[HN Gopher] Great books on classic video games
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Great books on classic video games
Author : hypnotist
Score : 101 points
Date : 2021-05-15 07:49 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (bossfightbooks.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (bossfightbooks.com)
| corysama wrote:
| If you are interested in material like this, check out
| https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMakingOfGames/
| mentos wrote:
| I'm enjoying Once Upon Atari about 'the game that caused the
| collapse of the video games industry' in the early 80s
|
| Some fun descriptions/stories of early life at Atari
| LucidLynx wrote:
| I highly recommend both Wolfenstein3D and Doom black books, from
| Fabien Sanglard, which are very technical and describe really
| well a ton of things around those games: how they have been
| developed, the tools they have been developed on / with, the
| context, ...
|
| Wolfenstein 3D Black Book: https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbwolf3d/
|
| Doom Black Book: https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbdoom/
| superjan wrote:
| What I did not like about them was you could either buy a
| google book (only readable via a google app) or as a free but
| bitmapped Pdf, so bloated that it used to crash my iPad. I did
| not mind paying, but would like to get some more flexible
| format.
| danShumway wrote:
| Their current Google Book is listed as DRM free[0]. Is that
| still restricted to only be downloadable in the Google app,
| or does that mean I could buy it and just download from the
| Google Play website itself as an EPUB?
|
| [0]: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Fabien_Sangl
| ard_...
| endgame wrote:
| Good thing you're using the past tense, as he's published
| source code for both black books:
|
| https://fabiensanglard.net/gebb/index.html
| LucidLynx wrote:
| > What I did not like about them was you could either buy a
| google book (only readable via a google app)
|
| It is a DRM free book.
|
| I am using another app to read it.
| [deleted]
| _the_inflator wrote:
| A lot of old book gems can be found over at archive.org
|
| Really a treasure trove for old and "forgotten" classics.
| smoldesu wrote:
| I love the O'Reily design cues here, particularly the vague cover
| art and uniform cover elements. Had I not known this was a
| website, I probably would have killed to have a book titled
| "Super Mario Bros 3" with a racoon on the cover, but now I can
| just spend $15.
| thrower123 wrote:
| Not All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings by Ken Williams is another
| interesting one. It's more focused on the business side of the
| early game industry (especially the end of Sierra, and the
| author's side of the story relating to all the shenanigans
| involved), but it's a quick, interesting read. Probably people
| who weren't around in the 90s have forgotten how huge Sierra was
| in PC gaming.
| rvba wrote:
| Reverse Design: Diablo II is an interesting book about what makes
| Diablo 2 so addictive and nice to play. It is a relatively short
| book (less than 150 pages), where author starts with the way
| difficulty is set-up (with exaple of Galaxian, where afte4 ewch
| increase there is a moment of decrease and stability). Then
| author looks why the game is a "feel good" game - the character
| becomes better and better. Enemies get better too, but not so
| fast. There is also a nice chapter about the different types of
| randomness in the game: used to generate loot. As far as I
| remmember he also briefly mentions the "5 out of 10" quest system
| used in Diablo 1. What is really simple but good for
| replayability.
|
| For those interested in Blizzard/Blizzard North/Diablo 2 history
| you can also check the 2nd book called Stay awhile and listen:
| heaven, hell and secret cow levels. Author goes more into what
| wenr wrong during Diablo 2 development (and obviously what went
| good). The 1st book is about Diablo 1 and is much weaker: it is
| mlstly quotes "we made a great game". The second book repeats a
| lot of info from first and focuses more on why Blizzard North
| fell.
| bondant wrote:
| The Reverse Design series by Patrick Holleman is quite good in my
| opinion. I particularly enjoyed the one on Chrono Trigger.
| dejv wrote:
| I read Spelunky book from this series and found it extremely well
| written and very insightful in areas of game design. I've
| actually play the game after I've read the book.
| RhysU wrote:
| I really like the Spelunky book's content on "Finishing a
| Game". I think it applies to nearly any extended, difficult
| endeavor.
| baby wrote:
| I realize now that I would read a book on half life or counter
| strike and its inception.
| bondant wrote:
| For half-life you might like:
| http://thegamedesignforum.com/features/rd_hl_1.html
| bishnu wrote:
| Has anyone read Jordan Mechner's Prince of Persia journal? Was
| thinking of checking it out:
| https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0578627310?pf_rd_r=HMREHVA...
| cableshaft wrote:
| I've read his Karateka journal, but not that one yet. It wasn't
| super technical for the most part, at least not that I can
| remember, but it did give across the vibe of 'regular guy
| getting to do some cool things and find some success' and I
| found it extremely conversational, relatable, and inspiring. I
| do intend to read the Prince of Persia one at some point.
|
| It probably also got me to start recording my own game design
| journal. I'm still kicking myself for not doing one earlier
| like I initially intended to while I got a pretty cool job
| working for a video game publisher as a producer (instead I
| wrote like, 5 or 6 journals total... that was 11 years ago now,
| so a lot of it has gotten fuzzy...maybe if I sit down and try
| my best to remember at some point).
|
| But my game design journal (plus some personal stuff) journal,
| despite me still not having anything published during that time
| yet, is sitting at over 300,000 words over four years. I
| generated a ton of ideas and prototypes and consumed lots of
| lectures and playtested a bunch of other designer's games and
| had several 'almost' opportunities during that time, so there
| was plenty to talk about anyway.
|
| Pandemic really stunted that habit, though, and I'm struggling
| to get back into the habit of it (taking a break from writing
| an entry right now, actually, only the third one this year so
| far :/).
| criddell wrote:
| It's really good. I bought it after reading about Stripe Press
| (yes, the payments company publishes books). I also picked up
| _The Dream Machine_ by M. Mitchell Waldrop. I really enjoyed
| both books.
|
| The quality of the Stripe Press books is outstanding, although
| the type size is a little small in the _Dream Machine_ book.
| emehex wrote:
| I would read Karateka first. But both are amazing!
| otachack wrote:
| Highly suggest it! I read the older version back in 2011 but I
| believe this newer one at the least contains all the material,
| maybe more. It's a entertaining and insightful ride of
| innovation.
|
| Mechner has superb talent, especially back in his 20's, and I'm
| grateful he put out his notes for us to read.
| fraencko wrote:
| I read and enjoyed it. Definitely recommended.
| alfiedotwtf wrote:
| Not sure what's in them because I can't find their Table of
| Contents, but if you're looking for other great books on specific
| games:
|
| 1. Masters of Doom
|
| 2. Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book
| markus_zhang wrote:
| A note about Master of Doom:
|
| There is a small part about the departure of ID Software guys
| from Softdisk that is inaccurate and has been corrected by John
| Remoro himself when he spoke to the blogger who writes the
| famous CRPG Addict series (btw, completely out of topic but
| this blog is EXCELLENT if you want a COMPLETE view of pretty
| much every RPG out there since the 70s). The correction (as the
| blogger wrote) was a correction about a mistake he made in
| writing one of his earlier post about Dark Design, but I think
| it also corrects the claim made in Master of Doom.
|
| The link to Romero's correction is as following:
| http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2020/09/game-378-goodcodes-ca...
|
| You will need to scroll down to the second part, or just search
| "But since I was only able to get 1,200 words out of Goodcode's
| Cavern" on the page. To simplify things I'm pasting the
| paragraphs:
|
| >I had consulted several sources to assemble that paragraph,
| including one that purported to have interviewed both Carmack
| and Romero in detail, and I was pretty confident in what I had.
| Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when John Romero (who I didn't
| even know was aware of my blog) invited me to participate in a
| podcast interview of Stuart Smith. (We're recording in mid-
| September; I'll let you know when it's out.) I took the
| opportunity to run the paragraph by him and found out that
| almost everything I'd written was wrong. To wit:
|
| - I was a year late; 1990 was the year most of this happened.
| Romero worked at Softdisk prior to Carmack and was actually the
| one who hired Carmack, not because of Dark Designs but because
| of a tennis game plus his obvious facility with programming.
|
| - Romero and Carmack loved working at Softdisk and only left
| because it was the wrong sort of publisher to take advantage of
| the horizontal scrolling technology that the duo would use in
| Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM.
|
| - It was actually the president of Softdisk, Al Vekovius, who
| suggested that Carmack, Romero, and Tom Hall start their own
| company. There were no lawsuits and no threats; Carmack and
| Romero kept working for Softdisk for a year to avoid leaving
| the company in a lurch.
|
| - The reason Carmack and Romero are credited on so many
| Softdisk titles stretching into the mid-1990s is that those
| titles used technology and code that Carmack and Romero had
| created. They otherwise had no involvement in games like
| Cyberchess and Dangerous Dave Goes Nutz!
| reidrac wrote:
| On the spirit of Masters of Doom, I recommend "It's behind you
| - The making of a computer Game" by Bob Pape.
|
| The author explains how he made the R-Type conversion for the
| ZX Spectrum 48k and provides an interesting view of the
| "bedroom coders" and the early video game industry in the UK
| back in the 80s.
|
| Self-published and downloadable for free here:
| http://bizzley.com/
| MaxBarraclough wrote:
| I haven't read it, but _Racing the Beam_ also seems well
| regarded.
|
| https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/racing-beam
| salamandersauce wrote:
| Racing the beam is very good. Been a while since I read it
| though but I really enjoyed it at the time.
| sharken wrote:
| The Making of Prince of Persia and Karateka books by Jordan
| Mechner are also very good.
| boneitis wrote:
| In the same vein as Masters of Doom, I enjoyed `Stay Awhile and
| Listen` for a peek into Blizzard.
| JoeDaDude wrote:
| Thanks for the tips. Some of the books have links to the Amazon
| Kindle store and have previews which sometimes include ToCs.
| ekianjo wrote:
| Sid Meier's Memoir, too.
| veilrap wrote:
| I agree, this one was a recent joy to read.
| bombcar wrote:
| The Wolfenstein and Doom Black Books are also highly
| recommended.
| pengaru wrote:
| > 2. Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book
|
| I'd temper one's expectations on this one. It's a massive,
| unwieldy book, mostly speaking to old PC VGA graphics
| programming techniques, in pages taken verbatim from Abrash's
| previous Zen of Graphics Programming book.
|
| It definitely isn't focused on a specific game, but it does go
| a bit into the BSP tree stuff used in Doom, if memory serves.
|
| Maybe it's just because I had already read both his Zen of
| {Code Optimization, Graphics Programming} books, but I was
| rather disappointed upon acquiring and skimming the Black Book.
|
| Fabien's deep dives are more interesting IMHO, if looking for
| stuff about tech in classic id games.
|
| edit: BTW, if old [34]86/pentium-era PC optimization and VGA
| programming books is what you're after, the aforementioned
| Abrash books were goldmines at the time, and much more
| conveniently sized, physically speaking. I don't intend to
| throw shade on Abrash, it was just the Black Book that
| disappointed me, largely because of the high expectations set
| by his previous books. You can still find used copies of the
| Zen books readily on Amazon...
| andrewf wrote:
| Abrash wrote about Quake in Dr. Dobb's Journal while he was
| working on it. These columns weren't in the earlier printings
| of the book but were added as Chapter 62 onwards in later
| printings (by which point it'd be fair to label the earliest
| chapters historical). PDFs at:
| https://www.drdobbs.com/parallel/graphics-programming-
| black-...
| billytetrud wrote:
| I like how almost every one of these books has a somewhat random
| picture on the cover
| bigbillheck wrote:
| I can recommend "I Am Error", Nathan Altice's book about the NES:
| https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/i-am-error
| nairodd wrote:
| David Craddock's "Stay a While and Listen" series.
| hnal943 wrote:
| I recommend They Create Worlds for a comprehensive view of the
| early industry. Great insights into the causes of the twin
| crashes of consoles and arcades in the early 80's
|
| https://theycreateworlds.com/
| autarch wrote:
| I really enjoyed the Spelunky book.
| nightowl_games wrote:
| I, unfortunately, did not. It felt very mechanical. Like Derek
| agreed to write the book, and then just kinda... wrote it. It's
| very dry, matter of fact. It was clear that it was written
| after the fact by someone who is not a masterful wordsmith. I
| dont want to take anything away from Derek, or Spelunky, or
| Boss Fight Books, but I think that having a ghost writer would
| have helped the Spelunky book.
| mister_tee wrote:
| Appreciate the suggestions in this thread. Adding recommendations
| for Blake Harris's "Console Wars" on 90s Sega vs. Nintendo
| competition, and Jason Schreier's "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels" for
| more of the development angle. It looks like he has a new book
| out just last week, "Press Reset" -- seems to be on
| studios/projects that shut down and the aftermath. Adding that
| one to my reading list.
|
| For the link to Boss Fight books: FYI the selector defaults to
| paperback; ebooks are a very reasonable $5 if anyone prefers
| digital. They're that price at Amazon for Kindle, too. But IIRC
| and based on reviews out there, they vary quite a bit in style
| and quality. Supposedly the Spelunky one is great and written by
| the creator himself. I bounced off the series because one book
| was mostly personal anecdotes from the author, a random person
| who just liked the game, rather than anything about the topic you
| wouldn't get from playing it or even reading wikipedia. Some of
| the books do have more research and interviews.
| gxqoz wrote:
| Console Wars has some interesting reporting in it, but it's
| otherwise a terrible book. Absolutely filled with cliches,
| invented dialogue and business speak. It's also very clear that
| this book emerged from getting access to Sega of America chief
| Tom Kalinske and cannot solve the problem of getting anything
| meaningful out of Nintendo.
| otachack wrote:
| Right, Boss Fight books are a mixed bag IMO but I suggest to
| anyone, especially HN, to read Spelunky. It's a well balanced
| account straight from the Spelunky dev himself, Derek Yu. Only
| con about it is it's so short!
| mdbauman wrote:
| While I enjoyed what I've read of the series so far, I think
| it's a valid criticism that some books read more like a love
| letter from a fan than a history or notes from the developers.
|
| If you're considering reading some of these but are
| specifically interested in the developer's point of view, I
| suggest reading some reviews and/or a bit about the [author] so
| you know what you're getting into.
|
| For example: I liked the ZZT book very much, but that may be
| because I was briefly involved in the ZZT community in the
| early 2000s; it feels good to have a part of my history written
| down. If you've just read the Spelunky book (written by the
| developer Derek Yu) and are hoping the ZZT book is something
| similar from Tim Sweeney, you [may] be disappointed.
| fmoralesc wrote:
| I had no connection to the ZZT community, and I loved the ZZT
| book. I think it captures very well the feeling of being a
| sort of outcast and trying to express oneself through art. I
| always remember the bit about being excited about a project
| and then waking up to the next day and feeling just so...
| inadequate to the task.
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