A couple of must-reads, IMO: The Art of Game Design - Jesse Schell A Playful Production Process - Richard LeMarchand Games, Design and Play - Colleen Macklin & John Sharp The Aesthetic of Play - Brian Upton I'm currently reading Getting Gamers by Jamie Madigan. It deals with the psychology of gamers and has been a great read so far. I'd highly recommend it for designers looking for an edge in player-centric design. I'll be adding a couple of your recommendations to my list. Nice video.

These vids are some of the best for game devs. Y'all are so honest whereas most company channels like this act like they know everything. Like, those other channels are giving advice they don't actually know whereas y'all are an actual source of info. As someone who just started a company I want to say thanks!

Narrative Design Book - I Liked: The Game Narrative Toolbox by Tobias Heussner, Toiya Kristen Finley, Jennifer Brandes Hepler, Ann Lemay. It's pretty in depth and has practice as the end of each chapter to help reinforce the concepts.

Nice additions to my reading list, one great book is missing though: Tynan Sylvester's "Designing Games" is also a great book one should read. Great to learn how to actually design the GAME aspect of your GAME.

Light a candle for dead weight Thomas.

So many things to add to my reading list! Great video, thanks for all the recommendations

This is incredible timing, I was just thinking about finding a good book to dive into!

I’m teaching game development basics at my local University and both Book of Lenses and Level Up are as sources for my material - although we only do very beginning topics from them as these are just entry classes that also have to cover game programming. I also use and would recommend the Playful Production Process as this is a great book on how to think about the game production process and use Game Design Macro instead of hundred pages long GDDs.

just love your contents man! keep up the good work 🙂

Thank you! I am just starting my journey. Going to grab some of these.

Love you dude! "I'm gonna put it in S... Thomas isn't here to go against me so I'll put it on A" you definitely know your formula

Bro, most of those books are just stories related to gamedev experience. Here some books everyone should read about improving gamedev skills: - The Art of Game Design (mentioned but should be on top) - Theory of Fun - An Architectural Approach to Level Design - Game Feel - Game Programming Gems Series - The Aesthethic of Play - Rules of Play - Game Design Workshop

@Afreshio

4 ай бұрын

I'm halfway to The Art of Game Design. Really awesome and complete book so far. Its sorely missing on this tierlisting video. An Architectural Approach... is also on my e-reader. I've only scratched the surface. But it seems really useful and practical. I haven't read the rest, except for Rules of Play and I must discourage anyone that isn't an academic or teacher to read this one. Its too elitist or just focused on the academic ramblings about the theory of games (not game theory, the mathematical field). I was deep a couple of hundred of pages until I said "enough" and started The Art of Game Design and never looked back.

@carbonmachina

4 ай бұрын

The Art of Game Design is by far my favorite book of them all. It just has that cozy feeling of talking with a really good friend, and the author is a proficient and successful game developer as well, so he walks the walk, not just preaches it. Funny you mentioned the academic appeal of Rules of Play because it was written by academics from UCLA (if I remember correctly), and I was a game design lecturer for quite some time, so there's that. There's really good value, but it is a heavy read. Overall, these are just tools and ideas. They won't make the game better nor save you in this difficult industry, but they help you realize the power of what the medium can do. All perspectives work towards giving you a notion of the approach to development that works best for you and your game. @@Afreshio

@billcephus

4 ай бұрын

Art of game design (book of lenses) is my vote for most overrated book. That book did nothing for me. Very meh.

Masters of Doom was my first gamedev book, I read this gem back in 2012 in those days of Indie: the documentary that reignited my passion of gamedev. Although the book it's not didactical, its a semibiographic story with great creative licenses, it's stil an awesome heavy metal read. 10/10 for me.

I recommend procedural generation in game design, it covers both the design of implementing good Proc Gen, and some examples from devs of their methods

The tierlist we didn't know we needed

I would love videos reviewing and giving the best takeaways from each of the Tier A and B books. The thing about zoning out, is I have a reading disability AND adhd AND a dissociation disorder. I will get sick after 10-20 pages, and may end up zoning out or dissociating for several of those pages. Video and audio content is far better for me, especially if the video is taking my attention, or if I can multitask.

@nightbat13131

3 ай бұрын

"it's harder to zone out while reading" *adhd has entered the chat* I hate when I end up dissociating instead of reading.

Excellent! I had blood sweat and pixels as a possible read, and the programming patterns book as well. Glad to know they are worth it. I will be adding level up to my list as it seems like it'll be helpful! I really liked Console Wars as a book surrounding gaming, though it's more focused on some of the marketing Sega and Nintendo did in the 90s. It was a fun read at the least.

Great great great / useful videó! Thank you! :)

you guys should do a tierlist of your tierlistings 😂

@bitemegames

4 ай бұрын

We're going to make a few more tierlists before we do that tierlist, but it's planned! -M

Real-time Rendering - Fourth Edition, if ya wanna get techy (and paid :3)

love you but I also NEED more Thomas in my life

@bitemegames

4 ай бұрын

Tell Thomas he needs to read more books then -M

Reading is a superpower, so you’re on the right track!

I just need Good Practical books that cover those Crazy Equation applications . Mathematics was my favorite ( or at lease Strongest Subject) in School but I never got into practical needs of those Algebra Equations etc. So yeah....

@finesseandstyle

4 ай бұрын

I'll give you one, if you want to have damage indicators that show the direction of an attacker, you use trigonometry -> Atan2 function to calculate the direction of an arrow in degrees to point towards. Trigonometry and vectors is the most used maths that I'm using on my game at least. I can give you more too

@billy6427

4 ай бұрын

@@finesseandstyle ThanX. I'll keep that in mind

Just finished Masters of Doom on Audible. Wil Wheaton reads it. It was really good.

I had a bunch of game dev books back in the day but I gave them away. Wish I still had them. I doubt they’re even published anymore

RIP Thomas 😢

One day you will write your own book!

20:40 Upvoted just for the kid in the shooting gallery when mentioning USA.

@bitemegames

4 ай бұрын

That kid was me :( -M

S tier book for game development is Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins

@MeatCatCheesyBlaster

4 ай бұрын

I remember when he broke all his fingers and never stopped coding

Books sure are expensive. Good thing there are libraries. Like a library... b library. Heck, may be there's even a z library? I wonder what does google have to say about if z library exists.

Masters of Doom is S tier entertainment wise 😁

Books? Those webpages on paper?

Which of these books do you believe make the best Audiobooks? I mainly consume media(including your videos) while doing housework or even my actual work so that my free time can be spent working on my game. P.S if you answer this I will purchase Forge Industries as well as your next game and leave good reviews for both😉

@ardinherbst3887

4 ай бұрын

First try at Bribery, not sure if I'm doing it right.

@bitemegames

4 ай бұрын

You're better of with books that aren't as crazy on the technical aspect. I'd say Blood, Sweat & Pixels or Sid Meier's memoir are the best there. I listened to Sid Meier's Memoir in audiobook and enjoyed it. Wait another 4 days, then Forge Industry will go on discount ;) -M

Takeaway: Thomas is Dead Weight. Got it. (Thomas you gonna take that from Marnix?) /s

@Seancstudiogames

4 ай бұрын

I immediately went and borrowed Blood Sweat and Pixels using the Hoopla app. 659 pg’s. Here we go!!

Your first game was going to be an open RPG? Classic mistake man, lol. I'm sure you're aware of it now. Making mistakes is normal and part of the journey.

Thomas = dead weight 🤣

While you guys are procastinating with books, im making games and learning while getting experience ;)

Not gonna watch this video because I don't know how to read

Is it worth reading these when AI can just do everything anyway? Nvidia CEO said within 5 years all games will be made by AI.

@robinsonsdg6683

4 ай бұрын

That's not what he is saying. He says we'll see fully AI-generated games in 5-10 years. Not that all of them will be made by Ai

Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Third Edition Game Feel: A Game Designer's Guide to Virtual Sensation Game Programming Patterns Theory of Fun for Game Design Fundamentals of Game Design Architectural Approach to Level Design: Second edition Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, Fourth Edition Elements of Game Design Advanced Game Design: A Systems Approach The Pyramid of Game Design: Designing, Producing and Launching Service Games One Up: Creativity, Competition, and the Global Business of Video Games The GameDev Business Handbook Designing Virtual Worlds Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences Principles of Game Audio and Sound Design: Sound Design and Audio Implementation for Interactive and Immersive Media The Gamer's Brain: How Neuroscience and UX Can Impact Video Game Design The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself: 10 steps, just you and a computer GAMEDEV: 10 Steps to Making Your First Game Successful Video Game Storytelling: What Every Developer Needs to Know about Narrative Techniques Interactive Stories and Video Game Art: A Storytelling Framework for Game Design Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling Games, Design and Play: A Detailed Approach to Iterative Game Design A Game Design Vocabulary: Exploring the Foundational Principles Behind Good Game Design Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach The Craft and Science of Game Design: A Video Game Designer's Manual The Gamification of Learning and Instruction Fieldbook: Ideas into Practice The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox Challenges for Games Designers: Non-Digital Exercises for Video Game Designers Preproduction Blueprint: How to Plan Game Environments and Level Designs Casual Game Design: Designing Play for the Gamer in ALL of Us Game Development Essentials : An Introduction Foundations of Game Engine Development, Volume 1: Mathematics Foundations of Game Engine Development, Volume 2: Rendering Game Engine Architecture, Third Edition Creativity, Inc Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry Atomic Habits Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience The Compound Effect

@shannenmr

4 ай бұрын

gameaipro