Your favourite video game books.

[Kaamos_Llama]

Talking non fiction here, anything at all from an overall history of games to specific companies or incidents in the industry. Even talk on specics of game design, narrative whatever.

Basically I want to throw some gaming related stuff on my book wish list, and I'd like some personal recommendations. Have you been reading or listening to anything good?

 

[Colif]

Not to be confused with games based on books.
Books based on video games might be a small selection as well.
I know that wasn't the topic.

I can't think of any myself.

 

[Pifanjr]

Maybe look at @Brian Boru 's suggestions here:

Books about Gaming—broad strokes…

…so not about a single game—no guides or walkthrus etc. What books do you know of which provide a good overview of some aspect of gaming? That you'd like to eg give or get as a birthday present. @Zloth twigged the idea elsewhere by suggesting...

forums.pcgamer.com

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I'd either forgotten or hadnt seen Brian thread there. Nice.

Was hoping for a bit more of a list and . Lots around when you Google especially for history of video games.

 

[Brian Boru]

I'd either forgotten or hadnt seen Brian thread

Forgot—you liked my post day it was made

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Forgot—you liked my post day it was made

Bear with me, I've forgotten more than I've ever remembered

 

[Zloth]

I'm actually reading through my old Prima guide to City of Villans. There's some rather bad advice in there (get four power pools!?), but it's fun to remember.

For other people to read, though? The one mentioned in Brian's topic is the only one I can think of that isn't massively out of date.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I'm actually reading through my old Prima guide to City of Villans. There's some rather bad advice in there (get four power pools!?), but it's fun to remember.

For other people to read, though? The one mentioned in Brian's topic is the only one I can think of that isn't massively out of date.

Its not just history I'm after though. Can be anything from the story of a studio or publisher or the evolution of a particular type of game etc. A biography of a developer, design theory text books even, anything adjacent.

I'll pick up whatever's on Audible probably but would have been nice to get some other pointers as well as Brians list which are all interesting. Midway through The Great Hunt and need a bit of a breather from WOT after that.

 

[Brian Boru]

If you check the "Explore similar books" panel in any game book on Amazon, you could find some to your taste. Eg there are 25-30 listed in the carousel of this title:

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made: Schreier, Jason: 9780062651235: Books: Amazon.com

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made: Schreier, Jason: 9780062651235: Books: Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I've picked up Blood, Sweat and Pixels, along with Masters of Doom for now. I'll check out other recommendations from Amazon too.

If anyone has any others to suggest feel free to add them in

 

[Pifanjr]

I'll pick up whatever's on Audible

If listening also works for you, I do have a video I found very interesting from an indie game developer who has made a bunch of (relatively?) obscure titles:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stxVBJem3Rs

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

@Pifanjr I watched that one a while ago, but I may revisit because I don't remember much. I often watch or listen to that kind of documentary at night, so I often forget large chunks of it.

Its actually that kind of thing and the Noclip docs that have me interested in books I can listen to during the day when I can.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I was looking to see if there are any books about Billy Mitchell's Donkey Kong records, but all I could find was the documentary. But in the process of looking, I found out that Guinness reinstated his records after they were expunged a few years ago. I hadn't heard that they reinstated his records.

 

[MaddMann]

Well, I enjoyed "Empire of Imagination". It's the biography of Gary Gygax. I read a few books back when I was trying to become a game designer, but they made me cry and change my career decisions. Do you want those?

Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons - Kindle edition by Witwer, Michael. Humor & Entertainment Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons - Kindle edition by Witwer, Michael. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the...

www.amazon.com

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

No career decisions being made here, just pure interest so please go ahead.

The D&D book a good shout, thanks.

 

[Johnway]

Not a book per say, but i do enjoy reading retro gamer magazine. Some interesting articles for games and various gaming events in history. My recent article read was the console wars between Sega and Nintendo across the world. Especially interesting was the strategies each company took and the tactics across the world. I did like the retro section of Games tm as welll.

As for other books? sadly nothing springs to mind. i do have masters of doom in my to read list. Assuming i ever get to finish the horus heresy book series that is.

 

[PCG Jody]

I've read some good books on the history of tabletop roleplaying. Playing At the World by Jon Peterson for its origins, and Designers & Dragons by Shannon Appelcline for a history of the industry by decade.

On videogames, I liked Replay: The History of Video Games by Tristan Donovan for a big overview. I see you've already got Masters of Doom on your list, that's an interesting read.

Though not available as a book yet, I'm enjoying 50 Years of Text Games by Aaron A. Reed a lot. Here's the website. He picks one text-based game from each year, games like Zork, Oregon Trail, King of Dragon Pass, and 80 Days, and does a deep dive on each. There's a game called Silverwolf I'd never heard of, but was fascinated to learn about.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

@Johnway Appreciate the recommendation, interested in magazines and articles too.

@PCG Jody Wishlisted Tristan Donovans book and the 2 Shannon Applecline books for 70's and 80's. Pretty epic stuff at about 14 hours per those. Jon Petersons book not in Audible at the moment but listed separately.

Cheers guys got some stuff to keep me going for a while.

 

[Johnway]

@Kaamos_Llama i recommend getting the retrogamer annuals they condense all the best articles/features. They come in PDF form if you need to bag earlier annuals.

 

[Hitobat]

I read "Sonic the Hedgehog and the Silicon Warriors " as a child and thought it was awesome.
Also around a similar time there was a mini-book which came with an issue of PCGamer, which I think was a dramatic write up of someone playing an F1 racing game. Not sure which game or which reviewer, but I thought it was a really clever idea and pretty well-written too.

The Halo books are also pretty decent IMO, assuming you actually liked the game and its backstory.
Mass Effect had a graphic novel book thingy set between games 1+2 which was interesting, but really it was partially advertising/marketing for ME2.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

@Hitobat Thanks for the reply, but I'm not really looking for any video game related fiction

 

[Withywarlock]

The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Roleplaying Games by Felipe Pepe is a great read that goes into a number of roleplaying games. More summaries with some interesting facts than a fully blown analysis like those of Chris Davies, Lorerunner, Spoony, or Noah Caldwell-Gervais, but they have statements from the developers exclusive to the book. Strongly recommended for those who are super into RPG development and lore, but video analyses do a much better job too. It's a good supplement to other CRPG reading/listening.

Not a book, but my partner and I went to the National Video Game Museum earlier this week. Some good stuff in there, including the DOOM II master disc. Worth a look the next time you're in Sheffield.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

@Withywarlock the CRPG book is on my list thanks

Not sure when I'll next be in Sheffield though as its a long way from where I live and a quite a way from where I'm from. But I'll bear it in mind if I ever make it around that way as well.