Without a doubt, preparing for a game development career requires a unique creative and technical skill set. Then, you’ve also got to understand the history of practical knowledge about gaming itself. It’s not all fun and games (pun intended).
Read on for 6 books that we know will help aspiring game developers.
The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell
In The Art of Game Design, Jesse Schell describes how a game can be perceived through its various components or lenses. That could be a free cash offer at Oncasi or buying new skins in League of Legends.
Each lens represents a perspective of consideration. He offers 100 lenses, each containing questions aimed at helping designers improve their games. For example, the Lens of Essential Experience helps designers arrive at the answer to what main experience they seek to provide. Schell has vast experience, from working at Disney, and was involved in projects like Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold, which influenced his theories.
Apart from general game mechanics, other aspects of players’ psychology are what motivates them to play and what keeps them engaged. The book also covers narrative, which includes story and world creation in order to make games, which functionally work, more than just a product developers sell.
The AyakaCasino Guide for Online Casino Beginners
The AyakaCasino guide is an excellent book for online casino beginners. You can find it as an ebook.
The AyakaCasino Guide for Online Casino Beginners provides new players with a comprehensive introductory outline to the iGaming industry that includes various casino games and guidelines for practicing responsible gambling.
This book details the inner workings of popular online games like slots, poker, and blackjack, and offers strategies for beginner users. It also explores the understanding behind the significance of the betting odds, and the effective management of your bankroll including the use of bonuses and promotions.
It’s a really great book if you’re looking for something different!
Game Programming Patterns by Robert Nystrom
The Game Programming Patterns discusses the most fundamental issues of game programming, like the Command Pattern that separates the request’s sender from the receiver and the State Pattern that permits an object to change its behavior based on its internal state. These virtually parallel developments exemplify the extensive range of game development ideals.
Having achieved these patterns, Nystrom goes a step further to explain how to design deep and efficient structures for software. Like all his other works, he uses real-life situations and codes, which makes his publications practical.
Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster
Raph Koster, in his book Theory of Fun for Game Design, tries to understand the concept of fun and its function in games.
Koster considers games to be processes of learning patterns, emphasizing that the enjoyment stems from the mastery of such patterns. The book is written in a non-scholarly style with a lot of drawings and images, which makes it fun to read.
The book also touches on cognitive science, that is, why and how humans are motivated and satisfied by challenges. Koster also presents how games change through time and highlights why some mechanics are timeless.
Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton
Fullerton’s Game Design Workshop adopts a design attitude in which the player is the focal point from the beginning. The book presents some exercises, some case studies, and some interviews with practitioners to give designers practical assistance.
Fullerton emphasizes the role of feedback in designing games and illustrates prototyping, playtesting, and iteration in the context of game creation. The book also provides a wider lens on game design by addressing multiple types of games, like board games and digital interactive games.
The Ultimate Guide to iGaming Regulations by Mark Weston
The Ultimate Guide to iGaming Regulations Mark Weston has written is often regarded as perhaps the most definitive reading material. It’s perfect for students and practitioners wanting to grasp the legal intricacies involving gambling services like online casinos and gaming platforms.
This ebook text discusses the standards of oligopoly broadband services, laws on compliance, and the history of gambling regulation on a global scale. It also reveals the different approaches to regulation within particular countries, like Europe and the newly developing regions in North America and Asia.
These books give valuable information to novice game developers—trust us, you’ll be doing a lot of reading before you become a game developer. You can find most of these books on Amazon or with a quick Google search. Stock up now and get reading!
Markus lives in San Francisco, California and is the video game and audio expert on Good e-Reader! He has a huge interest in new e-readers and tablets, and gaming.