pygame

Python for Rookies
$99.95
Python for Rookies is designed to help students learn how to program. Using the Python language as a tool, the approach taken teaches students the fundamentals of programming and re-enforces good programming practice. Written for students studying a variety of degree subjects such as Games Technology, Creative Computing and Multimedia (where core Computer Science is applied to the Arts) the pace and breadth would also be suitable for a one semester introductory programming course for all computing undergraduates. We hope that the example programs, chosen to enliven and motivate will also be very relevant to a range of courses and the varied ambitions of people who need to acquire programming skills. The book covers programming from small script-style applications to larger pieces of software. The emphasis remains on problem-solving, even through the introduction of common libraries and object-oriented programming. Test-oriented development is an integral part of programming and learning how to incorporate a unit test early on will take away the frustrations of producing buggy software that doesn�����t run. It will provide a framework to support your learning of programming.

Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional (Beginning: From Novice to Professional)
$44.99
This book is mislabeled -- it is actually the 2005 copyright edition, not the 2008 edition. (You can see this for yourself by using Amazon's "Click to Look Inside" feature, where you can see on the title page that the copyright of this edition is indeed 2005.)

The current edition of this book is the one that lists the copyright as September 8, 2008. (The edition whose page you are currently viewing incorrectly lists its copyright as September 18, 2008.) The actual 2008 edition is also somewhat longer, and includes an additional appendix (on Python 3). Oh, and it's ten bucks cheaper, to boot. :-)

Click on the author's name above to find the newer edition.

Beginning Game Development with Python and Pygame: From Novice to Professional
$39.99
I just completed teaching a month-long game-programming workshop with this as the primary text. The workshop included both experienced programmers and complete novices: the class consensus was that the text was readable and informative and served well as a basic introduction to game-programming in Python using Pygame.

Other reviewers have commented on depth/balance-of-coverage issues; we had no quarrel with the Python introduction or the 2D chapters, though the 3D material seemed mostly on 3D graphics and not on 3D interactive game design. The AI chapter, with its ant-and-spider simulation, proved a favorite of the students, and many of them cannibalized the state-engine for their own games.

The book is not a comprehensive tutorial on game-creation or game-programming:

It has no specifics on game-design per se: game creation, brainstorming, team-programming, etc. We used material from Fullerton's _Game Design Workshop_ (5 stars, highly recommended) for this.

It has little on code organization beyond the class-level. Multi-file builds, encapsulation of global variables, data persistence using pickle and database classes, etc.

It has little on specific tasks common to games: sprite-based collision-detection, on-screen menu selection, multi-player game issues, high-score pages with user-data entry, score-keeping, multi-level design, etc.

Others have noted the lack of a complete game in the text; while I don't find step-by-step follow-along examples in texts to be of great educational value, a complete example of a 2D game and of a 3D game could have been helpful. That said, Pygame comes with many examples of its own, and there are plenty of free games available on the web.

Overall, the text is what it purports to be, a basic introduction to the programming-side of basic Pygame game development.

The Game Maker's Apprentice: Game Development for Beginners (Technology in Action)
$39.99
My son is 11 and very interested in computer programming and making games. He is working on making a game for his little brothers to play for Christmas. He loves this program, and he was programming and creating fun games on the very first day. It appears as if you need the full version of the Gamemaker software to really do original things in creating your own games, but it teaches the basics and it is a lot of fun. I hope to find something just as good to help him learn other types of programming language and ability to work with different programs, but this is a great start.