This is a very interesting book, because it ahows how broken the video game industry is, but also shows why people still chose to work on it - and givThis is a very interesting book, because it ahows how broken the video game industry is, but also shows why people still chose to work on it - and gives some hope on how it can be fixed.
Another very interesting and informative book from Jason....more
This book is a pretty great way to start, if you are thinking about learning how to make games for the NES. It not only explains how the NES works, buThis book is a pretty great way to start, if you are thinking about learning how to make games for the NES. It not only explains how the NES works, but also teaches about many, many particularities of the platform - all with code examples, also avaliable on 8bitworkshop's IDE. It's mostly easy to follow - a few parts may require a couple google searches, depending on your experience with older platforms and the NES in particular.
However, be aware: this book requires some C experience, and 6502 ASM experience is a good extra to get 100% out of the it....more
This is an interesting book. It goes over the basics of Game Design and production, with many exercises that help developing the skills taught on the This is an interesting book. It goes over the basics of Game Design and production, with many exercises that help developing the skills taught on the chapter, and many, many very interesting interviews with people that work on the area.
This feels like a Game Design Textbook, and that's not a bad thing. I would recommend it to someone who wants to start learning Game Design, for sure....more
This is an incredible look at the small miracles the id Software team pulled to get Wolfenstein 3D to run on the computers back then. Very educative, This is an incredible look at the small miracles the id Software team pulled to get Wolfenstein 3D to run on the computers back then. Very educative, informative, and well explained book that explains in details how every different system of the game worked.
Really, really interesting read if you're into game development....more
This is a good, inspiring book, that suffers from one little problem: it's way outdated, and that makes most of it's resources and most of the technicThis is a good, inspiring book, that suffers from one little problem: it's way outdated, and that makes most of it's resources and most of the technical/store/business parts of the book either useless or way out of date.
Still, the basics here are still valid and strong, so it's still worth reading for anyone interested in game jams....more
This is a fine book on C64 Development. It starts easy and simple, with the basics on 6502 and some specifics of the platforms, and guides you throughThis is a fine book on C64 Development. It starts easy and simple, with the basics on 6502 and some specifics of the platforms, and guides you through the creation of two games - one simple space shooter, and a platformer.
The tutorials are very easy to follow, up to a certain point midway through the Shooter, where you have to start using the given examples to do anything. It's still easy to do, but if you are trying to do the projects on your own, there's a bit more work to do.
Still, it's a great intro to the C64. It doesn't enter more advanced topics, but that fine, since it's a book about the basics, and it does that really well....more
As the name says, this book is about Making Games for the Atari 2600. The VCS is an old console, full of little details, and programming for it isn't As the name says, this book is about Making Games for the Atari 2600. The VCS is an old console, full of little details, and programming for it isn't easy, but I felt this was a great entry point for it. It gives the reader great details about the VCS and the unique way it works, at times detailing code line by line and explaining what exactly each part of the code does.
Is it perfect? No, there are some problems. At certain parts of the book, it's not clear if the code given is something the reader has to follow and do, or some kind of example - I wasn't certain how to proceed the first time I saw that, but you kinda get the gist of it after some time. Some parts of the book are not up to date with their online environment, which can cause a bit of confusion - some examples in the website use things that are explained chapters ahead.
Anyway, still a great way to learn a bit about the VCS. While it's not a knowledge that can be easily used today, it helps you think about programming in different ways, and it's always great to expand your horizons....more
This is a good book, with lots of great tips and info about the games industry. However, it has some problems, in my opinion.
One of them is that, whilThis is a good book, with lots of great tips and info about the games industry. However, it has some problems, in my opinion.
One of them is that, while this book is a great resource to learn about an ample variety of subjects in Game Development, the way a few parts could use more examples, less code. I confess that, since I had some previous experience with Game Development, I kinda skimmed a few of those parts I already had some experience with, searching only for tidbits. However, those parts are few and between, and everything is well explained, in a general way.
Another (small) problem this has is, since this is a techlonogy book, a few things evolved from a few years ago - Version control systems have changed; The sample project need a few modifications to run on current versions of Visual Studio. However, most of the technology shown here is still up to date, and/or very useful for current skills.
Now, the good. This book shows a lot of great insights about game development - not only about code, but at how things happen on a real game company. The "Tales from the Trenches" are, sometimes, the most interesting part of the chapters.
If you want to have a general idea about game development, know programming well, and has patience for big code dumps, this book is great for you! If you want more in-dept info, or have absolutely no experience with coding, search somewhere else....more
This book is considered a must-read for many people, and I can see why: It explores and demonstrates pretty much every aspect of game engine developmeThis book is considered a must-read for many people, and I can see why: It explores and demonstrates pretty much every aspect of game engine development, in an relatively easy to follow and understand way - some programming experience is needed, of course, but the book does explain things from the very basic and gives the reader a few references for things it does not teach, like C++.
The edition I've read - the second edition - has one or two things that I know could be updated, but most of it is modern and applicable today. The examples could go a bit deeper, but I understand why they don't most of the times - it's a book written to teach a general idea on game engine programming, if you want to go deeper, you'd probably search for books on the specific subjects you want to learn more about.
Overall, a great book. Nowadays I'd get the third edition, of course, but still, well worth reading if you want to learn about Game Engines, and I'm sure it can work well as a reference book too....more
Very good book on Design Patterns for Games. If you are a game developer, you probably know and use a few, if not most of those patterns already. HoweVery good book on Design Patterns for Games. If you are a game developer, you probably know and use a few, if not most of those patterns already. However, the author explains quite a few use cases, optimizations, and reasons why it's better to use one pattern instead of another, depending on what tradeoffs you can accept. Not only that, but the author favors showing things by example, step by step, with a lot of humor in-between, which works better in this case than just dumping a lot of theory at the reader and showing one example or two. Oh, while the focus is on game development, most of the designs in this book are also useful for other types of applications.
Even if you know a bit about Game Programming, I feel this is a good read - it's not a long book, and you may learn a few things. Some of the most useful lessons on this book are not when to use a pattern or when to do something, but when NOT to use a certain pattern or when it's not worth doing some optimization, heavy change or something like that. I feel most programmers could benefit from learning a bit about that too....more
This book is a great overview on game development and design, but doesn't go too deep into many of the facets, so some people may think it is a bit toThis book is a great overview on game development and design, but doesn't go too deep into many of the facets, so some people may think it is a bit too superficial, but as someone that works with games and knows many people who works with games, I wish more people - not just designers, but artists and developers too - read this and followed some of the authors advices. I've seen people fall in the the most obvious pitfalls described here.
If you work with games and didn't read it yet, please do. In special if you work as a designer, producer, or anything with any decision power. Your team will be happier this way....more
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