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[TekunoRobby]

The purpose of this thread is to create a solid list of Game-related books that are highly recommended by users of this forum. We will divide all the nominations into categories in order to make the list easier to shift through.

I just want to let you guys know that all of the books that I’ve recommend I have personally read and own each one. I feel that these are excellent books that no one should ignore; they've been listed in alphabetical order.

Some of them might skew towards complete beginners and others might skew towards masters of their trade but they are an excellent resource no matter where you are in the industry. Of course I do recommend getting more information on each title to see if they suit your particular tastes, this is sort of a massive list not geared to any specific skill level. A word of warning though, some of them might be dated by a few years so some theories and topics might be a bit dated, again I recommend to further study each title.

If any of you feel that any of my nominations don't belong on the list then please voice your opinion and explain why, then I'll promptly remove it.

Layout:
Name of Book
Author of book
ISBN Number



Game Design
Game Architecture and Design: A New Edition
by: Andrew Rollings, Dave Morris
ISBN: 0735713634

Game Design: Secret of the Sages
by: Marc Saltzman
ISBN: 1566869870

Game Development Essentials: An Introduction
by: Jeannie Novak
ISBN: 1401862713

Theory of Fun for Game Design
by: Raph Koster
ISBN: 1932111972



Industry History
Dungeons and Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Game Culture from Geek to Chic
by: Brad King, John Borland
ISBN: 0072228881

Game Over: Press Start to Continue
by: David Sheff
ISBN: 0966961706

High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games (Second Edition)
by: Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson
ISBN: 0072231726

Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
by: David Kushner
ISBN: 0375505245

Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life
by: Chris Kohler
ISBN: 0744004241

Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984
by Van Burnham
ISBN: 0262524201

The Ultimate History of Video Games
by: Steven L. Kent
ISBN: 0761536434



Industry Information / How to get a job
Break Into The Game Industry: How to Get A Job Making Video Games
by Ernest Adams
ISBN: 0072226609

Get in the Game: Careers in the Game Industry
by: Marc Mencher
ISBN: 0735713073



Modelling / Texutring / Engines
Creating the Art of the Gamep
by: Matthew Omernick
ISBN: 0735714096

Mastering Unreal Technology: The Art of Level Design
by: Jason Busby, Zak Parrish, Joel VanEenwyk
ISBN: 0672326922

Modeling a Character in 3DS Max
by: Paul Steed
ISBN: 1556228155

The Dark Side of Game Texturing
by: David Franson
ISBN: 1592003508



Related Information / Analysis
Character Development and Storytelling for Games
by: Lee Sheldon
ISBN: 1592003532

Creating Emotion in Games: The Craft and Art of Emotioneering
by: David Freeman, Will Wright
ISBN: 1592730078

Mind at Play: The Psychology of Video Games
by: Geoffrey R. and Loftus, Elizabeth F. Loftus
ISBN: 0465046096

The Game Inventor's Guidebook
by: Brian Tinsman
ISBN: 0873495527

Trigger Happy : Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution
by: Steven Poole
ISBN: 1559705396

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy
by: James Paul Gee
ISBN: 1403965382



Future Categories:
3D Modelling Programs
-Guides to use 3DS Max, Maya, etc.

Animation Programs
-Guides to use popular animation software (includes Max, etc)

2D Art Programs
-Guides to use Photoshop, etc.

General Art Design
-Information to help you become a better artist

Audio Programs
- Guides to use popular audio software (

General Audio Design
-Information to help you become a better audio engineer

Programming
-All encompassing guides to become better programmers

AND WHATEVER ELSE YOU GUYS CAN THINK OF!

 

[TekunoRobby]

I also have a decent list of 3D and 2D software books to reccomend but I'll have to do that in another update. Sorry I left it out but I wanted to produce a list dedicated to video games initially. If any other CG artists and artists in general have some books they'd like to reccomend PLEASE DO (if not for the list then for me, heh)!

Anything related to video games I'd love to see reccomended, hopefully people and budding designers/developers will take this list and start researching these titles that they might not have heard of.

 

[shpankey]

Hmm... how about a category for story?

The Halo books (Fall of the Reach?) are really good I hear.

 

[AstroLad]

The Ultimate History of Video Games
by: Steven L. Kent
ISBN: 0761536434
-I'm not a big Kent fan, but he did a really good job with this book overall, very enjoyable stuff.

High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games (Second Edition)
by: Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson
ISBN: 0072231726
-Fucking great pics. Writing is so-so but imo the book is worth it b/c it's very visually appealing.

Trigger Happy : Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution
by: Steven Poole
ISBN: 1559705396
-Not bad, but a little too academic, pointless, and unfocused for me. That sounds like an insult, but I did enjoy the book, I just wish a little more thought had been put into a specific thesis and support as it sometimes devolves into rambling.

 

[TekunoRobby]

High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games (Second Edition)
-Fucking great pics. Writing is so-so but imo the book is worth it b/c it's very visually appealing.

Definitely check out Supercade then! Similar to High Score! but much more in depth in many other categories. It's a rather large book too, filled to the brim with beautiful pictures. Definitely a title no one should be without.

Trigger Happy : Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution
by: Steven Poole
ISBN: 1559705396
-Not bad, but a little too academic, pointless, and unfocused for me. That sounds like an insult, but I did enjoy the book, I just wish a little more thought had been put into a specific thesis and support as it sometimes devolves into rambling.

I agree but I felt the good points outweighed the bad ones, even though it's quite boring at times. This is a title that I definitely wouldn't reccomend to beginners or those who aren't interested in the topics covered.


Thanks for the comments and I'd love for anyone else to share their ideas about any of the books covered or any of the ones they reccomend. I created this thread to be a list of titles but I'd love to see some opinions, be it negative or positive, to give people some information on the titles.

 

[AstroLad]

Definitely check out Supercade then! Similar to High Score! but much more in depth in many other categories. It's a rather large book too, filled to the brim with beautiful pictures. Definitely a title no one should be without.


I agree but I felt the good points outweighed the bad ones, even though it's quite boring at times. This is a title that I definitely wouldn't reccomend to beginners or those who aren't interested in the topics covered.


Thanks for the comments and I'd love for anyone else to share their ideas about any of the books covered or any of the ones they reccomend. I created this thread to be a list of titles but I'd love to see some opinions, be it negative or positive, to give people some information on the titles.

Interesting, if I remember correctly I think the only thing that bothered me was that some (all?) of the Supercade screenshots were from MAME. I could be wrong, but I remember being somewhat disappointed as I was really looking forward to that book literally years before it came out and wound up not even buying it. :/

 

[DDayton]

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
Steven Levy
ISBN: 0141000511

Video game/computer history, up to about 1983 or 1984.

 

[BreakyBoy]

An archaic thread by GAF standards maybe, but

1. I never saw this thread in the first place
2. This deserves a bump IMO

I just finished reading Raph Koster's A Theory of Fun for Game Design and I'm of the opinion that it's an absolutely fantastic read for anyone, even if you're not into game design, and probably even if you're not into games at all.

In any case, I planned on coming here to make a post about it, and maybe make something similar to what TekunoRobby already did here. I ran a quick search for "Koster", just in case, and oh, hello there.

I was also going to do a quick review of what I liked about the book, but found myself at a loss as to how to express everything I just absorbed in the last few hours into something useful for those who have no idea what this is about (this is why I quit reviewing games :S), but I was fortunate enough to find this review which does it for me:

http://www.gamedev.net/columns/books/bookdetails.asp?productid=510

Buy it. Read it. Do it now damn you.

 

[Crazymoogle]

I respect what Koster has to say, but I have to admit that his products seem to be in direct-odds with the theory, so I've held back from buying the book. (Okay, well I have debts to pay and so on, too)

 

[boutrosinit]

I read this :

Game Design
Game Architecture and Design: A New Edition
by: Andrew Rollings, Dave Morris
ISBN: 0735713634


...and found it to be very dull and a bit 'no shit sherlock'. I would read this if I wanted to work in the games industry in the early to mid 90s, otherwise, I found a lot of the book to contain redundant information.

NOT recommended.

 

[BenT]

Leonard Herman am cry.

 

[polg]

Opening the Xbox : Inside Microsoft's Plan to Unleash an Entertainment Revolution
DEAN TAKAHASHI
0761537082

quite interesting book, specially when it retells tidbits like MS trying to buy Nintendo...

 

[NintendosBooger]

The Ultimate History of Video Games vs. Game Over: Press Start to Continue


Which is the better read? I have the latter, and I wonder if the first is worth getting...

 

[Patrick Klepek]

Game Over is more Nintendo oriented, isn't it?

 

[BreakyBoy]

Game Over is very much Nintendo-centric and Press Start/Ultimate History of Videogames, while providing a more general view of the industry as a whole, is very Atari-centric for about the first half.

They actually complement each other very well.

 

[vireland]

The Ultimate History of Video Games
by: Steven L. Kent
ISBN: 0761536434

Also known previously as "The First Quarter", a much more subtle and cool title before they did a "dude!" makover of the title and cover for the masses.

The First Quarter has Pac Man on the front and refers to the first 25 years of video games, as well as the beginnings of for pay arcade machines. I thought the title was very cool and creative. The masses apparently did not agree.

 

[kIdMuScLe]

does anybody know a good programming games for beginners?

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games (Second Edition)

I bought this at a wal-mart at 3 in the morning during a vacation trip to Florida in December of 2002. This is what you call a masterpiece. I messed mine up and I need another. Great history behind it. Goes all the way up to the launches of the Gamecube and the Xbox

 

[BreakyBoy]

does anybody know a good programming games for beginners?

I've heard several different definitions for "beginner programmers" in my time, so I'd need some clarification.

Have you had any programming experience whatsoever? If so, what languages, and what's the last thing you learned/truly grasped (data structures, basic sorting algorithms, polymorphism/inheritance, etc)?

 

[kIdMuScLe]

well, i had taken a BASIC language class in community college and i thought it was a waste of time as i didn't really learn anything till the last 2 weeks of class and then again i don't know why they bother to teach BASIC since you cannot follow it up in the next semester. and im retaking beginning c++ again after i failed to get a grasp of data structure, classes and strings. so yeah, can anyone recommend a good programming games for beginners? i would like to know so i could get one and use it down the road.

 

[BreakyBoy]

Beginning C++ Game Programming
by: Michael Dawson
ISBN: 1592002056

Didn't use it myself, but based on what I've been told, and based on what I did read of it myself when I was in B&N a few weeks ago, I wish I had this available to me when I was starting out.

From what I saw myself, it's much like any good beginner's programming book. It assumes you know nothing more than some basic algebra, and walks you through the important topics necessary to have a firm grasp of basic programming techniques, and then focuses towards the end towards more object-oriented/C++ centric topics. The nice twist here, is that the author uses basic games as programming examples to work from.

Mind you, you don't really touch anything graphics-oriented. It doesn't go further than something like a semi-elaborate version of Tic-Tac-Toe if I remember correctly, but that's exactly what you probably need. It provides you with all the basic foundations you need to start programming at all, and puts it into the proper context you'll need to start thinking of how the concepts can relate to designing and creating games.

Again, if my memory doesn't fail me, the last chapter dealt with polymorphism, so from there you should have a strong base to pick up a book devoted to more meaty subjects like 2D/3D graphics or physics programming.

 

[opkal]

I know I used to have some choose your own adventure Nintendo books, they were pretty kick ass at the time, I'd give you the whole info shabang if I had it, but I don't.

Then again, I don't know why anyone would want to read them, as their pretty child oriented.

 

[Prince of Space]

The Ultimate History of Video Games vs. Game Over: Press Start to Continue


Which is the better read? I have the latter, and I wonder if the first is worth getting...

They both compliment each other quite well, Game Over is a MUCH more fascinating read and a great look into Nintendo's world.

 

[kIdMuScLe]

Beginning C++ Game Programming
by: Michael Dawson
ISBN: 1592002056

Didn't use it myself, but based on what I've been told, and based on what I did read of it myself when I was in B&N a few weeks ago, I wish I had this available to me when I was starting out.

From what I saw myself, it's much like any good beginner's programming book. It assumes you know nothing more than some basic algebra, and walks you through the important topics necessary to have a firm grasp of basic programming techniques, and then focuses towards the end towards more object-oriented/C++ centric topics. The nice twist here, is that the author uses basic games as programming examples to work from.

Mind you, you don't really touch anything graphics-oriented. It doesn't go further than something like a semi-elaborate version of Tic-Tac-Toe if I remember correctly, but that's exactly what you probably need. It provides you with all the basic foundations you need to start programming at all, and puts it into the proper context you'll need to start thinking of how the concepts can relate to designing and creating games.

Again, if my memory doesn't fail me, the last chapter dealt with polymorphism, so from there you should have a strong base to pick up a book devoted to more meaty subjects like 2D/3D graphics or physics programming.

cool thanks for the info.

 

[TekunoRobby]

...and found it to be very dull and a bit 'no shit sherlock'. I would read this if I wanted to work in the games industry in the early to mid 90s, otherwise, I found a lot of the book to contain redundant information.

NOT recommended.

I listed it because I thought it would have been an excellent book for those who are completely new to the industry. However I haven't read it in QUITE a long time so it might be rather archaic by now.

Oh well, thanks for giving me your opinion.

 

[Crazy Harry]

For aspiring game designers:
Rules of Play
By Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman
isbn 0-262-24045-9

Covering a wide area of topics which are related to game design. All the topics can be used as a focus on how to design a game as well as combining them all into your games design. Most of the times they stay too much on the surface of the topics but they give you enough so you can think further. So maybe it's even better that they stay on the surface so you can implement your own thoughts.

 

[manji]

For aspiring game designers:
Rules of Play
By Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman
isbn 0-262-24045-9

+1, awesome book...a must-read.

 

[Keio]

Lucky Wander Boy
Author: D. Weiss
ISBN: 0452283949

Funny and insightful fiction book about videogame obsession, retro gaming and life.

There are a few low points and the narrative doesn't carry on that strong, but it does have moments of sheer brilliance.

 

[DDayton]

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
Steven Levy
ISBN: 0141000511

Video game/computer history, up to about 1983 or 1984.

Just wanted to remind all of you to read this book. It even has a little info on the Famicom!

 

[RiZ III]

A really good book for graphics programming is "Special Effects Game Programming with DirectX 8.0"

Its good even for noobs. Most of the stuff carries over from DX8 to DX9, so its not like the book is outdated. Theres some other 3d programming books in that series, but that one is probably one of the better ones imo.

If you are getting started with 3d programming, its best to look around online and try to understand the MS samples that are provided with the dx sdks.

Heres the details for the book:
# Paperback: 960 pages
# Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade; 1 edition (December 1, 2001)
# Language: English
# ISBN: 1931841063

 

[Ollie Pooch]

i love game graphics

this is a good'n