One of my biggest goals this year is to develop more games. Ultimately, that is the best way to get better at the craft. But I also want to make sure I’m continuing to learn, improve on how I make games, and just learn more about the industry. And for me, personally, books are a great way of doing that. Thus I give you a list of 6 game development books that I plan on reading in 2022 (and I encourage you to pick them up, too!).
The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design
The first of the books I want to read in 2022 is less about game development and more on game design. The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design by Flint Dille and John Zuur Platten was the only decent book on game development I found at my local bookstore.
It looks like it has a lot of good information for young game developers or designers.
- Techniques and strategies
- Character development
- Concept and script
- Game design documents
- Business and career advice
There are three things I noticed consistently in the comments that you should be aware of though.
First, there are a lot of spelling and grammatical errors. Kind of ironic for a book on writing. But as writer myself (for this blog at least), I know how easy it is to miss them. I’m more concerned about the information, personally.
Second, a lot of people were confusing game design with game programming. If you are looking for info on actually developing and coding video games, this book is not for you. It focuses more on the creating the concept and plan for developing your game.
And finally, the book was published in 2007. The content is now 15 years old. The industry has changed. While an up-to-date version would be great, I still think it would be a good starting point for beginners. The tools are less important. It’s the concepts you really want to learn.
Clean Code
The next two game development books on my list for 2022 are both ones I discovered through a video on the Code Monkey YouTube channel. (The exact video is one I recommend for beginning game developers: 7 Steps to Become a Game Developer.)
And ok, this one isn’t specifically on game development. But as a professional web developer myself, I know the importance of good code. It’s something that I see lacking all the time. And it’s something that I think would be even more important in game development.
Clean Code by Robert C. Martin is probably the book I’m looking forward to the most (for both game development and my professional career). I’ve had the chance so far to read just a few chapters. And it’s already extremely informative. The book includes things like how to (taken from the book’s blurb):
- Tell the difference between good and bad code
- Write good code and how to transform bad code into good code
- Create good names, good functions, good objects, and good classes
- Format code for maximum readability
- Implement complete error handling without obscuring code logic
- Unit test and practice test-driven development
- What “smells” and heuristics can help you identify bad code
Plus, it has a 4.5/5 star rating out of nearly 3,400 reviews on Amazon. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a review that good on a development book.
Code Complete
This is the other book that came at the recommendation of the Code Monkey YouTube channel who I enjoy and respect. Thus, I will give it a shot. (Again, not directly about game development. But it should still benefit my personal career in addition to my game development.)
Code Complete is an absolute monster of a book. At nearly 900 pages, there is a lot of info inside. So far, I’ve only made it through a few chapters (just to get a sense for the content and writing). Most of the info focuses on software design principles (or what is referred to as “software construction” in the book).
I think there’s probably something in here for developers of any level and role. Though, I will say absolute beginners might find this one a bit daunting. I would say anyone with more than a few projects under there belt should definitely read it.
From the back cover:
- Design for minimum complexity and maximum creativity
- Reap the benefits of collaborative development
- Apply defensive-programming techniques to reduce and flush out errors
- Exploit opportunities to refactor — or evolve — code, and do it safely
- Use construction practices that are right-weight for your project
- Debug problems quickly and effectively
- Resolve critical construction issues early and correctly
- Build quality into the beginning, middle, and end of your project
Game Programming Patterns
Now back to the books focused on game development. The next two I discovered via the CS50 Intro to Game Development course. I really enjoyed the course and got a ton of useful information out of it. So I feel like any recommended reading is probably worth my time as well.
Game Programming Patterns by Robert Nystrom is unique in that it is the only book on this list that is entirely free. No, I’m not kidding. You can read the book entirely for free on his website. I’ve already written about the details. So rather than duplicate the info here, I encourage you to check out my article on Game Programming Patterns.
If you are more of a traditionalist and like physical books, don’t worry! You can pick up a physical copy of the book over on Amazon. eBook and PDF versions are also available via the website.
How to Make an RPG
This is the second book recommended via the CS50 Intro to Game Development course. And admittedly, I know very little about the book. But I am most definitely interested in creating an RPG at some point. So to my reading list it goes.
How to Make an RPG is not available in traditional format (that I am aware). But it isn’t just the book that you get. There’s also 200+ example projects and a ton of art assets that are included with it. For $46, not too bad of a deal!
You do need to be aware of something, though. The book focuses on developing your RPG using Lua. This may be a turn off for some people. I started on Lua, though, and am fairly comfortable with it. And I have a feeling the concepts themselves will probably be able to be transferred to whatever engine you prefer.
Table of contents:
- Introduction
- Origins
- Development Philosophy
- RPG Architecture
- Tools
- Part I – Exploration
- World Building
- Tilemap
- From Maps to World
- A Living World
- User Interface
- Menu
- Small RPG: Dungeon
- Part II – Combat
- Stats
- Levels
- The Party
- Equipment
- Flow of Combat
- Combat State
- Actions in Combat
- Winners, Losers and Loot
- Advanced Combat
- Small RPG: The Arena
- Part III – Quests
- Planning
- Towns
- World Map
- Cave Map
- Game State
- Small RPG game: Cave Quest
- Closing
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
Wrapping my list is a book that is kind of a special one to me. Not because of the book itself, but the reason I got it. My kids (the oldest of which is 7) have been ridiculously supportive of me learning game development. So for Christmas last year, they got me this book.
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is less of a how-to and more of a look into what the video game industry is like. There’s deadline issues, funding problems, technological setbacks, and much more. And as much as we love some of these games, most of us probably don’t realize the struggle that went into making them.
You can read the story behind these games:
- Diablo III
- Destiny
- The Witcher 3
- Halo Wars
- Uncharted 4
- Shovel Knight
- Star Wars 1313
- Pillars of Eternity
- Dragon Age: Inquisition
- Stardew Valley
Final Thoughts
Overall, I think this is a pretty solid list of game development books for me to read in 2022. There’s one focused on writing and design. Another focused on a specific genre (RPG). Two a general purpose coding books (with the added bonus of possibly benefiting my career!). One focuses on common patterns specifically in video games. And the last gives insight into the video game process and history.
But as I’m just sort of starting my game development journey, I’m not entirely sure of what all is out there. If you have a book specifically on game development that really helped you, I’d love to know about it! Share it with us in the comments below.
