I have been collecting books about game history lately. So far I worked myself tru Power up by Chris Kohler, the Ultimate history of videogames by Steven Kent, High Score by Rusel Demaria & Johnny Wilson and some odd book called A rough guide to videogames which is very rough indeed.
Now all books were moderately interesting to read but none of them really were what I was looking for. Some books seem to focus on the mechanics of the gaming industry, others focus a lot on recent games. Does anyone know about books that go into the actual technique of making games and the history of that? Also feel free to mention any book on this subject you have read.
I would be interested in knowing a book that discusses the history of game development itself rather than the timeline type of books which are so common.
We read a book in school "Game Development Essentials: An Introduction" by Jeannie Novak, might be something on what you're looking for.
For more about Game Design, Chris Crawford On Game Design isn't bad.
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I've done most of my studies out of that, but theres just myriads of books on the subject. I highly recommend that one though- for a study of game design (not programming, not specific case studies, not topical matters)
I have a book by some people at GameDev.net, once I get back home I'll find the exact title. It's pretty thick and covers many aspects about game design, one I really like which is the dexterity and difficulty level of games (ie hard platformers and the like) and how to make them balanced.
Although I am especially interested in the history of videogame development (being a history teacher who occasionally teaches gamemaking), I will get the books you guys recommend. Can't hurt my own crappy gamemaking skills
I second the vote on Chris Crawford's "On Game Design". It's not just about game design, it's got a bit of history and how Chris approached things during whatever level game development was at the time. It might be what you're looking for.
Game Design and Architecture by Rollings & Morris is also a great textbook for game design.
It's somewhat outdated, but a lot of it still applies.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
Yah good decision- Crawford's book, though I've only read bits of it, focuses more on game design as a concept, whereas Schell's is entirely on the techniques and design of games. The former likely more applicable for a teacher, the latter for a designer. To me, though, the best teacher has always been digesting thousands of pages of Wikipedia and TVTropes to learn 'what game makers do'
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