Game Development Essentials: An Introduction

I've been making games for 19 years and I couldn't disagree more with Mark Baldwin's criticisms of this book. Jeannie Novak has written a fresh, all-encompassing book on the subject of game development. The industry is rapidly evolving and this is one of the few texts to keep up with current thinking and present it in a manner that is easy to digest. I really enjoyed the sidebars and interviews. Jeannie went all out - interviewing some of the brightest stars in this business. OK, so you can dismiss my interview (pg.300), but the rest are informative and interesting. It's disappointing to see such nit-picky criticism. If this is the same Mark Baldwin that did Empire (I loved that game) then you've been around long enough to know how useful a book like this is. Students of game design and anyone eager to learn more about this industry will get a lot out of this book.

This book is a great introduction to the game industry in general. It doesn't delve deeply, but does a flyover of what is becoming an increasing complex medium. It hits the points someone seeking to enter the industry needs to know - everything from features of the companies creating games to current styles of development. It would work great for an introductory class for students entering the industry, and as a good overview for non-students who find themselves called upon to understand the industry as it grows and challenge other media. If there are any faults, they are in the book covering so much territory that it can't provide detail. This is OK for an introductory book, but to get to specifics one might look at other books in the same series by Thomson Delmar Learning, e.g. the newly published Game Story & Character Development.

Having written for games over the past few years, I found Ms. Novak's book to be an essential part of understanding the professional game world. The book takes the reader on an informative journey through the ins and outs of the game development industry, starting from the beginning of electronic gaming. This book is not only a good learning tool for students, but also for anyone interested in game design as a profession. Further, the clean and understandable language is pleasure to read. Simply a must-have for any aspiring game designer.

I teach Survey of the Game Industry, Game Design & Game Play, and Project Management at the Art Institute of California: Orange County. Being a frugal person myself, I have not required my students purchase a textbook for any of my classes until now. Ms. Novak's book has become the single source of required reading for ALL 3 of my classes. Breezy, intelligent, and designed from the first sentence as an instructional tool, you will learn a great deal about the game industry from it. I could not possibly recommend this book any higher than to commit my classes to it.

This book is as good an introduction to the game development process as I have come across. Incredibly current, peppered with wonderful interviews and comments from major professionals in the field. I especially like the CD-ROM which includes a wealth of demos and development tools.