_of_3d_game_programming_cd
@thezerobit glad there's a backup elsewhere, because archive.org has been down for days! thanks.
@vga256 OMG that looks so cool
@vga256
I need this book now. Looking through it online, it even has instructions to build your own sound output device that attaches to the parallel port and uses a resistor ladder (actually, 2 ladders because it is stereo) as a DAC to produce audio. Epic.
It also covers state machines with probabilistic state selection for controlling enemies. That's the technique I used for the AI (that's what we called it) code to control monsters and vehicles in "Godzilla: Unleashed" for the Wii.
@vga256 I should get myself a copy, what's the ISBN?
@vga256 I started a new leg of the gamedev journey back in the day on his DirectX7 Game Programming book : )