Books to read about video game development?

[crantheman]

I recently finished Masters of DOOM which details the early days of id software and how John Romero and John Carmack developed DOOM, DOOM II, and Quake. I'm currently reading Blood, Sweat, and Pixels which details strenuous game developments such as Stardew Valley and Uncharted.

The former and the one I'm currently reading are fun reads that I highly recommend, but I'm not sure what to read after this one. Do y'all have any suggestions related to game development or any stories related to game developers/people in the industry?

-Cranberry

 

[ChunkOfWax]

I actually somewhat recently just read through the Boss Fight book on Katamari Damacy. It was an enjoyable read, although, I think your mileage my vary depending on what your looking to get out of this book. Even though it discusses a lot of the game's development, I don't think I'd look to this book as a way to learn more about game development on the whole. However, it still fun and interesting nonetheless, especially if you're a fan of Katamari. It offered some interesting creative insight that I wouldn't have known otherwise, and a lot of info regarding the history of the game. As a fan of Katamari, I enjoyed it :)

That being said though, this is the only Boss Fight book that I've read, and they have published a whooole bunch, all written by different authors and focused on different individual games. If they've written about a game that particularly piques your interest, I'd say give it a shot!

 

[log64]

I actually somewhat recently just read through the Boss Fight book on Katamari Damacy. It was an enjoyable read, although, I think your mileage my vary depending on what your looking to get out of this book. Even though it discusses a lot of the game's development, I don't think I'd look to this book as a way to learn more about game development on the whole. However, it still fun and interesting nonetheless, especially if you're a fan of Katamari. It offered some interesting creative insight that I wouldn't have known otherwise, and a lot of info regarding the history of the game. As a fan of Katamari, I enjoyed it :)

That being said though, this is the only Boss Fight book that I've read, and they have published a whooole bunch, all written by different authors and focused on different individual games. If they've written about a game that particularly piques your interest, I'd say give it a shot!

Boss Fights Books are pretty good - they actually do give a lot of insight into how the games are made. I highly recommend Spelunky by Boss Fight Books/Derek Yu. If you are unfamiliar, Derek Yu is the developer of indie hits Spelunky, Spelunky 2, and Aquaria. Unlike the other Boss Fight Books entries, Derek Yu himself wrote Spelunky as a sort of autodocumentary.

He gives a lot of good indie game dev advice in there. Like, invaluable imo. The most important takeaway is that the most important skill as an indie dev is finishing your game. He goes into a lot more detail in the book (and also in his blog), and I can't really summarize all the info here, but project/scope management is the most important skill you can have in indiedev and it will never be mentioned in any YouTube tutorial (often because those ppl have never actually shipped a game).

 

[crantheman]

Boss Fights Books are pretty good - they actually do give a lot of insight into how the games are made. I highly recommend Spelunky by Boss Fight Books/Derek Yu. If you are unfamiliar, Derek Yu is the developer of indie hits Spelunky, Spelunky 2, and Aquaria. Unlike the other Boss Fight Books entries, Derek Yu himself wrote Spelunky as a sort of autodocumentary.

He gives a lot of good indie game dev advice in there. Like, invaluable imo. The most important takeaway is that the most important skill as an indie dev is finishing your game. He goes into a lot more detail in the book (and also in his blog), and I can't really summarize all the info here, but project/scope management is the most important skill you can have in indiedev and it will never be mentioned in any YouTube tutorial (often because those ppl have never actually shipped a game).

I actually somewhat recently just read through the Boss Fight book on Katamari Damacy. It was an enjoyable read, although, I think your mileage my vary depending on what your looking to get out of this book. Even though it discusses a lot of the game's development, I don't think I'd look to this book as a way to learn more about game development on the whole. However, it still fun and interesting nonetheless, especially if you're a fan of Katamari. It offered some interesting creative insight that I wouldn't have known otherwise, and a lot of info regarding the history of the game. As a fan of Katamari, I enjoyed it :)

That being said though, this is the only Boss Fight book that I've read, and they have published a whooole bunch, all written by different authors and focused on different individual games. If they've written about a game that particularly piques your interest, I'd say give it a shot!

Never heard of Derek Yu and his Boss Fight Books. It looks like super interesting stuff. The minimalist black and white designs on the covers are a nice touch. I wish Derek Yu offered a hardcover option for his books but oh well.

Thanks LOG64 and ChunkOfWax for the recommendations! I'll buy the book on Spelunky when I get the chance.

 

[Term]

I actually somewhat recently just read through the Boss Fight book on Katamari Damacy. It was an enjoyable read, although, I think your mileage my vary depending on what your looking to get out of this book. Even though it discusses a lot of the game's development, I don't think I'd look to this book as a way to learn more about game development on the whole. However, it still fun and interesting nonetheless, especially if you're a fan of Katamari. It offered some interesting creative insight that I wouldn't have known otherwise, and a lot of info regarding the history of the game. As a fan of Katamari, I enjoyed it :)

That being said though, this is the only Boss Fight book that I've read, and they have published a whooole bunch, all written by different authors and focused on different individual games. If they've written about a game that particularly piques your interest, I'd say give it a shot!

Definitely gonna be picking this up, I'm a huge fan of Katamari (if you hadn't noticed) && I had no idea this book existed. Thanks for posting