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Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
“The stories in this book make for a fascinating and remarkably complete pantheon of just about every common despair and every joy related to game development.” — Rami Ismail, cofounder of Vlambeer and developer of Nuclear Throne
Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes readers on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius. Exploring the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities, marketplace demands, and Donkey Kong-sized monkey wrenches thrown into the works by corporate, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels reveals how bringing any game to completion is more than Sisyphean—it's nothing short of miraculous.
Taking some of the most popular, bestselling recent games, Schreier immerses readers in the hellfire of the development process, whether it's RPG studio Bioware's challenge to beat an impossible schedule and overcome countless technical nightmares to build Dragon Inquisition; indie developer Eric Barone's single-handed efforts to grow country-life RPG Stardew Valley from one man's vision into a multi-million-dollar franchise; or Bungie spinning out from their corporate overlords at Microsoft to create Destiny, a brand new universe that they hoped would become as iconic as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings—even as it nearly ripped their studio apart.
Documenting the round-the-clock crunches, buggy-eyed burnout, and last-minute saves, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a journey through development hell—and ultimately a tribute to the dedicated diehards and unsung heroes who scale mountains of obstacles in their quests to create the best games imaginable.
“The stories in this book make for a fascinating and remarkably complete pantheon of just about every common despair and every joy related to game development.” — Rami Ismail, cofounder of Vlambeer and developer of Nuclear Throne
Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes readers on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius. Exploring the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities, marketplace demands, and Donkey Kong-sized monkey wrenches thrown into the works by corporate, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels reveals how bringing any game to completion is more than Sisyphean—it's nothing short of miraculous.
Taking some of the most popular, bestselling recent games, Schreier immerses readers in the hellfire of the development process, whether it's RPG studio Bioware's challenge to beat an impossible schedule and overcome countless technical nightmares to build Dragon Inquisition; indie developer Eric Barone's single-handed efforts to grow country-life RPG Stardew Valley from one man's vision into a multi-million-dollar franchise; or Bungie spinning out from their corporate overlords at Microsoft to create Destiny, a brand new universe that they hoped would become as iconic as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings—even as it nearly ripped their studio apart.
Documenting the round-the-clock crunches, buggy-eyed burnout, and last-minute saves, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a journey through development hell—and ultimately a tribute to the dedicated diehards and unsung heroes who scale mountains of obstacles in their quests to create the best games imaginable.
353 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 4, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,984 reviews
April 13, 2019
I picked this book up for one reason: to learn why Diablo 3 was such a letdown. I vaguely remembered a well-known developer posting "F*** that loser" on Facebook in reference to a past contributor criticizing the new game and that being a big deal. I really hoped to get the full story behind what went on there. Speculation on Blizzard's next Diablo venture would have been cool, too. Really, I would have read a book entirely about the Diablo franchise.
By the time I got to the Diablo 3 section, I was enamored by Jason Schreier's writing. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I knew little about any of the games developed aside from their names. That is, aside from recollection of my reaction to the Halo Wars announcement: "Something fishy is going on here." I'm so far behind the times that when Schreier kindly mentioned that Diablo 2's mechanics had been antiquated by more modern games, I honestly had no idea what games he was referring to. I need to get out more. This is a saying which, when extended to the realm of gaming, means the exact opposite.
I ended each chapter totally stoked for each game (and will probably buy Stardew Valley this weekend). What makes Jason such an effective writer for this subject matter is that he doesn't come off as a geek. I don't know how else to say it. He can communicate the joy of gaming to people that haven't experienced it- ever. In my case, he brought back memories that were long forgotten.
As an aspiring project manager and journeyman engineer, I found each tale of taking product to market fascinating. It's a few steps away from a business case study. Does the prevalence of "crunch time" become excessive? Yes, but it sounds like a lot of fun to me. The way that the teams are formed and how they deal with requirements passed down from the top of the organization could have been explained in greater detail, in fact. Great video games are culturally significant treasures, much like artwork or a fine wine. Just kidding about the wine. Capturing what has gone into some of the masterpieces of our time that transcends the underlying subject is important and exciting. I really enjoyed the book.
View this review and others on my blog
By the time I got to the Diablo 3 section, I was enamored by Jason Schreier's writing. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I knew little about any of the games developed aside from their names. That is, aside from recollection of my reaction to the Halo Wars announcement: "Something fishy is going on here." I'm so far behind the times that when Schreier kindly mentioned that Diablo 2's mechanics had been antiquated by more modern games, I honestly had no idea what games he was referring to. I need to get out more. This is a saying which, when extended to the realm of gaming, means the exact opposite.
I ended each chapter totally stoked for each game (and will probably buy Stardew Valley this weekend). What makes Jason such an effective writer for this subject matter is that he doesn't come off as a geek. I don't know how else to say it. He can communicate the joy of gaming to people that haven't experienced it- ever. In my case, he brought back memories that were long forgotten.
As an aspiring project manager and journeyman engineer, I found each tale of taking product to market fascinating. It's a few steps away from a business case study. Does the prevalence of "crunch time" become excessive? Yes, but it sounds like a lot of fun to me. The way that the teams are formed and how they deal with requirements passed down from the top of the organization could have been explained in greater detail, in fact. Great video games are culturally significant treasures, much like artwork or a fine wine. Just kidding about the wine. Capturing what has gone into some of the masterpieces of our time that transcends the underlying subject is important and exciting. I really enjoyed the book.
View this review and others on my blog
March 19, 2019
Dear Goodreads Father, forgive me, for I have sinned: I love video games as much as I love books. It's true, I put them on an equal level. I know it is blasphemy, but I cannot help this corruption of my heart. Truth is, I love anything with a story, no matter the medium. Film, TV, books, video games, the secret hearts of strangers...
But, yes, video games, the newest and most immature of these media and therefore the one with the most room for growth. I have been there from nearly the beginning and have watched it bloom from pixellated graphics, childish themes, and simplistic mechanics to what we have today, a verdant garden of diverse flowers, some merely a joy for the senses to behold but others a newer, more active exploration of humanity.
I've watched the culture of gaming grow too. I remember the days when being a gamer made you a GEEK (that is, a NERD). TV & film invariably depicted gamers as ultra-nerds and outcasts (think Stranger Things’ depiction of the kids). They weren’t wrong, exactly, but still, what made this hobby of mine inferior to the hobby of people gathering around a TV to watch grown men toss around a ball?
I didn't know and, for me, gaming felt a secret shame.
I remember, too, the first time I played an online game, in the late 90s. My uncle showed me a WW2 airplane dog-fighting game, and it blew my mind! People from all over the world connected to play with each other in real time, to engage together anonymously in this secret hobby. In that moment, in my mind, the world was made irrevocably smaller. Ever after, I found the idea of borders and countries rather quaint. I could feel no hate, no out-group bias, toward those of other countries, for such distance was but a light-speed hop and skip through the fiber optic nerves of the Internet.
Point is, I’m a huge fan of video games, so I thoroughly enjoyed Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, which gives a concise but intimate peek into the development and developers of some of the most popular games of the past decade. It’s all too easy to forget that behind these fantastical, otherworldly creations are artists who have sacrificed heavily to turn their vision into reality. That’s probably why my favorite chapters were about the indie teams or studios, like those behind Shovel Knight, Stardew Valley, and Pillars of Eternity. Their stories are all inspiring triumphant under-dog stories.
This is especially gratifying to me because I backed (on Kickstarter) the original Double Fine Adventure, despite absolutely hating adventure games, *solely* to demonstrate the viability of developer studios making games independently, without a publisher. The democratization of game development, if you will. So it was highly pleasing to me to read how Obsidian was inspired by the success of DFA to make their own Kickstarter for the isometric cRPG, Pillars of Eternity. Kinda feels like I helped make that possible, y’know?
With that said, I don't think any particular knowledge or engagement of video games is necessary to understand this book, as it’s written quite simply and many video game terms and systems are explained for those who may not know them. At the same time, there's no denying that a familiarity with video games does help one appreciate this book.
For example, one of the chapters is on Diablo III, and this chapter focuses heavily on the RMAH (Real Money Auction House). Before release, myself & others lobbied Blizzard to remove this system from their game because it would create a conflict-of-interest: the designers would need to make loot sparse and unsatisfying, in order to funnel players towards the RMAH. You never want that - adding tedium and inconvenience, just so people will pay to avoid it. That's bad design. Maybe even unethical, in its exploitation of people's addictive tendencies.
Of course, Blizzard ignored us. And surprise, surprise! we turned out to be correct, and the RMAH was eventually removed, a process that is touched upon in this book. So I have a lot of history that made reading this book a bit like seeing Wizard of Oz behind his curtain.
In summary, it’s easy to recommend this book to anyone who is a gamer, whether they’re specifically familiar with the games or not (There’s ten chapters/games: Diablo 3; Destiny; Witcher 3; Halo Wars; Uncharted 4; Shovel Knight; Star Wars 1313; Pillars of Eternity; Dragon Age: Inquisition; & Stardew Valley). For those who aren’t gamers, it’s still a light, humanizing read about an industry that is swiftly becoming a juggernaut and may even one day become the King of Story.
But, yes, video games, the newest and most immature of these media and therefore the one with the most room for growth. I have been there from nearly the beginning and have watched it bloom from pixellated graphics, childish themes, and simplistic mechanics to what we have today, a verdant garden of diverse flowers, some merely a joy for the senses to behold but others a newer, more active exploration of humanity.
I've watched the culture of gaming grow too. I remember the days when being a gamer made you a GEEK (that is, a NERD). TV & film invariably depicted gamers as ultra-nerds and outcasts (think Stranger Things’ depiction of the kids). They weren’t wrong, exactly, but still, what made this hobby of mine inferior to the hobby of people gathering around a TV to watch grown men toss around a ball?
I didn't know and, for me, gaming felt a secret shame.
I remember, too, the first time I played an online game, in the late 90s. My uncle showed me a WW2 airplane dog-fighting game, and it blew my mind! People from all over the world connected to play with each other in real time, to engage together anonymously in this secret hobby. In that moment, in my mind, the world was made irrevocably smaller. Ever after, I found the idea of borders and countries rather quaint. I could feel no hate, no out-group bias, toward those of other countries, for such distance was but a light-speed hop and skip through the fiber optic nerves of the Internet.
Point is, I’m a huge fan of video games, so I thoroughly enjoyed Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, which gives a concise but intimate peek into the development and developers of some of the most popular games of the past decade. It’s all too easy to forget that behind these fantastical, otherworldly creations are artists who have sacrificed heavily to turn their vision into reality. That’s probably why my favorite chapters were about the indie teams or studios, like those behind Shovel Knight, Stardew Valley, and Pillars of Eternity. Their stories are all inspiring triumphant under-dog stories.
This is especially gratifying to me because I backed (on Kickstarter) the original Double Fine Adventure, despite absolutely hating adventure games, *solely* to demonstrate the viability of developer studios making games independently, without a publisher. The democratization of game development, if you will. So it was highly pleasing to me to read how Obsidian was inspired by the success of DFA to make their own Kickstarter for the isometric cRPG, Pillars of Eternity. Kinda feels like I helped make that possible, y’know?
With that said, I don't think any particular knowledge or engagement of video games is necessary to understand this book, as it’s written quite simply and many video game terms and systems are explained for those who may not know them. At the same time, there's no denying that a familiarity with video games does help one appreciate this book.
For example, one of the chapters is on Diablo III, and this chapter focuses heavily on the RMAH (Real Money Auction House). Before release, myself & others lobbied Blizzard to remove this system from their game because it would create a conflict-of-interest: the designers would need to make loot sparse and unsatisfying, in order to funnel players towards the RMAH. You never want that - adding tedium and inconvenience, just so people will pay to avoid it. That's bad design. Maybe even unethical, in its exploitation of people's addictive tendencies.
Of course, Blizzard ignored us. And surprise, surprise! we turned out to be correct, and the RMAH was eventually removed, a process that is touched upon in this book. So I have a lot of history that made reading this book a bit like seeing Wizard of Oz behind his curtain.
In summary, it’s easy to recommend this book to anyone who is a gamer, whether they’re specifically familiar with the games or not (There’s ten chapters/games: Diablo 3; Destiny; Witcher 3; Halo Wars; Uncharted 4; Shovel Knight; Star Wars 1313; Pillars of Eternity; Dragon Age: Inquisition; & Stardew Valley). For those who aren’t gamers, it’s still a light, humanizing read about an industry that is swiftly becoming a juggernaut and may even one day become the King of Story.
January 4, 2018
As much as it hopes to show the "realities" of game development, Jason Schreier's book only succeeds at casually shrugging off crunch, "death marches" and glaringly evident worker exploitation. The stories sell, but his writing is grossly irresponsible.
This quote by Glen Weldon on NPR sums up my thoughts:
This quote by Glen Weldon on NPR sums up my thoughts:
"There's another book lurking beneath the surface of the one Schreier's written, which ditches such blandishments and tackles the culture of gaming — and gaming development — with a saltiness that would provide real insights into its easily wounded, boys-only (or at least, boys-largely) ethos. To be fair, that's not the one Schreier set out to write. What he's produced instead offers a useful survey of the landscape of game production at this cultural moment, if you're willing to accept its argument that the industry's every bug is, in fact, a feature."
Read
January 8, 2021Nihayet bitti... Çevirisi tahmin ettiğimden daha uzun sürdü. Ama suç kitapta değil, bende.
Eski Kotaku yazarlarından Jason Schreier'ın kaleme aldığı bu kitapta Pillars of Eternity, Uncharted 4, Stardew Valley, Diablo III, Halo Wars, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Shovel Knight, Destiny, The Witcher 3 ve iptal edilmesiyle çok konuşulan Star Wars 1313'ün arkasındaki yapım hikâyeleri anlatılıyor.
Geliştiriciler bu oyunları yapmaya nasıl karar verdi, hangi aşamalardan geçtiler, ne tür zorluklarla uğraştılar? Hepsi belgelerle ve röportajlarla anlatılmış. Aynı zamanda Dragon Age 2'nin neden kötü bir oyun olduğu, Neil Druckmann'ın nasıl Naughty Dog'un tepesine tırmandığı ve CD Projekt Red'in kuruluş öyküsü gibi ilginç yan detaylar da var.
Çevirinin en zor yanı hiç şüphesiz durmadan oyun oynama isteği uyandırmasıydı :) Ayrıca The Witcher 3'le ilgili bölümü diğerlerinden daha hızlı çevirmiş olabilirim...
Kitap bir aksilik olmazsa yakında İthaki Yayınları'ndan çıkacak. Şimdiden keyifli okumalar.
Eski Kotaku yazarlarından Jason Schreier'ın kaleme aldığı bu kitapta Pillars of Eternity, Uncharted 4, Stardew Valley, Diablo III, Halo Wars, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Shovel Knight, Destiny, The Witcher 3 ve iptal edilmesiyle çok konuşulan Star Wars 1313'ün arkasındaki yapım hikâyeleri anlatılıyor.
Geliştiriciler bu oyunları yapmaya nasıl karar verdi, hangi aşamalardan geçtiler, ne tür zorluklarla uğraştılar? Hepsi belgelerle ve röportajlarla anlatılmış. Aynı zamanda Dragon Age 2'nin neden kötü bir oyun olduğu, Neil Druckmann'ın nasıl Naughty Dog'un tepesine tırmandığı ve CD Projekt Red'in kuruluş öyküsü gibi ilginç yan detaylar da var.
Çevirinin en zor yanı hiç şüphesiz durmadan oyun oynama isteği uyandırmasıydı :) Ayrıca The Witcher 3'le ilgili bölümü diğerlerinden daha hızlı çevirmiş olabilirim...
Kitap bir aksilik olmazsa yakında İthaki Yayınları'ndan çıkacak. Şimdiden keyifli okumalar.
May 5, 2018
Ten separate articles about the making of 10 particular video games, with no connecting materials or conclusions drawn. May be of interest to players of those games, but fails to live up to the cover blurbs, e.g. "A fascinating and remarkably complete pantheon."
The ten games, in order, are Pillars of Eternity, Uncharted 4, Stardew Valley, Diablo III, Halo Wars, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Shovel Knight, Destiny, The Witcher 3, and Star Wars 1313. Only the last was never released. There was only a very scant conclusion with no "lessons learned", so here's what I gleaned from the stories.
Making video games is harder than you think. New consoles and platforms are challenging (though no mention was made of cross platform libraries that make it a little easier). Having a big company running things makes it easier (more money) and harder (less flexible deadlines). Games ship late because of bugs. Almost all games suffer from "crunch time" (serious developer overtime to finish the game), nobody wants to do that, and it usually results from bugs.
Now that I've lent Jason Schreier a concluding paragraph that at least sums up what this book is about, the worst thing I saw were the bugs. This isn't life and death quality software, but surely the libraries also come with test suites? If a particular scene is vulnerable to shots going out of bounds, surely there are "shoot every direction" bots that would test for that? Based on the stories in this book, I am appalled at the level of testing directed at video games, and the amount of developer hours it costs teams at the end of their projects.
If you have played one or more of the titles listed and really want to know some of what went behind making those games, this book might be of interest to you. Since the 10 articles are not connected in any way, it could also be read like a short encyclopedia. I didn't get much out of it, and wouldn't recommend it - it really didn't live up to the hype. 1½ stars.
Further cover quotes:
"Gripping, intelligent." - no.
"Opens a crucial door into an abnormally secretive industry." - maybe, is any other software more open?
"Brutal, honest, yet ultimately uplifting." - I do trust that the stories told here are honest, but don't see them as either brutal or uplifting, much less both. This last quote is from Adam Conover (Adam Ruins Everything) who goes further to say "I was surprised by every page." Adam has clearly never worked in software, and besides many of these stories are quite similar to each other.
The ten games, in order, are Pillars of Eternity, Uncharted 4, Stardew Valley, Diablo III, Halo Wars, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Shovel Knight, Destiny, The Witcher 3, and Star Wars 1313. Only the last was never released. There was only a very scant conclusion with no "lessons learned", so here's what I gleaned from the stories.
Making video games is harder than you think. New consoles and platforms are challenging (though no mention was made of cross platform libraries that make it a little easier). Having a big company running things makes it easier (more money) and harder (less flexible deadlines). Games ship late because of bugs. Almost all games suffer from "crunch time" (serious developer overtime to finish the game), nobody wants to do that, and it usually results from bugs.
Now that I've lent Jason Schreier a concluding paragraph that at least sums up what this book is about, the worst thing I saw were the bugs. This isn't life and death quality software, but surely the libraries also come with test suites? If a particular scene is vulnerable to shots going out of bounds, surely there are "shoot every direction" bots that would test for that? Based on the stories in this book, I am appalled at the level of testing directed at video games, and the amount of developer hours it costs teams at the end of their projects.
If you have played one or more of the titles listed and really want to know some of what went behind making those games, this book might be of interest to you. Since the 10 articles are not connected in any way, it could also be read like a short encyclopedia. I didn't get much out of it, and wouldn't recommend it - it really didn't live up to the hype. 1½ stars.
Further cover quotes:
"Gripping, intelligent." - no.
"Opens a crucial door into an abnormally secretive industry." - maybe, is any other software more open?
"Brutal, honest, yet ultimately uplifting." - I do trust that the stories told here are honest, but don't see them as either brutal or uplifting, much less both. This last quote is from Adam Conover (Adam Ruins Everything) who goes further to say "I was surprised by every page." Adam has clearly never worked in software, and besides many of these stories are quite similar to each other.
January 29, 2023
لذت معنوی بود، دم حسین قاضی گرم که باعث شد کتاب به چشم من بیاد و اینقدر از خوندن کتاب حال کنم و کلی درس آموزنده بگیرم.
ممنون از شما آقای جیسون عزیز نویسنده کتاب، کتابی نوشتی که بالاخره باید نوشته میشد.
بخونید تا بدونید دوستان بازیساز چه سختی و عذابی تحمل میکنند که شما بتونید از بازیهایی که میسازند نهایت لذت رو ببرید. بدونید کرانچ کردن یعنی چی، سه شیفت کاری کار کردن و شش ماه از خانواده دور بودن یعنی چی، دقت در جزییات یعنی چی، بدونید که اضافهکاری معمولاً در استودیوهای بازیسازی حقوق نداره، ولی عزیزان صرفاً به خاطر اون Passion و عشقی که به کارشون دارند هفتاد ساعت پشت سر هم برای صحنهای که نهایتاً ده ثانیه از زمان زندگی شما رو پر میکنه کار میکنند، بخونید تا بدونید خلق هنر چه مکافاتی داره، و خلق ویدیوگیم قطعاً سختترین چیزی هست که به عمرم دیدم و شنیدم.
نیل دراکمن عزیز خالق لست آو آس میگه گاهی اوقات Passion شما و کاری که دوست دارید انجام بدید با عشق شما و کسی که دوست دارید در یک راستا قرار نمیگیرند، برقرار کردن تعادل بین اینا واقعاً سخته
چقدر کتاب خوبی بود، ادامهای هم داره که قطعاً میخونم، همین هم اینقدر خوب بود نفهمیدم چجوری اینقدر سریع تموم شد، برنامه ده روزه داشتم.
ممنون از شما آقای جیسون عزیز نویسنده کتاب، کتابی نوشتی که بالاخره باید نوشته میشد.
بخونید تا بدونید دوستان بازیساز چه سختی و عذابی تحمل میکنند که شما بتونید از بازیهایی که میسازند نهایت لذت رو ببرید. بدونید کرانچ کردن یعنی چی، سه شیفت کاری کار کردن و شش ماه از خانواده دور بودن یعنی چی، دقت در جزییات یعنی چی، بدونید که اضافهکاری معمولاً در استودیوهای بازیسازی حقوق نداره، ولی عزیزان صرفاً به خاطر اون Passion و عشقی که به کارشون دارند هفتاد ساعت پشت سر هم برای صحنهای که نهایتاً ده ثانیه از زمان زندگی شما رو پر میکنه کار میکنند، بخونید تا بدونید خلق هنر چه مکافاتی داره، و خلق ویدیوگیم قطعاً سختترین چیزی هست که به عمرم دیدم و شنیدم.
نیل دراکمن عزیز خالق لست آو آس میگه گاهی اوقات Passion شما و کاری که دوست دارید انجام بدید با عشق شما و کسی که دوست دارید در یک راستا قرار نمیگیرند، برقرار کردن تعادل بین اینا واقعاً سخته
چقدر کتاب خوبی بود، ادامهای هم داره که قطعاً میخونم، همین هم اینقدر خوب بود نفهمیدم چجوری اینقدر سریع تموم شد، برنامه ده روزه داشتم.
November 5, 2017
Executive Summary: I think this book can appeal to both software developers and fans of video games alike, but it's definitely targeted more at the latter than the former.
Full Review
This book was previewed with an excerpt from the chapter on Diablo 3 (which incidentally is the ONLY game in this book that I've actually played/plan to play).
When I was younger I wanted to make video games. Somewhere along the way however I felt like I'd rather spend my time PLAYING games instead of making them. This book helps to illustrate why. I work 40 hours/week as a software developer. There have been days or weeks where I had to stay late, or when things went sideways and I was fighting a fire. But nothing like the "crunch" described in every single story in this book.
It's a wonder games get made at all. These people must really love making games. Personally, I'll stick to writing business apps for my day jobs and keeping video games something I consume.
I've read some better/more in-depth books about video games, but this made for a decent sampler with a variety of stories. It was a quick read, with each game getting a single chapter of about 20-30 pages each.
Each story in here is unique enough to be interesting, but they do all share a theme of things running over budget, behind schedule and requiring insane hours/overtime to finish at all. You get some stories of indie games, and huge big budget games and a few in between.
The tone is definitely more for fans of games, and not (potential) developers. Anything even slightly technical seems to be explained in a footnote that I often skipped, but I imagine will be useful to most readers. I didn't find that to be the detriment of the book however, as despite also being a software developer, I'm a fan of video games.
Of all of these stories, the Stardew Valley one was probably the most interesting. I had mostly picked this up to read the rest of the Diablo 3 story (so good job on that marketing Kotaku!), but I liked reading about all of these games.
I think if you're a fan of any of these games, or just a big fan of videogames in general, this is a pretty good read.
Full Review
This book was previewed with an excerpt from the chapter on Diablo 3 (which incidentally is the ONLY game in this book that I've actually played/plan to play).
When I was younger I wanted to make video games. Somewhere along the way however I felt like I'd rather spend my time PLAYING games instead of making them. This book helps to illustrate why. I work 40 hours/week as a software developer. There have been days or weeks where I had to stay late, or when things went sideways and I was fighting a fire. But nothing like the "crunch" described in every single story in this book.
It's a wonder games get made at all. These people must really love making games. Personally, I'll stick to writing business apps for my day jobs and keeping video games something I consume.
I've read some better/more in-depth books about video games, but this made for a decent sampler with a variety of stories. It was a quick read, with each game getting a single chapter of about 20-30 pages each.
Each story in here is unique enough to be interesting, but they do all share a theme of things running over budget, behind schedule and requiring insane hours/overtime to finish at all. You get some stories of indie games, and huge big budget games and a few in between.
The tone is definitely more for fans of games, and not (potential) developers. Anything even slightly technical seems to be explained in a footnote that I often skipped, but I imagine will be useful to most readers. I didn't find that to be the detriment of the book however, as despite also being a software developer, I'm a fan of video games.
Of all of these stories, the Stardew Valley one was probably the most interesting. I had mostly picked this up to read the rest of the Diablo 3 story (so good job on that marketing Kotaku!), but I liked reading about all of these games.
I think if you're a fan of any of these games, or just a big fan of videogames in general, this is a pretty good read.
Shelved as 'wishlist'
October 13, 2020On sale for $2.99 today! As a gamer who's played or wants to play several of the games mentioned in here, I am PUMPED
June 15, 2019
В этой книге десять не связанных друг с другом глав, и большая их часть друг от друга структурно неотличима.
1. Команда начинает делать игру. Все бодры, веселы и уверены в своих силах.
2. Происходит что-то ужасное: теряется видение, самодурствует начальство, затягивается творческий поиск. Иногда все вышеперечисленное. В результате сроки срываются, а бюджет кончается, когда игра еще далека от готовности.
3. Команда начинает кранчить как проклятая, чтобы выпустить игру поскорее хоть в каком-нибудь виде. Никто в студии не встает из-за компа месяцами.
4. Игра выходит, и все от нее в восторге.
5. Если в восторге не все, то полуживые сотрудники остаются доделывать DLC, которые делают игру идеальной.
И вывод в конце. "Что ж, как видим, есть только один способ делать игры – уебываться до полусмерти, жертвуя всем мирским. Похоже, это работа для специфических людей, где нужен особый склад ума". Все так. Как мы знаем, есть только один способ оперировать людей – засовывать им палку в рот, чтобы они лежали смирно и не орали от боли.
Шрейер пишет о кранчах очень спокойно. Похоже, что за этим книга и затевалась: прославить (порой даже кажется, что романтизировать) подвиги игроделов, готовых пойти на любые жертвы, лишь бы их творение увидело свет. Но при этом в книге нет ни одного персонажа.
Все, что мы знаем о героях – их имена. У них нет биографий, нет жизни вне работы, нет человеческих черт. В книге нет ни одного человеческого лица, ни одной фотографии рабочего процесса – исписанных досок, выброшенных концепт-артов, захламленных рабочих столов, кружек из-под кофе. Вообще ни одной фотографии нет. «Над игрой работали Джон Смит и Джек Бейкер, им помогала Мэри Стюарт, потом еще пришел Майкл Миллер» – имен слишком много, и за ними ничто не стоит, так что всех этих джонов смитов вы забудете уже к следующей странице. Люди – это не имена, это их поступки и ценности, но максимум, на что сподобился Шрейер в вопросе очеловечивания своих героев – «Он работал в ЕА, потом побыл чуть-чуть в Blizzard, в таком-то году пришел в Naughty Dog и теперь работает тут». В этой книге нет жизни. Она даже не бесчеловечна, она античеловечна. Кровь и пот проливают безликие, пустые ноунеймы, которые согласились на драконовские условия работы, потому что ну типа ээээ вот как-то оно вот так.
Хуже того, почти все эти безликие ноунеймы ведут себя как полные идиоты. «Мы собрали на кикстартере вдвое больше денег, чем надеялись, так что давайте пообещаем игрокам вдвое больше контента» – кто-нибудь, дайте этому человеку по башке, потому что ну это же самые, самые азы управления проектами, нас этому в институте учили: если размер проекта вырастает в Х раз, то объем работы увеличивается в Х в степени k раз, где k зависит от проекта и редко бывает меньше 1.5, а в геймдеве, где не только процесс, но и результат недетерминирован, наверняка часто превышает 2. Вдвое больше контента – это втрое, а то и вчетверо больше работы, то есть вчетверо-впятеро-вшестеро больший бюджет. В конце главы эти бедолаги, разумеется, влезают в долги и питаются кофеином. Игра, конечно, запаздывает, но выходит – иначе никто бы об этих людях не узнал – и Шрейер расписывает этот бессмысленный подвиг как нечто героическое и предначертанное. «Издатель сказал, что игра должна выйти в феврале, и мы тут чуть все не сдохли, пытаясь уложиться в срок, но у нас все равно ничего не получилось, и тогда мы пошли к издателю и спросили "А можно перенести релиз на пару месяцев?", и нам ответили "Ок, не вопрос"» – тут я даже не знаю, что сказать. Может, автор опустил слишком много подробностей, но как-то каждый раз так получается, что любой персонаж книги, кого ни возьми – готовый к самоотречению человек из железа, со стальной волей и работоспособностью и железной стружкой вместо мозгов.
Когда кончается кранч, вместе с ним кончается и глава. Несчастные полумертвые разработчики уходят в долгожданный отпуск... и все. Я не любитель претензий «мотивации героев непонятны» и «персонажи не развиваются», но правда непонятны и правда не развиваются (было бы кому развиваться). Я не утрирую, единственная глава, где герои рефлексируют по поводу кранча – это Shovel Knight, и они (я предсказуемо забыл, как их всех зовут) там приходят к выводу «Мы решили, что больше никогда не будем так делать, но нам надо DLC допиливать, так что, наверное, скоро придется кранчить опять *грустный вздох*». Очередная выдержка из айти-проджект-менеджмент 101: кранч – это не способ переделать много работы быстро, это оправдание «я сделал все, что мог», когда проект не уложится в сроки и начальство начнет искать виноватых. В «Крови, поте и пикселях» команды почти всегда срывают дедлайны и после того, как начинают работать по 100 часов в неделю. Кранч – это не суровая необходимость и не решение проблемы, это просто первый приходящий в голову способ сделать что-нибудь с проектом, когда он начинает выходить из-под контроля. И это не помогает. Говорю как программист – если не высыпаться и работать по шесть-семь дней в неделю, все больше драгоценного времени начнет уходить на тупняк, код получится очень низкого качества, и вы будете чувствовать себя отвратительно. Согласен, порой бывает в кайф с утра до ночи возиться с чем-нибудь интересным, но умоляю, берегите свое здоровье, другого у вас не будет.
Для кого эта книга? Я не знаю. О чем эта книга? Нет идей. Она пустая, предсказуемая и безыдейная, как ААА-игра. В какой-то момент мне показалось, что Шрайер – просто садист, которому нравится смотреть, как люди сгорают на работе, но потом он написал «увы, женщин в игровой индустрии куда меньше, чем мужчин». Увы? Вряд ли он женоненавистник. Получается, ему хочется, чтобы люди шли работать в геймдев и проходили через кошмар, что он описывает? На всякий случай держитесь от этой книги подальше: я без понятия, что автор хотел сказать, но получилось у него нечто бессвязно-маниакальное.
1. Команда начинает делать игру. Все бодры, веселы и уверены в своих силах.
2. Происходит что-то ужасное: теряется видение, самодурствует начальство, затягивается творческий поиск. Иногда все вышеперечисленное. В результате сроки срываются, а бюджет кончается, когда игра еще далека от готовности.
3. Команда начинает кранчить как проклятая, чтобы выпустить игру поскорее хоть в каком-нибудь виде. Никто в студии не встает из-за компа месяцами.
4. Игра выходит, и все от нее в восторге.
5. Если в восторге не все, то полуживые сотрудники остаются доделывать DLC, которые делают игру идеальной.
И вывод в конце. "Что ж, как видим, есть только один способ делать игры – уебываться до полусмерти, жертвуя всем мирским. Похоже, это работа для специфических людей, где нужен особый склад ума". Все так. Как мы знаем, есть только один способ оперировать людей – засовывать им палку в рот, чтобы они лежали смирно и не орали от боли.
Шрейер пишет о кранчах очень спокойно. Похоже, что за этим книга и затевалась: прославить (порой даже кажется, что романтизировать) подвиги игроделов, готовых пойти на любые жертвы, лишь бы их творение увидело свет. Но при этом в книге нет ни одного персонажа.
Все, что мы знаем о героях – их имена. У них нет биографий, нет жизни вне работы, нет человеческих черт. В книге нет ни одного человеческого лица, ни одной фотографии рабочего процесса – исписанных досок, выброшенных концепт-артов, захламленных рабочих столов, кружек из-под кофе. Вообще ни одной фотографии нет. «Над игрой работали Джон Смит и Джек Бейкер, им помогала Мэри Стюарт, потом еще пришел Майкл Миллер» – имен слишком много, и за ними ничто не стоит, так что всех этих джонов смитов вы забудете уже к следующей странице. Люди – это не имена, это их поступки и ценности, но максимум, на что сподобился Шрейер в вопросе очеловечивания своих героев – «Он работал в ЕА, потом побыл чуть-чуть в Blizzard, в таком-то году пришел в Naughty Dog и теперь работает тут». В этой книге нет жизни. Она даже не бесчеловечна, она античеловечна. Кровь и пот проливают безликие, пустые ноунеймы, которые согласились на драконовские условия работы, потому что ну типа ээээ вот как-то оно вот так.
Хуже того, почти все эти безликие ноунеймы ведут себя как полные идиоты. «Мы собрали на кикстартере вдвое больше денег, чем надеялись, так что давайте пообещаем игрокам вдвое больше контента» – кто-нибудь, дайте этому человеку по башке, потому что ну это же самые, самые азы управления проектами, нас этому в институте учили: если размер проекта вырастает в Х раз, то объем работы увеличивается в Х в степени k раз, где k зависит от проекта и редко бывает меньше 1.5, а в геймдеве, где не только процесс, но и результат недетерминирован, наверняка часто превышает 2. Вдвое больше контента – это втрое, а то и вчетверо больше работы, то есть вчетверо-впятеро-вшестеро больший бюджет. В конце главы эти бедолаги, разумеется, влезают в долги и питаются кофеином. Игра, конечно, запаздывает, но выходит – иначе никто бы об этих людях не узнал – и Шрейер расписывает этот бессмысленный подвиг как нечто героическое и предначертанное. «Издатель сказал, что игра должна выйти в феврале, и мы тут чуть все не сдохли, пытаясь уложиться в срок, но у нас все равно ничего не получилось, и тогда мы пошли к издателю и спросили "А можно перенести релиз на пару месяцев?", и нам ответили "Ок, не вопрос"» – тут я даже не знаю, что сказать. Может, автор опустил слишком много подробностей, но как-то каждый раз так получается, что любой персонаж книги, кого ни возьми – готовый к самоотречению человек из железа, со стальной волей и работоспособностью и железной стружкой вместо мозгов.
Когда кончается кранч, вместе с ним кончается и глава. Несчастные полумертвые разработчики уходят в долгожданный отпуск... и все. Я не любитель претензий «мотивации героев непонятны» и «персонажи не развиваются», но правда непонятны и правда не развиваются (было бы кому развиваться). Я не утрирую, единственная глава, где герои рефлексируют по поводу кранча – это Shovel Knight, и они (я предсказуемо забыл, как их всех зовут) там приходят к выводу «Мы решили, что больше никогда не будем так делать, но нам надо DLC допиливать, так что, наверное, скоро придется кранчить опять *грустный вздох*». Очередная выдержка из айти-проджект-менеджмент 101: кранч – это не способ переделать много работы быстро, это оправдание «я сделал все, что мог», когда проект не уложится в сроки и начальство начнет искать виноватых. В «Крови, поте и пикселях» команды почти всегда срывают дедлайны и после того, как начинают работать по 100 часов в неделю. Кранч – это не суровая необходимость и не решение проблемы, это просто первый приходящий в голову способ сделать что-нибудь с проектом, когда он начинает выходить из-под контроля. И это не помогает. Говорю как программист – если не высыпаться и работать по шесть-семь дней в неделю, все больше драгоценного времени начнет уходить на тупняк, код получится очень низкого качества, и вы будете чувствовать себя отвратительно. Согласен, порой бывает в кайф с утра до ночи возиться с чем-нибудь интересным, но умоляю, берегите свое здоровье, другого у вас не будет.
Для кого эта книга? Я не знаю. О чем эта книга? Нет идей. Она пустая, предсказуемая и безыдейная, как ААА-игра. В какой-то момент мне показалось, что Шрайер – просто садист, которому нравится смотреть, как люди сгорают на работе, но потом он написал «увы, женщин в игровой индустрии куда меньше, чем мужчин». Увы? Вряд ли он женоненавистник. Получается, ему хочется, чтобы люди шли работать в геймдев и проходили через кошмар, что он описывает? На всякий случай держитесь от этой книги подальше: я без понятия, что автор хотел сказать, но получилось у него нечто бессвязно-маниакальное.
May 15, 2018
So you think your job as a software engineer sucks? Think again, you could be working on games!
Nightmarish environments with total and complete lack of management, direction, tooling or even a common dictionary, a bootload of manual testing and very little feedback until you finally deliver the final game to customers. Now add a sprinkle of 100 hour weeks (yes, you will work on weekends), no overtime pay and very little financial incentive and you end up completely burned out, broke and most likely needing to visit a doctor at the end.
It is indeed surprising that we do get to play games with the incredible amount of madness that is involved in making them. It's even more surprising that people continue in the industry after going through these maddening and soul sucking crunch periods and delivering sub par games that don't live up to the expectations.
Including both indie and AAA games, "Blood, sweat and pixels" is a cautionary tale about the industry of games, while the heroism sagas to deliver that amazing game sound cool, they were most likely not cool for the people involved and the burnout they must have felt after it. The gaming industry definitely feels like an amateur cult, where even the most basic pieces of software engineering are thrown out for the sake of "art", whatever that is supposed to mean.
Studios lack clear leadership or management. Ensemble's "Halo Wars" chapter, with 3 different teams working on 3 different games when the only thing they should be working on is "Halo Wars" borders insanity, with people employed in the company just refusing to do what they were supposed to do like spoiled teenagers, eventually leading to the end of the studio, is just one of the examples.
Then you get to "Dragon Age: Inquisition", where the team decided to use the Frostbite engine but had no idea it was completely bereft of the features they would need to build an RPG (I mean, it was an FPS engine, maybe prototype and spike before you decide on it?). The team worked for more than a year "building" a game in feels only since they just could not play or do anything for real, luckily for them it worked out, but we all know the long list of games that just didn't make it.
Bungie's "Destiny" and it's fraught relationship with Activision that wasn't even an issue with Activision itself, as many would like to blame. Oh, it's the big corp owning the scrappy game developer. Nope. The wounds are almost all self inflicted, lack of communication between the people doing the story and building the game, lack of an holistic view of what the game should be and the usual over-promising. As much as it's cool to blame the huge corp, as a Bungie employee said, "we had to hold ourselves accountable now that we were free of microsoft" but they just weren't doing it. They went on to fight publicly with Activision on twitter but had to redo the game completely with less than a year for the final release that and we got the story we had on Destiny 1. Given how Destiny 2 came to be, the whole drama has most likely repeated itself.
Seeing the backstory of how these games are made makes me value them a bit more but also makes me sad at how the people building them are doing it mostly for passion and are getting the short end of the stick almost all the time. Amazing book!
Nightmarish environments with total and complete lack of management, direction, tooling or even a common dictionary, a bootload of manual testing and very little feedback until you finally deliver the final game to customers. Now add a sprinkle of 100 hour weeks (yes, you will work on weekends), no overtime pay and very little financial incentive and you end up completely burned out, broke and most likely needing to visit a doctor at the end.
It is indeed surprising that we do get to play games with the incredible amount of madness that is involved in making them. It's even more surprising that people continue in the industry after going through these maddening and soul sucking crunch periods and delivering sub par games that don't live up to the expectations.
Including both indie and AAA games, "Blood, sweat and pixels" is a cautionary tale about the industry of games, while the heroism sagas to deliver that amazing game sound cool, they were most likely not cool for the people involved and the burnout they must have felt after it. The gaming industry definitely feels like an amateur cult, where even the most basic pieces of software engineering are thrown out for the sake of "art", whatever that is supposed to mean.
Studios lack clear leadership or management. Ensemble's "Halo Wars" chapter, with 3 different teams working on 3 different games when the only thing they should be working on is "Halo Wars" borders insanity, with people employed in the company just refusing to do what they were supposed to do like spoiled teenagers, eventually leading to the end of the studio, is just one of the examples.
Then you get to "Dragon Age: Inquisition", where the team decided to use the Frostbite engine but had no idea it was completely bereft of the features they would need to build an RPG (I mean, it was an FPS engine, maybe prototype and spike before you decide on it?). The team worked for more than a year "building" a game in feels only since they just could not play or do anything for real, luckily for them it worked out, but we all know the long list of games that just didn't make it.
Bungie's "Destiny" and it's fraught relationship with Activision that wasn't even an issue with Activision itself, as many would like to blame. Oh, it's the big corp owning the scrappy game developer. Nope. The wounds are almost all self inflicted, lack of communication between the people doing the story and building the game, lack of an holistic view of what the game should be and the usual over-promising. As much as it's cool to blame the huge corp, as a Bungie employee said, "we had to hold ourselves accountable now that we were free of microsoft" but they just weren't doing it. They went on to fight publicly with Activision on twitter but had to redo the game completely with less than a year for the final release that and we got the story we had on Destiny 1. Given how Destiny 2 came to be, the whole drama has most likely repeated itself.
Seeing the backstory of how these games are made makes me value them a bit more but also makes me sad at how the people building them are doing it mostly for passion and are getting the short end of the stick almost all the time. Amazing book!
February 2, 2023
این کتاب به نظرم از هر کتابی که برای روحیه دادن، مدیریت، پیشرفت و... صحبت میکنه بهتر بود. داره خیلی ساده نشون میده که یک اثر خوب و موفق چه مراحلی رو پیش رفته، چند بار مجبور شدن از اول شروع کنن و تعداد دفعاتی که ناامید شدن از دست همه در رفته و جالبه که شما که همشونم تجربه کنین هیچ تضمینی نیست که موفق بشین، چون آخرش شانس و عوامل بیرونی هم دخیله.
خوندنش تجربهی خیلی خوبی بود، قطعا سراغ جلد دومش هم میرم.
خوندنش تجربهی خیلی خوبی بود، قطعا سراغ جلد دومش هم میرم.
October 3, 2017
This is a very well written book that I think Jason spent a lot of time on. Time that leaves me a quite a bit confused. However, I want to address some very strange misconceptions that people seem to be having having about this book. This is not some guide to game development and this book is not going to help you make your Indie game. If you're buying this book for that reason then you're going to be left disappointed.
Now this is a really solid book and it's very well written but with the exception of Star Wars 1313 and Star Dew Valley most sections of the book are complete rehashes of things any dedicated fan knows that's got it's own video or article series. Obsidian for example has always been very open and talked to anyone who would ask at length about their history as a studio and everything that led up to the release of Pillar's of Eternity (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA8Ff...) this coupled with a ton of different interviews with the likes of Eurogamer, Kotaku, PC Gamer, etc makes that whole section kind of useless in my book. Because I feel that if you care about Obsidian and Classic CRPG stuff you're already deeply aware of everything that happened with Classic Fallout to the ridiculous things that happened with New Vegas and beyond.
You see it doesn't stop there though, this is one of my big issues with this book. The very next section is once again a well documented and full featured video from the very developers themselves. The Naughty Dog section focuses on the troubled development and stages that the studio went through during the production of The Last of US and well as the Last Uncharted game. Which like I said is well documented (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH5Mg...) with a ton of resources covering it because of the huge controversy that occurred at the time. Which brought up the point in my mind once again if you care about this studio or the making of said game enough to buy this book in the very first place then you as the reader are probably very aware of all this and have probably seen the video covering all the points made in the book. This is a continuing theme in the book that just makes very little practical sense to me. Bungie another storied and immensely famous studio in the video game world has covered the history of their own studio in video form several times over the years. Which can be seen [here] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vTDw...) [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q69M...) which begs the question if you care enough about Bungie's story to buy this book then you've probably seen all that before or watched the DVD that came in your copy of Halo 3 or the Master Chief collection. It keeps going though because Destiny https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vTDw...
Diablo 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVE7V...
Witcher 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNZkT...
Dragon Age https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIwU_...
To a lesser extent Shovel Knight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqBMD...
Every one of them has some form of the written history of the development process and/or video documentary detailing it. Making a very large portion of this book useless. Because to me if you care enough to buy this book then you care about the studios and everything that has happened to them. But if all the information that you would gleam from this book has already been made available to you (in many cases for years) then why is it in the book? The only sections of this book that don't have some detailed history of the making of process and everything that happened during development are Stardew Valley and Star Wars 1313. Now I will grant that these sections are full of wonderful insight and information that the development of these games went through. But they're really the only parts of the book that provide this that weren't already available elsewhere. To a lesser extent you could say that the Shovel Knight section is worth having since there's not a whole lot of information on what the development of that was like but it's just not really that different from anything else that you couldn't already get from watching say Indie Game The Movie and seeing what it was like during the creation of Super Meat Boy.
This takes me to the crux of my problem with the book. While it is very well written and I'm sure Jason worked very hard on it there's just so much "filler" in the book. I just feel like spending time with a studio like Klei Entertainment and going over the development of Don't Starve could have been a lot more insightful instead of the Obsidian section. For a major studio wouldn't it have been better to talk to Epic about Gears of War or Turn 10 about Forza or Sony Online Entertainment about anything or Ubisoft about Assassin's Creed or Fry Cry or Rock Star about Red Dead. Particularly Rock Star because understanding the hurdles the studio went through during the very troubled development of the "barely working engine" for Red Dead would have been way better than rehashing everything we already know about Naughty Dog. I could literally list hundreds of studios that we don't know the story of how a game was made but have heard stories about how difficult it was that would have been much better choices to include in this book.
Having said all this I will say that this is a solid book and if you some how have not seen the videos of everything Jason already talked about in the book or just want more info all the links are there now for you to watch. This is still a well written book and is worth your time and money I feel because even if you're like me and you already know 80% of this books content just the fact that it's out there and that more authors could bring us more books like it makes it worth your time and investment.
Now this is a really solid book and it's very well written but with the exception of Star Wars 1313 and Star Dew Valley most sections of the book are complete rehashes of things any dedicated fan knows that's got it's own video or article series. Obsidian for example has always been very open and talked to anyone who would ask at length about their history as a studio and everything that led up to the release of Pillar's of Eternity (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA8Ff...) this coupled with a ton of different interviews with the likes of Eurogamer, Kotaku, PC Gamer, etc makes that whole section kind of useless in my book. Because I feel that if you care about Obsidian and Classic CRPG stuff you're already deeply aware of everything that happened with Classic Fallout to the ridiculous things that happened with New Vegas and beyond.
You see it doesn't stop there though, this is one of my big issues with this book. The very next section is once again a well documented and full featured video from the very developers themselves. The Naughty Dog section focuses on the troubled development and stages that the studio went through during the production of The Last of US and well as the Last Uncharted game. Which like I said is well documented (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH5Mg...) with a ton of resources covering it because of the huge controversy that occurred at the time. Which brought up the point in my mind once again if you care about this studio or the making of said game enough to buy this book in the very first place then you as the reader are probably very aware of all this and have probably seen the video covering all the points made in the book. This is a continuing theme in the book that just makes very little practical sense to me. Bungie another storied and immensely famous studio in the video game world has covered the history of their own studio in video form several times over the years. Which can be seen [here] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vTDw...) [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q69M...) which begs the question if you care enough about Bungie's story to buy this book then you've probably seen all that before or watched the DVD that came in your copy of Halo 3 or the Master Chief collection. It keeps going though because Destiny https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vTDw...
Diablo 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVE7V...
Witcher 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNZkT...
Dragon Age https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIwU_...
To a lesser extent Shovel Knight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqBMD...
Every one of them has some form of the written history of the development process and/or video documentary detailing it. Making a very large portion of this book useless. Because to me if you care enough to buy this book then you care about the studios and everything that has happened to them. But if all the information that you would gleam from this book has already been made available to you (in many cases for years) then why is it in the book? The only sections of this book that don't have some detailed history of the making of process and everything that happened during development are Stardew Valley and Star Wars 1313. Now I will grant that these sections are full of wonderful insight and information that the development of these games went through. But they're really the only parts of the book that provide this that weren't already available elsewhere. To a lesser extent you could say that the Shovel Knight section is worth having since there's not a whole lot of information on what the development of that was like but it's just not really that different from anything else that you couldn't already get from watching say Indie Game The Movie and seeing what it was like during the creation of Super Meat Boy.
This takes me to the crux of my problem with the book. While it is very well written and I'm sure Jason worked very hard on it there's just so much "filler" in the book. I just feel like spending time with a studio like Klei Entertainment and going over the development of Don't Starve could have been a lot more insightful instead of the Obsidian section. For a major studio wouldn't it have been better to talk to Epic about Gears of War or Turn 10 about Forza or Sony Online Entertainment about anything or Ubisoft about Assassin's Creed or Fry Cry or Rock Star about Red Dead. Particularly Rock Star because understanding the hurdles the studio went through during the very troubled development of the "barely working engine" for Red Dead would have been way better than rehashing everything we already know about Naughty Dog. I could literally list hundreds of studios that we don't know the story of how a game was made but have heard stories about how difficult it was that would have been much better choices to include in this book.
Having said all this I will say that this is a solid book and if you some how have not seen the videos of everything Jason already talked about in the book or just want more info all the links are there now for you to watch. This is still a well written book and is worth your time and money I feel because even if you're like me and you already know 80% of this books content just the fact that it's out there and that more authors could bring us more books like it makes it worth your time and investment.
August 8, 2021
"Oh, Jason," he said. "It's a miracle that any game is made."
Finally, a book that captures the complexity of game development that anyone can pick up and enjoy. Jason Schreier of Kotaku spent two years traveling around the world to score in depth interviews with the industry's most renowned gaming studios. Drawing from sources speaking both on and off the record, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels provides a rare glimpse into the pain and passion that go into bringing a modern video game to market. In ten absorbing chapters Schreier covers the downright grueling development process behind such hits as Blizzard's Diablo III, Naughty Dog's Uncharted 4, CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3 and, of course, Bungie's Destiny.
Speaking of Destiny, it was Schreier's crucial 2015 exposé that laid the groundwork for this wonderful little book. (Portions of his chapter on Destiny are taken directly from that article.) As fans of the blockbuster series will remember, that Kotaku piece brought Destiny's murky origin story to light. Importantly, it provided the necessary background for understanding how the company that gave us Halo could have produced — at least at launch — such a lackluster title. Subpar development tools, a strained relationship with publisher Activision, and the complete reboot of the story (following the departure of lead writer Joe Staten) a year out from release had much to do with it. As a source tells Schreier, “A lot of the problems that came up in Destiny 1...are results of having an unwavering schedule and unwieldy tools."
What we learned then from Scheier's keen reporting, and what comes across clear as day in his first book, is that making games is incredibly hard and almost impossibly demanding. Harder, perhaps, than any other creative medium. Thanks to their interactive nature and sheer potentiality, games are capable of delivering the boundless, memorable experiences we've come to love. But it's those same elements that make them such a chore to create, even for seasoned veterans.
One of the designers at Obsidian (of Fallout: New Vegas fame) he interviews puts it this way: "making games is sort of like shooting movies, if you had to build an entirely new camera every time you started." Indeed, the tools and technologies used to develop the latest games are constantly in flux, as is the creative vision of the producers and directors at the top. A change in either area can prove hugely disruptive to the overall process — one that hinges on pushing a marketable product out the door by an agreed upon deadline. It's that constant give and take between concept and technology, between developer and publisher, that defines the medium.
Internal conflicts can also run a project off course. Artists and programmers might spend months, years even, sketching and coding characters, environments, quests, set pieces and combat mechanics, only to see it all thrown out as a result of higher-ups taking the game in an entirely different direction. When Naughty Dog replaced Uncharted 4's creative director Amy Hennig in 2014 — roughly two years into the game's development — the story was more or less scrapped. That meant that cut scenes, animation, and thousands of lines of recorded voicework on which the studio had already spent millions of dollars got the axe, too. For an artist emotionally invested in their work, this can be heartbreaking and demotivating.
In other cases, such as the abortive Star Wars 1313, a decision by the publisher can bring it all crashing down. As Scheier recounts in the closing chapter, LucasArts, formerly a subsidiary of Lucasfilm, began work on a new action-adventure Star Wars game in 2010. The game debuted at E3 in 2012 to wide critical acclaim. Shortly afterward, the company was acquired by Disney. By 2013, Disney had shuttered the studio and canceled every one of its projects. For all the work the dedicated crew at LucasArts poured into their pet project, Star Wars 1313 was never meant to be.
Given the many technical hitches, logistical nightmares, corporate pressures, and unforeseen obstacles that threaten success, it's no small wonder that any games are shipped at all. As Schreier points out, there's hardly a game on the market today that doesn't run up against insane crunch periods and dramatic setbacks over the course of its development. Whether it's a small team working on a 2D side-scroller à la Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight or a massive effort spread across hundreds of staff in the case of BioWare's Dragon Age, producing a quality game in today's highly competitive environment is by any measure a herculean effort.
Virtually every insider consulted for the book talks about how taxing the job can be on one's physical health and personal relationships. Burnout is common. And even with working around the clock for months on end — often sans overtime pay, as it's not required in the U.S. — games rarely come out on time. Delays and cancellations are a feature, not a bug. To be sure, any successful career in game development is built on passion and an enthusiasm for creating unique playable spaces, but it comes with significant costs that only the truly dedicated may be equipped to endure.
Closing Thoughts
Leave it to Jason Schreier to shatter any utopic notions about game development. Behind the glossy visuals and destructible environments we take for granted on screen lies a hellish landscape of Sisyphean creative challenges and brutal working hours. As the title suggests, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels constantly reminds us that game production is as much about self-sacrifice as it is about crafting quality interactive experiences. And if these breezy oral histories are any indication, it's a principle that holds true whether you're a bootstrapped indie developer beholden to Kickstarter donors or a lowly cog in the big-budget corporate machine.
Schreier is a most welcome guide, bringing more casual readers up to speed on esoteric conversations ranging from rendering paths and game engines to bug testing and content iteration times. It's a testament to his talents that the book never seems to flag, even when exploring games I didn't particularly care about. While I wish Schreier had ventured deeper into the ethics of crunch culture, his penchant for meticulous, well researched investigative journalism is on full display here.
If you have even a passing interest in gaming be sure to pick this one up. I came away with a better understanding of the personal sacrifices and creative compromises that appear to go hand in hand with making video games, and a newfound perspective on increasingly commonplace monetization strategies like paid downloadable content (PDLC) and microtransaction (MTX) systems. Above all, it left me with a more profound appreciation for my most cherished hobby.
Note: This review is republished from my official website.
Finally, a book that captures the complexity of game development that anyone can pick up and enjoy. Jason Schreier of Kotaku spent two years traveling around the world to score in depth interviews with the industry's most renowned gaming studios. Drawing from sources speaking both on and off the record, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels provides a rare glimpse into the pain and passion that go into bringing a modern video game to market. In ten absorbing chapters Schreier covers the downright grueling development process behind such hits as Blizzard's Diablo III, Naughty Dog's Uncharted 4, CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3 and, of course, Bungie's Destiny.
Speaking of Destiny, it was Schreier's crucial 2015 exposé that laid the groundwork for this wonderful little book. (Portions of his chapter on Destiny are taken directly from that article.) As fans of the blockbuster series will remember, that Kotaku piece brought Destiny's murky origin story to light. Importantly, it provided the necessary background for understanding how the company that gave us Halo could have produced — at least at launch — such a lackluster title. Subpar development tools, a strained relationship with publisher Activision, and the complete reboot of the story (following the departure of lead writer Joe Staten) a year out from release had much to do with it. As a source tells Schreier, “A lot of the problems that came up in Destiny 1...are results of having an unwavering schedule and unwieldy tools."
What we learned then from Scheier's keen reporting, and what comes across clear as day in his first book, is that making games is incredibly hard and almost impossibly demanding. Harder, perhaps, than any other creative medium. Thanks to their interactive nature and sheer potentiality, games are capable of delivering the boundless, memorable experiences we've come to love. But it's those same elements that make them such a chore to create, even for seasoned veterans.
One of the designers at Obsidian (of Fallout: New Vegas fame) he interviews puts it this way: "making games is sort of like shooting movies, if you had to build an entirely new camera every time you started." Indeed, the tools and technologies used to develop the latest games are constantly in flux, as is the creative vision of the producers and directors at the top. A change in either area can prove hugely disruptive to the overall process — one that hinges on pushing a marketable product out the door by an agreed upon deadline. It's that constant give and take between concept and technology, between developer and publisher, that defines the medium.
Internal conflicts can also run a project off course. Artists and programmers might spend months, years even, sketching and coding characters, environments, quests, set pieces and combat mechanics, only to see it all thrown out as a result of higher-ups taking the game in an entirely different direction. When Naughty Dog replaced Uncharted 4's creative director Amy Hennig in 2014 — roughly two years into the game's development — the story was more or less scrapped. That meant that cut scenes, animation, and thousands of lines of recorded voicework on which the studio had already spent millions of dollars got the axe, too. For an artist emotionally invested in their work, this can be heartbreaking and demotivating.
In other cases, such as the abortive Star Wars 1313, a decision by the publisher can bring it all crashing down. As Scheier recounts in the closing chapter, LucasArts, formerly a subsidiary of Lucasfilm, began work on a new action-adventure Star Wars game in 2010. The game debuted at E3 in 2012 to wide critical acclaim. Shortly afterward, the company was acquired by Disney. By 2013, Disney had shuttered the studio and canceled every one of its projects. For all the work the dedicated crew at LucasArts poured into their pet project, Star Wars 1313 was never meant to be.
Given the many technical hitches, logistical nightmares, corporate pressures, and unforeseen obstacles that threaten success, it's no small wonder that any games are shipped at all. As Schreier points out, there's hardly a game on the market today that doesn't run up against insane crunch periods and dramatic setbacks over the course of its development. Whether it's a small team working on a 2D side-scroller à la Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight or a massive effort spread across hundreds of staff in the case of BioWare's Dragon Age, producing a quality game in today's highly competitive environment is by any measure a herculean effort.
Virtually every insider consulted for the book talks about how taxing the job can be on one's physical health and personal relationships. Burnout is common. And even with working around the clock for months on end — often sans overtime pay, as it's not required in the U.S. — games rarely come out on time. Delays and cancellations are a feature, not a bug. To be sure, any successful career in game development is built on passion and an enthusiasm for creating unique playable spaces, but it comes with significant costs that only the truly dedicated may be equipped to endure.
Closing Thoughts
Leave it to Jason Schreier to shatter any utopic notions about game development. Behind the glossy visuals and destructible environments we take for granted on screen lies a hellish landscape of Sisyphean creative challenges and brutal working hours. As the title suggests, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels constantly reminds us that game production is as much about self-sacrifice as it is about crafting quality interactive experiences. And if these breezy oral histories are any indication, it's a principle that holds true whether you're a bootstrapped indie developer beholden to Kickstarter donors or a lowly cog in the big-budget corporate machine.
Schreier is a most welcome guide, bringing more casual readers up to speed on esoteric conversations ranging from rendering paths and game engines to bug testing and content iteration times. It's a testament to his talents that the book never seems to flag, even when exploring games I didn't particularly care about. While I wish Schreier had ventured deeper into the ethics of crunch culture, his penchant for meticulous, well researched investigative journalism is on full display here.
If you have even a passing interest in gaming be sure to pick this one up. I came away with a better understanding of the personal sacrifices and creative compromises that appear to go hand in hand with making video games, and a newfound perspective on increasingly commonplace monetization strategies like paid downloadable content (PDLC) and microtransaction (MTX) systems. Above all, it left me with a more profound appreciation for my most cherished hobby.
Note: This review is republished from my official website.
April 10, 2019
I love behind-the-scenes looks at industries that we don’t often think about. Whether you’re buying a game in the store or downloading it from Steam, chances are you aren’t that knowledgeable about what the game development industry is actually like. Oh, you might have read some horror stories on Reddit, heard some of the gossip going back and forth on gaming blogs. Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made is about more than that, though. Jason Schreier digs deeper into the pressures and structures of the video game development industry. The question (which he never really gets to answer): is there is a less gruelling, less stressful way to create games and still be “successful”?
Schreier structures the book into 10 chapters, each one recounting the genesis of a specific video game. Each chapter also has a central lesson. In some chapters, he focuses on the internecine politics of the game dev studios and the publisher. In others, he examines how developer dynamics, the size of the teams involved, the pressure from fans, contribute to how smoothly a game is developed.
Chances are that if you play games you will have heard of some, if not most, of these titles, including Stardew Valley, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Diablo 3, and The Witcher 3. This book might be worth buying for the story behind one of these games—for all 10 stories, it feels like a steal. Although common threads run throughout every chapter—most notably the intense pressure to “crunch” near the end of the development schedule—Schreier makes sure that every game highlights specific and different ways in which the industry functions (or doesn’t function).
Likewise, although he frequently points to dysfunctional parts of game dev, he is also quick to celebrate the amazing parts of the industry too. Schreier shows a lot of respect for the work that devs put into a game. He is careful to include all members of game dev in this camp—not just the programmers, but the artists and writers and musicians and voice actors and others as well. More than anything, Schreier definitely underscores that (with some exceptions, like Stardew Valley and Shovel Knight), modern games are the result of intensely coordinated and talented teams of people bending their talents to a single, interactive experience.
In all of these ways, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels excels. The entire book is basically a series of narratives assembled from interviews Schreier has done with various people, some of whom are featured in the chapters. He is fairly transparent about when/how he got his information. Ultimately, though, the stories seem rather restricted to within the game dev industry itself. By this I mean, while he raises questions around, for example, the fairness of crunching, he never really looks beyond the game dev industry for opinions. It would have been nice to see him interview some sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, or other people who have studied this phenomenon or others. As it is, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels’ scope feels a little limited, a little too pixelated from zooming in too much.
This was a fun thing to read over the course of about two days, and I learned some interesting facts about some interesting games. Also, mad props to whoever put the Oxford comma into the title!
Schreier structures the book into 10 chapters, each one recounting the genesis of a specific video game. Each chapter also has a central lesson. In some chapters, he focuses on the internecine politics of the game dev studios and the publisher. In others, he examines how developer dynamics, the size of the teams involved, the pressure from fans, contribute to how smoothly a game is developed.
Chances are that if you play games you will have heard of some, if not most, of these titles, including Stardew Valley, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Diablo 3, and The Witcher 3. This book might be worth buying for the story behind one of these games—for all 10 stories, it feels like a steal. Although common threads run throughout every chapter—most notably the intense pressure to “crunch” near the end of the development schedule—Schreier makes sure that every game highlights specific and different ways in which the industry functions (or doesn’t function).
Likewise, although he frequently points to dysfunctional parts of game dev, he is also quick to celebrate the amazing parts of the industry too. Schreier shows a lot of respect for the work that devs put into a game. He is careful to include all members of game dev in this camp—not just the programmers, but the artists and writers and musicians and voice actors and others as well. More than anything, Schreier definitely underscores that (with some exceptions, like Stardew Valley and Shovel Knight), modern games are the result of intensely coordinated and talented teams of people bending their talents to a single, interactive experience.
In all of these ways, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels excels. The entire book is basically a series of narratives assembled from interviews Schreier has done with various people, some of whom are featured in the chapters. He is fairly transparent about when/how he got his information. Ultimately, though, the stories seem rather restricted to within the game dev industry itself. By this I mean, while he raises questions around, for example, the fairness of crunching, he never really looks beyond the game dev industry for opinions. It would have been nice to see him interview some sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, or other people who have studied this phenomenon or others. As it is, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels’ scope feels a little limited, a little too pixelated from zooming in too much.
This was a fun thing to read over the course of about two days, and I learned some interesting facts about some interesting games. Also, mad props to whoever put the Oxford comma into the title!
July 6, 2019
Большой журналист из крупного издания берет интервью у культовых разработчиков и собирает из них книгу. Книгу парадоксальным образом не связанных нитью мысли, но абсолютно идентичных историй, посвященных трудовым будням людей у станка. Прочитав первые главы, можно с легкостью предсказать, о чем пойдет речь в следующих. О том, что создавать видеоигры — это тяжелая и зачастую не имеющая ничего общего с творчеством работа.
Безусловный успех книги Шрайера кажется симптоматичным проявлением потребительской культуры геймеров. Сложно представить, чтобы кого-то действительно шокировала изнанка игростроя, но у книги масса положительных отзывов. То есть читающие игроки словно никогда не задумывались о том, что подобный труд сопряжен с хищническими практиками издателей, начальников, техническими проблемами и переработками. Если эта книга открывает коллективные глаза, насколько все до этого были слепы? Может, тогда Шрайер проделал отличную работу, прочувствовал проблему, обрисовал для читателя контуры какой-то важной идеи, о которых раньше никто не задумывался?
Нет. Работа журналиста, особенно если он хочет что-то изменить, сопряжена с рассказом историй. Историй со своими героями и иногда злодеями, темой и призывом. Если вы не сопереживаете героям, история не вызывает у вас эмоционального отклика, импульса памяти. В руках Шрайера эта история не сложилась, читатель к концу книги остается с кучкой копий полусобранных мозаик для детей - рисунок понятным образом домысливается, но собирать лень что вам, что собеседнику. Из рассказов об одной из самых причудливых вещей в мире канцелярской редактурой выбита абсолютно вся магия видеоигр, за усталым пересказом кранчей разработчики нивелированы до статистов в шоу канала Discovery о буднях добытчиков, 10 серий по одному сценарию. "Кровь, пот и пиксели" - не книга о том, как творцы с огнем в глазах преодолевали сложности и искали возможность превратить ограничения в холсты. Это книга о цифровом Молохе, в которой Шрайер занимает позицию автора официальной хроники, ему неинтересны люди и их творчество, его интересует только количество жертв бизнес-практик. Политическое высказывание и вовсе похоже на недальновидную бюрократическую формальность - труд разработчика неблагодарен и скорее приведет к тупику экзистенциального кризиса, но жаль, что в этой индустри�� так мало женщин, и все занято мужчинами.
Откровенно говоря, сложно понять, в каком мире живет Шрайер-писатель и зачем писал эту книгу. Это результат журналистского расследования? Но Джордж с канала Super Bunnyhop намного увлекательнее и точнее доносит до зрителя более нетривиальные вещи. Это письмо любви и признания героям искусства, запертых в титрах концовок? Но практически любое интервью с разработчиками интереснее этих унылых хроник выгорания. Только в отличие от Шрайера они не требуют за это деньги. Единственное, что я извлек из "Крови, пота и пикселей" - Шрайеру неинтересны видеоигры.
Безусловный успех книги Шрайера кажется симптоматичным проявлением потребительской культуры геймеров. Сложно представить, чтобы кого-то действительно шокировала изнанка игростроя, но у книги масса положительных отзывов. То есть читающие игроки словно никогда не задумывались о том, что подобный труд сопряжен с хищническими практиками издателей, начальников, техническими проблемами и переработками. Если эта книга открывает коллективные глаза, насколько все до этого были слепы? Может, тогда Шрайер проделал отличную работу, прочувствовал проблему, обрисовал для читателя контуры какой-то важной идеи, о которых раньше никто не задумывался?
Нет. Работа журналиста, особенно если он хочет что-то изменить, сопряжена с рассказом историй. Историй со своими героями и иногда злодеями, темой и призывом. Если вы не сопереживаете героям, история не вызывает у вас эмоционального отклика, импульса памяти. В руках Шрайера эта история не сложилась, читатель к концу книги остается с кучкой копий полусобранных мозаик для детей - рисунок понятным образом домысливается, но собирать лень что вам, что собеседнику. Из рассказов об одной из самых причудливых вещей в мире канцелярской редактурой выбита абсолютно вся магия видеоигр, за усталым пересказом кранчей разработчики нивелированы до статистов в шоу канала Discovery о буднях добытчиков, 10 серий по одному сценарию. "Кровь, пот и пиксели" - не книга о том, как творцы с огнем в глазах преодолевали сложности и искали возможность превратить ограничения в холсты. Это книга о цифровом Молохе, в которой Шрайер занимает позицию автора официальной хроники, ему неинтересны люди и их творчество, его интересует только количество жертв бизнес-практик. Политическое высказывание и вовсе похоже на недальновидную бюрократическую формальность - труд разработчика неблагодарен и скорее приведет к тупику экзистенциального кризиса, но жаль, что в этой индустри�� так мало женщин, и все занято мужчинами.
Откровенно говоря, сложно понять, в каком мире живет Шрайер-писатель и зачем писал эту книгу. Это результат журналистского расследования? Но Джордж с канала Super Bunnyhop намного увлекательнее и точнее доносит до зрителя более нетривиальные вещи. Это письмо любви и признания героям искусства, запертых в титрах концовок? Но практически любое интервью с разработчиками интереснее этих унылых хроник выгорания. Только в отличие от Шрайера они не требуют за это деньги. Единственное, что я извлек из "Крови, пота и пикселей" - Шрайеру неинтересны видеоигры.
September 24, 2020
Reading this book was a surprisingly personal experience for me. It covers the development of a wide selection of AAA and indie games--and, since I've developed two indie games, getting a glimpse of the pros initially felt like a window into very different world. But it's a fascinating reminder that, no matter what level you're working at, games are basically just hundreds of hours of monotony and fumbling in the dark. They're huge, complex, and it's almost like they "want" to be broken. Human error interferes at every level; that polished final product emerges only slowly from chaos, and is never everything you dreamed it would be.
The chapter about Eric Barone, the developer of Stardew Valley, especially resonated with me, as he spent something like five years tinkering with his game in isolation. I lived very similarly to this in my early 20s, when I was making The Pale City; it's a very peculiar, insular life, one that even a background as a novelist had barely prepared me for. Between March and June this year, I briefly went back to game development to make "Home: A Quarantine Story," a short adventure game/interactive novel about a young woman stuck at home during the early days of COVID-19. Every day, life took on a very familiar rhythm: wake up; work on the game, pausing only to cook, exercise, and work remotely; then, at the end of the day, relax for an hour or two, and do it again.
Even that short game took hundreds of hours over just a few months--and professionals put in hours like this for years, often doing dozens of hours without being paid! I had always assumed that, in big studios, things ran more smoothly--but in many ways it seems much tougher than working on a small project by yourself. I especially appreciate the author's descriptions of how the developers feel after the project is done. Many seem deflated rather than ecstatic, awkwardly making brief returns to normal life before the next crunch begins... though, as the games covered are largely successful, most of the stories at least have happy endings. This definitely isn't the case for thousands of games that get buried beneath Steam's algorithms every day, and it's incredible to think of how much work was required to make the thousands (millions?) of games on there already.
The other inescapable question of this book is: is it worth it? I'm very unsure whether I plan to continue making games, and after reading this book, I'm surprised that many of these developers keep at it, especially when they have to contend with shareholders, changing leadership, the fickleness of the market, etc. But, whenever I do start playing again, this book has given me a much better appreciation of the sheer difficulty of bringing one of these things into the world, at any level.
The chapter about Eric Barone, the developer of Stardew Valley, especially resonated with me, as he spent something like five years tinkering with his game in isolation. I lived very similarly to this in my early 20s, when I was making The Pale City; it's a very peculiar, insular life, one that even a background as a novelist had barely prepared me for. Between March and June this year, I briefly went back to game development to make "Home: A Quarantine Story," a short adventure game/interactive novel about a young woman stuck at home during the early days of COVID-19. Every day, life took on a very familiar rhythm: wake up; work on the game, pausing only to cook, exercise, and work remotely; then, at the end of the day, relax for an hour or two, and do it again.
Even that short game took hundreds of hours over just a few months--and professionals put in hours like this for years, often doing dozens of hours without being paid! I had always assumed that, in big studios, things ran more smoothly--but in many ways it seems much tougher than working on a small project by yourself. I especially appreciate the author's descriptions of how the developers feel after the project is done. Many seem deflated rather than ecstatic, awkwardly making brief returns to normal life before the next crunch begins... though, as the games covered are largely successful, most of the stories at least have happy endings. This definitely isn't the case for thousands of games that get buried beneath Steam's algorithms every day, and it's incredible to think of how much work was required to make the thousands (millions?) of games on there already.
The other inescapable question of this book is: is it worth it? I'm very unsure whether I plan to continue making games, and after reading this book, I'm surprised that many of these developers keep at it, especially when they have to contend with shareholders, changing leadership, the fickleness of the market, etc. But, whenever I do start playing again, this book has given me a much better appreciation of the sheer difficulty of bringing one of these things into the world, at any level.
March 26, 2023
If you play video games, or have children who play video games or watch others playing games on Twitch or Youtube, and thinking they might one day develop their own game, then you need to read this book. In Blood, Sweat and Pixels, Jason Schreier tells the development of 10 games, showing how game development works and what it looks like from inside, how the various moving parts, the designer, the developer, the art department, the story writers, and so on, the game engineers and other tools to use, fit together in a game development. According to Jason Schreier, the game development industry in the US is not a place for work-and-life balance, which is not surprising at all.
July 17, 2021
Yılda ortalama 100 kitap okuyan biri olarak açık yüreklilikle söyleyebilirim ki iyi bir oyun, iyi bir kitaptan da iyi bir filmden de çok daha keyifli ve öğretici. Zaten günümüzde oyun endüstrisinin film ve müzik (hatta isterseniz kitabı da ekleyelim) endüstrisinin toplamından daha büyük olması şaşılacak birşey değil.
Neden?
Çünkü kitapta da filmde de yazarın ve yönetmenin perspektifinden okumak ve görmek zorundasınız. Karakter siper alırsa onu gözünüzde canlandırırsınız. Kahraman düşmanlarını bir bir altederse size bir coşku verir ancak asla o karakteri yaşamak kadar heyecan vermez. Oysa oyun öyle mi? Neredeyse "kendi" olana kadar geçen her ana tanıklık edersiniz. Verdiğiniz kararlar oyunun gidişatını etkiler. Başarı da başarısızlık da sizindir. Dolayısıyla karakterle bir bütün olursunuz. Aldığınız kararlardan sorumlusunuzdur. Bu da gerçekten benzersiz bir deneyim sunar.
Startup'lar ve ürün geliştirme benim en tutkun olduğum iki konu. Üzerine bir de oyunlar eklenince adeta benim için yazılmış bir kitap çıkmış ortaya. Kitapla ilgili tek eleştirim incelenecek bunca oyun varken şu anda nasıl tarif edeceğimi bile bilmediğim bazı oyunlarla sınırlı kalması. Başarısızlık olarak söylemiyorum elbette ki başarısızlığı ve altında yatan nedenleri de okumak isterim. Ancak mesela Sid Meier'in geliştirdiği ve 25 yıldır tutkunu olduğum Civilization'ın da hikayesini okumak isterdim sürekli aynı 3 oyun etrafında dönen bir hikaye yerine.
Naughty Dog açık ara favori stüdyom. Bu yüzden her ne kadar bence serinin en kötü oyunu olsa da Uncharted 4'ü ve dolaylı olarak da Last of Us'ı okumak hoşuma gitti. CD Projekt Red'in Witcher 3 bölümünü sona sakladım çünkü Witcher'ın dandik kitaplarından böylesine efsane bir oyun yaratan ekibe sayfalarca övgü yazsam da azdır.
Yine de sıkılmadan hepsini okudum ve şu sonucu rahatlıkla söyleyebilirim. Stardew Valley'in (bir diğer oynamayacağım oyun) geliştiricisi gibi tek başınıza da olsanız, Polonya'nın komünizm sonrası yokluklarında Activision, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts gibi devlere kafa da tutsanız, veya LucasArts gibi imkanların oluk oluk aktığı bir stüdyoda da çalışsanız süreç aynı. Sebat, Kan, Ter ve Gözyaşı. Başarı ise kesinlikle garanti değil. Devam oyunu bile olsa her oyun birbirinden ayrı ve geliştirmesi bir o kadar zor.
Baktığınızda Assassin's Creed gibi sürekli birbirini tekrarlayan oyunlar bile başarılı olurken CD Project Red'in (Witcher 3 için çıkardıkları Expansion Pack - eklenti paketi - bile yılın oyunu seçilirken) Cyberpunk 2077 macerası başarısızlıkla sonuçlanabiliyor, LucasArts Star Wars 1313'ü henüz piyasaya süremeden stüdyoları kapatıldığı için bütün emekleri çöpe gidebiliyor.
Dolayısıyla 4.5 yıldızlık olsa da başarılı bir kitaptı ve "Altın yumurtlamanın 5 kuralı", "Başarının 12 anahtarı" gibi "bullet" kitaplardan sonra güzel bir soluk aldırdı. Bana başarının anahtarını ezberletme. Bana hikayeyi anlat, ben içinden derslerimi çıkarırım.
Herkese keyifli okumalar!
Neden?
Çünkü kitapta da filmde de yazarın ve yönetmenin perspektifinden okumak ve görmek zorundasınız. Karakter siper alırsa onu gözünüzde canlandırırsınız. Kahraman düşmanlarını bir bir altederse size bir coşku verir ancak asla o karakteri yaşamak kadar heyecan vermez. Oysa oyun öyle mi? Neredeyse "kendi" olana kadar geçen her ana tanıklık edersiniz. Verdiğiniz kararlar oyunun gidişatını etkiler. Başarı da başarısızlık da sizindir. Dolayısıyla karakterle bir bütün olursunuz. Aldığınız kararlardan sorumlusunuzdur. Bu da gerçekten benzersiz bir deneyim sunar.
Startup'lar ve ürün geliştirme benim en tutkun olduğum iki konu. Üzerine bir de oyunlar eklenince adeta benim için yazılmış bir kitap çıkmış ortaya. Kitapla ilgili tek eleştirim incelenecek bunca oyun varken şu anda nasıl tarif edeceğimi bile bilmediğim bazı oyunlarla sınırlı kalması. Başarısızlık olarak söylemiyorum elbette ki başarısızlığı ve altında yatan nedenleri de okumak isterim. Ancak mesela Sid Meier'in geliştirdiği ve 25 yıldır tutkunu olduğum Civilization'ın da hikayesini okumak isterdim sürekli aynı 3 oyun etrafında dönen bir hikaye yerine.
Naughty Dog açık ara favori stüdyom. Bu yüzden her ne kadar bence serinin en kötü oyunu olsa da Uncharted 4'ü ve dolaylı olarak da Last of Us'ı okumak hoşuma gitti. CD Projekt Red'in Witcher 3 bölümünü sona sakladım çünkü Witcher'ın dandik kitaplarından böylesine efsane bir oyun yaratan ekibe sayfalarca övgü yazsam da azdır.
Yine de sıkılmadan hepsini okudum ve şu sonucu rahatlıkla söyleyebilirim. Stardew Valley'in (bir diğer oynamayacağım oyun) geliştiricisi gibi tek başınıza da olsanız, Polonya'nın komünizm sonrası yokluklarında Activision, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts gibi devlere kafa da tutsanız, veya LucasArts gibi imkanların oluk oluk aktığı bir stüdyoda da çalışsanız süreç aynı. Sebat, Kan, Ter ve Gözyaşı. Başarı ise kesinlikle garanti değil. Devam oyunu bile olsa her oyun birbirinden ayrı ve geliştirmesi bir o kadar zor.
Baktığınızda Assassin's Creed gibi sürekli birbirini tekrarlayan oyunlar bile başarılı olurken CD Project Red'in (Witcher 3 için çıkardıkları Expansion Pack - eklenti paketi - bile yılın oyunu seçilirken) Cyberpunk 2077 macerası başarısızlıkla sonuçlanabiliyor, LucasArts Star Wars 1313'ü henüz piyasaya süremeden stüdyoları kapatıldığı için bütün emekleri çöpe gidebiliyor.
Dolayısıyla 4.5 yıldızlık olsa da başarılı bir kitaptı ve "Altın yumurtlamanın 5 kuralı", "Başarının 12 anahtarı" gibi "bullet" kitaplardan sonra güzel bir soluk aldırdı. Bana başarının anahtarını ezberletme. Bana hikayeyi anlat, ben içinden derslerimi çıkarırım.
Herkese keyifli okumalar!
February 27, 2018
"One surefire way to annoy a game developer is to ask, in response to discovering his or her chosen career path, what it’s like to spend all day playing video games.”
In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at some major videogames (successes, failures and everything in between) to show what it’s like working in the video game industry. Among the games that Schreier looks at are Destiny, Stardew Valley, Shovel Knight, Dragon Age Inquisition and the fabled Star Wars 1313 that never came to be. Each chapter is devoted to one of the games, often with a particular theme or lesson that came of the development of that game.
As someone who has devoted a lot of hours in my life to video games, it was fascinating to get a closer look at video game development. While I knew enough to know that developers don’t just sit around playing games all day, there was a lot of the process that I wasn’t aware of. More than anything else, this book is a reality check about how many different aspects go into video game development and just how difficult that process can be. There are plenty of rewarding moments as well but Schreier doesn’t shy away from the less fun parts of the job.
I have a fair number of friends who aren’t fans of Kotaku (on which Schreier is a writer) because of the clickbait aspect and some of the reporting but I’d have to say that overall, Schreier’s writing is informative and interesting, without getting too bogged down in details or opinions. I say mostly because there is a single glaring exception: Dragon Age Inquisition. I’m not sure what the point is of poking the bear that is the rage against EA but it was more than a little annoying to have Schreier spend the first few pages of the chapter talking about how ridiculous it was that gamers voted EA the worst company in the world and that people should really be nicer about how terrible Dragon Age 2 was only to then admit that the things that made gamers frustrated with it was in fact due to the timetable that EA required of Bioware. So….perhaps not so ridiculous then? It was the same kind of unnecessary pot stirring that myself and others have previously complained about with Kotaku. It was the only chapter in which I found myself irritated rather than interested.
Overall, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a great look behind the scenes of some of the biggest videogames in the last couple decades and about how video games are made in general. It presents both the triumphs and the failures of various different companies and the aims for the games that they tried to create. It’s not perfect but if you enjoy video games, it’s well worth picking up.
In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at some major videogames (successes, failures and everything in between) to show what it’s like working in the video game industry. Among the games that Schreier looks at are Destiny, Stardew Valley, Shovel Knight, Dragon Age Inquisition and the fabled Star Wars 1313 that never came to be. Each chapter is devoted to one of the games, often with a particular theme or lesson that came of the development of that game.
As someone who has devoted a lot of hours in my life to video games, it was fascinating to get a closer look at video game development. While I knew enough to know that developers don’t just sit around playing games all day, there was a lot of the process that I wasn’t aware of. More than anything else, this book is a reality check about how many different aspects go into video game development and just how difficult that process can be. There are plenty of rewarding moments as well but Schreier doesn’t shy away from the less fun parts of the job.
I have a fair number of friends who aren’t fans of Kotaku (on which Schreier is a writer) because of the clickbait aspect and some of the reporting but I’d have to say that overall, Schreier’s writing is informative and interesting, without getting too bogged down in details or opinions. I say mostly because there is a single glaring exception: Dragon Age Inquisition. I’m not sure what the point is of poking the bear that is the rage against EA but it was more than a little annoying to have Schreier spend the first few pages of the chapter talking about how ridiculous it was that gamers voted EA the worst company in the world and that people should really be nicer about how terrible Dragon Age 2 was only to then admit that the things that made gamers frustrated with it was in fact due to the timetable that EA required of Bioware. So….perhaps not so ridiculous then? It was the same kind of unnecessary pot stirring that myself and others have previously complained about with Kotaku. It was the only chapter in which I found myself irritated rather than interested.
Overall, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a great look behind the scenes of some of the biggest videogames in the last couple decades and about how video games are made in general. It presents both the triumphs and the failures of various different companies and the aims for the games that they tried to create. It’s not perfect but if you enjoy video games, it’s well worth picking up.
December 7, 2017
Cuando uno entra al típico foro de videojuegos no es raro llevarse la impresión de que la masa consumidora de ocio electrónico está compuesta de críos malcriados que, desde el desconocimiento de conceptos básicos del mundo laboral, la economía e incluso la vida real, despotrican con vehemencia de las desarrolladoras del objeto de sus desvelos. Es como si fueran niños pequeños jugando a castillos en la arena, quejándose del clima y las mareas de un inmenso océano cuyos entresijos desconocen. Pues bien, este libro debería ser lectura obligada para todos ellos, es ameno, es informativo y te explica perfectamente las enormes vicisitudes que conlleva sacar adelante un proyecto complejísimo como es un videojuego, quizá el producto cultural cuya elaboración mejor representa los entresijos de nuestra sociedad post-industrial. Un proceso en el que intervienen cientos de personas a lo largo de varios años, absolutamente imprevisible, un deslizarse a toda velocidad sobre el filo de una navaja sometida a multitud de fuerzas tecnológicas, económicas, comerciales, laborales y personales, un caos de partes móviles interconectadas entre sí y que, a menudo, se elabora prácticamente a ciegas y sobre la marcha.
En el debe, pues quizá para el ya iniciado resulte algo superficial, dada la naturaleza de una obra concebida como la recopilación de varios artículos de divulgación periodística sobre el desarrollo de diferentes videojuegos. Por poner un ejemplo, muchas veces se nos dice que una mecánica o un diseño de niveles "no funcionan" o resultan aburridos, pero nunca se nos explica el por qué, quizá no había espacio para estas cuestiones más técnicas. Por otro lado la selección de títulos no es especialmente variada, de diez desarrollos, tres tratan acerca de juegos de acción/aventuras tipo Uncharted y otros tres sobre RPGs, dos de ellos action-RPG en tercera persona (el género favorito del autor según confiesa en una nota al pie). No hay ningún juego deportivo, ni de carreras, ni "casual", ni de móviles, ni de lucha... Las historias también parecen escogidas según similares desarrollos narrativos un tanto melodramáticos, la historia de éxito y superación de enormes adversidades es la tónica general, salvo en el caso del desarrollo en solitario de Stardew Valley, la obsesión de un tipo que llega a absorber su vida (es muy interesante este capítulo que subraya lo ineficiente que resulta desarrollar un videojuego en solitario, aunque en este caso resultara un éxito) y la emotiva historia del fracasado Star Wars 1313, a los que quizá podríamos añadir el agridulce final de Destiny. En todo caso, y a pesar de las pegas, una lectura entretenida, informativa y recomendable.
En el debe, pues quizá para el ya iniciado resulte algo superficial, dada la naturaleza de una obra concebida como la recopilación de varios artículos de divulgación periodística sobre el desarrollo de diferentes videojuegos. Por poner un ejemplo, muchas veces se nos dice que una mecánica o un diseño de niveles "no funcionan" o resultan aburridos, pero nunca se nos explica el por qué, quizá no había espacio para estas cuestiones más técnicas. Por otro lado la selección de títulos no es especialmente variada, de diez desarrollos, tres tratan acerca de juegos de acción/aventuras tipo Uncharted y otros tres sobre RPGs, dos de ellos action-RPG en tercera persona (el género favorito del autor según confiesa en una nota al pie). No hay ningún juego deportivo, ni de carreras, ni "casual", ni de móviles, ni de lucha... Las historias también parecen escogidas según similares desarrollos narrativos un tanto melodramáticos, la historia de éxito y superación de enormes adversidades es la tónica general, salvo en el caso del desarrollo en solitario de Stardew Valley, la obsesión de un tipo que llega a absorber su vida (es muy interesante este capítulo que subraya lo ineficiente que resulta desarrollar un videojuego en solitario, aunque en este caso resultara un éxito) y la emotiva historia del fracasado Star Wars 1313, a los que quizá podríamos añadir el agridulce final de Destiny. En todo caso, y a pesar de las pegas, una lectura entretenida, informativa y recomendable.
May 18, 2023
Branża gier od podszewki.
Jako zapalony gracz, byłam ciekawa drogi od pomysłu na grę do jej bombastycznego efektu (ach te dłuuugie godziny przy Wiedźminie, Dragon Age, GTA, Horizon Zero Dawn, Heroes III, o The Last of Us już nie wspomnę ;). Dzięki Jasonowi Schreierowi przemierzyłam tę trasę wzdłuż i wszerz z niejednym developerem. Małym i dużym, odnoszącym sukcesy i pragnącym tychże, ponoszącym klęskę i otrzepującym się. Zrozumiałam dlaczego gry są tak drogie. Dowiedziałam się jak powszechny jest crunch, w jak bardzo nieludzkich warunkach pracują developerzy i dlaczego mimo to dalej to robią. W telegraficznym skrócie, branża gier to stan umysłu, prawa fizyki nie mają do niej zastosowania.
Ciekawych informacji dostarczył mi zwłaszcza rozdział o naszej chlubie narodowej czyli Wiedźminie. Jak miło było się dowiedzieć, że za fenomenalne questy odpowiedzialny jest pisarz Jakub Szamałek. Inaczej teraz będę patrzeć na jego twórczość.
Freaków do lektury zachęcać nie muszę, ale i tak napiszę, że" Krew, pot i piksele" czytało mi się tak dobrze, że aż odpalę po raz enty Wiedźmina.
Ps. Jeżeli oczekujesz poradnika jak tworzyć gry, ta książka nie jest dla ciebie. Albo kup poradnik (jeżeli ktokolwiek będzie skłonny sprzedać tak limitowaną wiedzę za parę złotych) albo zatrudnij się u znanego developera i zdobądź tam doświadczenie. Sekretów i szczegółów branży raczej nikt zdrowy na umyśle, ot tak, nie zdradzi.
Jako zapalony gracz, byłam ciekawa drogi od pomysłu na grę do jej bombastycznego efektu (ach te dłuuugie godziny przy Wiedźminie, Dragon Age, GTA, Horizon Zero Dawn, Heroes III, o The Last of Us już nie wspomnę ;). Dzięki Jasonowi Schreierowi przemierzyłam tę trasę wzdłuż i wszerz z niejednym developerem. Małym i dużym, odnoszącym sukcesy i pragnącym tychże, ponoszącym klęskę i otrzepującym się. Zrozumiałam dlaczego gry są tak drogie. Dowiedziałam się jak powszechny jest crunch, w jak bardzo nieludzkich warunkach pracują developerzy i dlaczego mimo to dalej to robią. W telegraficznym skrócie, branża gier to stan umysłu, prawa fizyki nie mają do niej zastosowania.
Ciekawych informacji dostarczył mi zwłaszcza rozdział o naszej chlubie narodowej czyli Wiedźminie. Jak miło było się dowiedzieć, że za fenomenalne questy odpowiedzialny jest pisarz Jakub Szamałek. Inaczej teraz będę patrzeć na jego twórczość.
Freaków do lektury zachęcać nie muszę, ale i tak napiszę, że" Krew, pot i piksele" czytało mi się tak dobrze, że aż odpalę po raz enty Wiedźmina.
Ps. Jeżeli oczekujesz poradnika jak tworzyć gry, ta książka nie jest dla ciebie. Albo kup poradnik (jeżeli ktokolwiek będzie skłonny sprzedać tak limitowaną wiedzę za parę złotych) albo zatrudnij się u znanego developera i zdobądź tam doświadczenie. Sekretów i szczegółów branży raczej nikt zdrowy na umyśle, ot tak, nie zdradzi.
October 25, 2018
Alternative title: How the sausage is made
Fun collection of essays/articles on how computer games are made, one game per chapter/article. Most of these games are fairly new, so if like me you're born in the 80s chances are you won't have played them (some games: Diablo III, Witcher 3, Uncharted 4, Stardew Valley, Pillars of Eternity). Some stories are success stories (Witcher 3), some are failures (Star Wars 1313, cancelled when Disney bought Lucasarts).
What struck me was how little planning or governance these companies are doing. These people aren't amateurs, their games make more money than the biggest movies, yet they flounder around and chaos reigns. A lot of that must have been visible early - here for example Schreier describes the chaotic process in which Destiny was developed, people must have known that the first version of the story was complete garbage, yet it was only changed at the very end of the development process. Absolutely no planning, some of that is understandable - as Schreier writes, it's very hard to predict whether a game will be fun, so you have to iterate a lot, but still - at some point the industry should have become better at predicting how good their game is going to be?
Funny enough, the one game that reads like it was actually well-planned came from the industry outsiders from Poland, Witcher 3.
In the programming community, games development is a notoriously terrible area to work in, with constant crunch and death marches. I can now understand why that is the way it is.
Fun collection of essays/articles on how computer games are made, one game per chapter/article. Most of these games are fairly new, so if like me you're born in the 80s chances are you won't have played them (some games: Diablo III, Witcher 3, Uncharted 4, Stardew Valley, Pillars of Eternity). Some stories are success stories (Witcher 3), some are failures (Star Wars 1313, cancelled when Disney bought Lucasarts).
What struck me was how little planning or governance these companies are doing. These people aren't amateurs, their games make more money than the biggest movies, yet they flounder around and chaos reigns. A lot of that must have been visible early - here for example Schreier describes the chaotic process in which Destiny was developed, people must have known that the first version of the story was complete garbage, yet it was only changed at the very end of the development process. Absolutely no planning, some of that is understandable - as Schreier writes, it's very hard to predict whether a game will be fun, so you have to iterate a lot, but still - at some point the industry should have become better at predicting how good their game is going to be?
Funny enough, the one game that reads like it was actually well-planned came from the industry outsiders from Poland, Witcher 3.
In the programming community, games development is a notoriously terrible area to work in, with constant crunch and death marches. I can now understand why that is the way it is.
April 25, 2019
Книгу следовало назвать "Видеоигры для чайников". Сборник общеизвестных историй про то, что видеоигры, оказывается, сложно и долго делать. Справедливости ради хочу отметить, что текст хорошо подан и иногда пестрит эксклюзивными для книги фактами, ценность которых, правда, весьма спорная. Нашумевший перевод от Альфины в целом хвалю, но "ядерная механика" на фоне постоянно упоминающихся варваризмов типа "полишинга" выглядит очень убого.
Если вы примерно знаете, чем NPC отличается от DLC, то в этой книге вы узнаете мало нового, но попробуйте её порекомендовать тем, кто предвзято плохо относится к играм и не считает их серьёзным развлечением и/или искусством. Они из книги обязательно узнают много нового.
Если вы примерно знаете, чем NPC отличается от DLC, то в этой книге вы узнаете мало нового, но попробуйте её порекомендовать тем, кто предвзято плохо относится к играм и не считает их серьёзным развлечением и/или искусством. Они из книги обязательно узнают много нового.
October 19, 2017
A revealing insightful look at the trials and tribulations that go into making some of the biggest games of today.
As a gamer it was a revelation of what goes on behind the scenes of game development and how incredibly hard it is for these teams of passionate developers to create these experiences.
Highly recommended if you are interested in game design and development , are a gamer yourself or wish to learn more about the industry.
As a gamer it was a revelation of what goes on behind the scenes of game development and how incredibly hard it is for these teams of passionate developers to create these experiences.
Highly recommended if you are interested in game design and development , are a gamer yourself or wish to learn more about the industry.
January 25, 2019
Lasīt 270 lapas gandrīz divas nedēļas, jo bail, ka pabeigs pārāk ātri, UN KO TAD DARĪS!?
Tiem, kas spēlē videospēles - obligātā lasāmviela, neinteresēs varbūt tikai tiem, kas tajā pasaulē neorientējas pilnīgi un galīgi.
Tagad jāsēž un jāklikšķina refresh autora tviterī un jāgaida, kad paziņos nākamās grāmatas iznākšanas datumu.
Tiem, kas spēlē videospēles - obligātā lasāmviela, neinteresēs varbūt tikai tiem, kas tajā pasaulē neorientējas pilnīgi un galīgi.
Tagad jāsēž un jāklikšķina refresh autora tviterī un jāgaida, kad paziņos nākamās grāmatas iznākšanas datumu.
June 24, 2018
When a book makes you miss your station twice, you know it's a good one. I originally picked this up with the premise of 'I'm reading this for work', but I ended up really enjoying it and even played Stardew Valley and looked further into 'The Witcher 3'! I am not a massive gamer, but I do have my niche of games I get caught into ('The Sims', 'Need for Speed' to name a few) so I was at least hoping that if I read it for work I might find something that I would like to explore further and that would give me that immersive feeling I had about playing games when I was a teenager.
What I especially liked about this book was that they were not all success stories. One of the games wasn't even released, it was scrapped when it looked like it was heading in the right direction. Others were released with mediocre or even poor reviews, yet their teams committed to delivering improvements via patches until years after. It's honest, gripping and at times frustrating, but it sounds like that's the reality of the industry, and acknowledging and talking about failures are just as important as talking about success.
Some stories I found particularly interesting were that of 'Stardew Valley' (created by a single person), 'The Witcher 3' (made by a Polish studio, very much the underdog in the business) and 'Dragon Age: Inquisition' (how can you match up with past AAA games you yourself have released).
I would highly recommend this to anyone, whatever medium of story-telling you're into - if nothing else, you might have a game or two to check out at the end of it.
What I especially liked about this book was that they were not all success stories. One of the games wasn't even released, it was scrapped when it looked like it was heading in the right direction. Others were released with mediocre or even poor reviews, yet their teams committed to delivering improvements via patches until years after. It's honest, gripping and at times frustrating, but it sounds like that's the reality of the industry, and acknowledging and talking about failures are just as important as talking about success.
Some stories I found particularly interesting were that of 'Stardew Valley' (created by a single person), 'The Witcher 3' (made by a Polish studio, very much the underdog in the business) and 'Dragon Age: Inquisition' (how can you match up with past AAA games you yourself have released).
I would highly recommend this to anyone, whatever medium of story-telling you're into - if nothing else, you might have a game or two to check out at the end of it.
March 3, 2022
This book provides insight into how difficult it is to make video games and how stressful that work can be. The games covered here are famous ones from the early to mid 2010s, both successful and unsuccessful ones. The stories told here are from the point of view of directors and producers of games, so there is a strong focus on the management of games rather than the actual production of games. The book could have been a bit better if it had also included more viewpoints from those in non-management positions.
January 7, 2018
Yine gereksiz şekilde abartılan bir kitap. Araştırmasının iyi yapılmış olduğunu kabul ediyorum ancak anlatılan öyküler ne yeterince ilginç, ne de öğretici. Keza, tüm kitap boyunca tek bir fotoğraf, tek bir ekran görüntüsü kullanılmaması da belgesel nitelikli bir kitap için iyi olmamış. Sonuçta okuduğunuz için pişman olmayacağınız bir kitap, ancak beklentileri düşük tutun.
June 24, 2022
Bence oyun dünyasını gerçekten güzel ve gerçekçi yansıtan bir kitap olmuş. Bildiğim/bilmediğim bir sürü oyunun giriş gelişme sonuçlarını okumak, her biri de böyle farklıyken keyif verdi. Hazır steam indirimleri başlamışken birkaçına göz atmaya kararlıyım.
April 13, 2021
3.75⭐️
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