Game development books #
I've been reading Andrew Rollings and Earnest Adams on Game Design. So far I've gone through 100 out of ~550 pages. It starts out covering what goes into a game from a high level -- challenge, victory, gameplay, interaction, and so on -- as well as the kinds of games out there. The book is organized well and I've enjoyed reading it so far. One of the things I like most is sections that contain a list of questions you should ask yourself about your game. The lists are short, the questions clear and concise, and they definitely make you think through the issues. As I go through the rest of the book, I'll post my thoughts on this blog.
Disclaimer: New Riders has sent me a whole bunch of books. So far, AR&EA on Game Design is my favorite. Other game-related books I've received: Chris Crawford on Game Design (Crawford), Get in the Game! Careers in the Game Industry (Mencher), Developing Online Games: An Insider's Guide (Mulligan,Patrovsky), and something about 3ds Max. Non-game-related books I've received: Python Web Programming (Holden), Linux Firewalls, Advanced Linux Programming (Mitchell,Samuel,Oldham), and a few others.
Counter-Disclaimer: I've been a big fan of New Riders programming-related books ever since I took a look at their MySQL and Python books; they were much better for me than the O'Reilly books on the same subjects. Many years ago, when I was universally condemning all game programming books, Andrew Rollings's Game Architecture and Design was the first book that seemed worthy.