If you are reading this article, here on FeedTheGamer, it’s a pretty safe bet that you like games. It’s also possible that you’re interested in learning more about games – how they work, how they’re thought up and most importantly, how they’re developed from idea to working bits of software for your computer or console.
Over the last 6 months or so, I’ve been really busy giving lectures on this subject and getting heavily involved in game development. Which is why, in this review, I’d like to introduce you to, what I think, is a great resource to start learning about the development process, as well as something that you can use to increase your knowledge of a topic that, if you’re here reading this, you’re probably already quite passionate about!
Author Jeannie Novak’s “Game Development Essentials” (GDE), is now in its 3rd edition and is the core title that has spawned a series covering many, if not all, facets of the game development process. As such, GDE acts as a great introduction to the subject; covering a very broad spectrum of material, albeit in little depth. Effectively then, GDE can be seen as a primer establishing a foundation in the material that subsequent books then build on.
When I say that it covers a broad spectrum, it’s no exaggeration. Chapter 1 opens with a review of the history of gaming; tracing the genesis of today’s games back to the arcades and beyond that even, to the mainframe era and our first tentative steps to organise games in an electronic form. This serves to set the tone for the whole book by highlighting that, in order to understand the state of games right now and their potential in the future, we need to know here they came from. Subsequent chapters rapidly progress into discussion of more specific aspects of the development process. Everything covered is reinforced with sidebar comments from a range of industry professionals, giving meaningful insight into the practical implications of the material that has been introduced in previous pages.
What GDE offers is a snapshot of the whole process, trying to ensure that everyone shares the same language in things to come. Information like, what a Producer does as part of the development team and how the Executive and Associate Producer’s roles differ is the what GDE gives you on the face of it. But more importantly, it gives you a deeper appreciation of what goes into a game and how components interact in subtle ways to create a compelling experience.
There’s an entire chapter dedicated to audio and how sounds contribute to games; everything from music to sound effects. It also touches on more involved concepts like interactive audio, where the music is shaped by the player’s actions. Story and character creation feature prominently and parallels are drawn between traditional storytelling and the way that archetypes can be used to help players more easily identify with specific characters and understand their role within the story. In fact, almost everything you’re going to want to consider when thinking about creating a game, or analysing and critiquing existing games is touched on; including more business-oriented concepts like publishing and marketing.
With all that said, there’s not a lot of technical meat to the content. If you’re looking for a one-stop shop that’s going to get you up and running making games; this isn’t it. There are plenty of books in the series though, that are going to give you more specific insight into these details, such as the excellent “Game Development Essentials : Gameplay Mechanics”, which I am currently working my way through.
The bottom line is that Game Development Essentials delivers exactly what it promises in the title : the essentials of game development. It’s an excellent introduction to the aspects of game development and gives a good overview of the end-to-end process for beginners wanting learn about game development and I’ll be using it as a major source of material for the group I have recently founded at my university, which helps students to learn about game development from scratch.
The book offers a great starting point and because it assumes no knowledge on the reader’s part, it allows a common vocabulary to be formed. This is it’s major strength, I feel, as it is very easy for students to arrive with preconceived ideas in games, and Game Development Essentials allows you to work around these. Overall I highly recommend this book.
Disclosure – This review was based on a free copy of the book that I received from the publisher.
