Great books on classic video games

152 点作者 hypnotist将近 4 年前

23 条评论

LucidLynx将近 4 年前

I highly recommend both Wolfenstein3D and Doom black books, from Fabien Sanglard, which are very technical and describe really well a ton of things around those games: how they have been developed, the tools they have been developed on / with, the context, ...Wolfenstein 3D Black Book: <a href="https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbwolf3d/" rel="nofollow">https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbwolf3d/</a>Doom Black Book: <a href="https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbdoom/" rel="nofollow">https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbdoom/</a>

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mister_tee将近 4 年前

Appreciate the suggestions in this thread. Adding recommendations for Blake Harris's "Console Wars" on 90s Sega vs. Nintendo competition, and Jason Schreier's "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels" for more of the development angle. It looks like he has a new book out just last week, "Press Reset" -- seems to be on studios/projects that shut down and the aftermath. Adding that one to my reading list.For the link to Boss Fight books: FYI the selector defaults to paperback; ebooks are a very reasonable $5 if anyone prefers digital. They're that price at Amazon for Kindle, too. But IIRC and based on reviews out there, they vary quite a bit in style and quality. Supposedly the Spelunky one is great and written by the creator himself. I bounced off the series because one book was mostly personal anecdotes from the author, a random person who just liked the game, rather than anything about the topic you wouldn't get from playing it or even reading wikipedia. Some of the books do have more research and interviews.

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bishnu将近 4 年前

Has anyone read Jordan Mechner's Prince of Persia journal? Was thinking of checking it out: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0578627310?pf_rd_r=HMREHVABQXQXVW97F1V0&pf_rd_p=ab873d20-a0ca-439b-ac45-cd78f07a84d8&pldnSite=1" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0578627310?pf_rd_r=HMREHVA...</a>

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alfiedotwtf将近 4 年前

Not sure what's in them because I can't find their Table of Contents, but if you're looking for other great books on specific games:1. Masters of Doom2. Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book

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hnal943将近 4 年前

I recommend They Create Worlds for a comprehensive view of the early industry. Great insights into the causes of the twin crashes of consoles and arcades in the early 80's<a href="https://theycreateworlds.com/" rel="nofollow">https://theycreateworlds.com/</a>

smoldesu将近 4 年前

I love the O'Reily design cues here, particularly the vague cover art and uniform cover elements. Had I not known this was a website, I probably would have killed to have a book titled "Super Mario Bros 3" with a racoon on the cover, but now I can just spend $15.

rvba将近 4 年前

Reverse Design: Diablo II is an interesting book about what makes Diablo 2 so addictive and nice to play. It is a relatively short book (less than 150 pages), where author starts with the way difficulty is set-up (with exaple of Galaxian, where afte4 ewch increase there is a moment of decrease and stability). Then author looks why the game is a "feel good" game - the character becomes better and better. Enemies get better too, but not so fast. There is also a nice chapter about the different types of randomness in the game: used to generate loot. As far as I remmember he also briefly mentions the "5 out of 10" quest system used in Diablo 1. What is really simple but good for replayability.For those interested in Blizzard/Blizzard North/Diablo 2 history you can also check the 2nd book called Stay awhile and listen: heaven, hell and secret cow levels. Author goes more into what wenr wrong during Diablo 2 development (and obviously what went good). The 1st book is about Diablo 1 and is much weaker: it is mlstly quotes "we made a great game". The second book repeats a lot of info from first and focuses more on why Blizzard North fell.

baud147258将近 4 年前

I was checking the description of the books and I can't resist rolling my eyes at the idea that KOTOR offered" complex morality choices". I mean the game follows the binary morality system from Star Wars with its Light/Dark sides, which were translated in-game as being a nice guy or a jerk.

darren_将近 4 年前

I see a lot of comments about other book series but not many about the specific bossfightbooks ones. Has anyone read any of them other than the Spelunky one?I read the Spelunky one and enjoyed it, and grabbed the Baldur's Gate II one because I was under the mistaken impression that all these books were by developers or people otherwise involved in the game's creation, and they'd be war stories or other interesting insights. It wasn't, it's just some guy (he's written a D&D novel but not related to BG in any way) writing general stuff about the game - nothing really in any depth - and a whole lot of stuff about himself. Not at all what I was looking for (my fault, should've read the blurb).Some of the other books seem to have interviews with creators or serious research done - are these good?

thrower123将近 4 年前

Not All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings by Ken Williams is another interesting one. It's more focused on the business side of the early game industry (especially the end of Sierra, and the author's side of the story relating to all the shenanigans involved), but it's a quick, interesting read. Probably people who weren't around in the 90s have forgotten how huge Sierra was in PC gaming.

bwb将近 4 年前

Very nice, and you might like these lists too:The Best Books For Understanding The Video Game Industry By Doug Walsh (who wrote over one hundred officially licensed video game strategy guides) <a href="https://shepherd.com/best-books/the-video-game-industry" rel="nofollow">https://shepherd.com/best-books/the-video-game-industry</a>orThe Best Video Game Narrative Histories And A Couple Of Others By Harold Goldberg, he is an author/journalist in the industry and wrote 'All Your Base Are Belong To Us' <a href="https://shepherd.com/best-books/video-game-narrative-histories" rel="nofollow">https://shepherd.com/best-books/video-game-narrative-histori...</a>

bigbillheck将近 4 年前

I can recommend "I Am Error", Nathan Altice's book about the NES: <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/i-am-error" rel="nofollow">https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/i-am-error</a>

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dejv将近 4 年前

I read Spelunky book from this series and found it extremely well written and very insightful in areas of game design. I've actually play the game after I've read the book.

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autarch将近 4 年前

I really enjoyed the Spelunky book.

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jccalhoun将近 4 年前

In addition to the books mentioned here, I would also suggest Atari Inc. Business is Fun which is a super well researched book about the early days of Atari. They were going to write a second one but one of the coauthors died last year so I don't know if work continues on it or not.

_the_inflator将近 4 年前

A lot of old book gems can be found over at archive.orgReally a treasure trove for old and "forgotten" classics.

gerlofs将近 4 年前

John Staats's diary on the development of World of Warcraft. A great book on game development culture, the craft of creating a truly 'massive' game, and, ultimately, a sad story of crunch-time and burnout.

corysama将近 4 年前

If you are interested in material like this, check out <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMakingOfGames/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMakingOfGames/</a>

nairodd将近 4 年前

David Craddock's "Stay a While and Listen" series.

mentos将近 4 年前

I’m enjoying Once Upon Atari about ‘the game that caused the collapse of the video games industry’ in the early 80sSome fun descriptions/stories of early life at Atari

bondant将近 4 年前

The Reverse Design series by Patrick Holleman is quite good in my opinion. I particularly enjoyed the one on Chrono Trigger.

baby将近 4 年前

I realize now that I would read a book on half life or counter strike and its inception.

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billytetrud将近 4 年前

I like how almost every one of these books has a somewhat random picture on the cover