Sunday July 6th, 2014 Got Game?

Have you ever wanted to go to a game developer conference?  Not to be confused with conventions, the conferences, such as March’s Game Developer’s Conference (GDC), July’s Casual Connect, and November’s Montreal International Game Summit (MIGS) are where the professional game developers get together to learn and network. While fun and informative, it can unfortunately be hard to get to these conferences. But if they are out of the question, why not make some games instead?  The library has many books and eBooks that will get you developing your own games in no time!

Before you start, it’s a good idea to know the history of games (and hence what has already been done). For a complete picture, start with Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy, which talks about the history of computer programmers from the 1970s and 80s. The Ultimate History ofVideo Games by Steven L. Kent focuses on early video games, particularly those made by Atari. Once you’re familiar with the history, check out Jeannie Novak’s Game Development Essentials:an Introduction. Novak’s book covers everything from design to marketing; Game Development Essentials is a great book for anyone who wants a better understanding of the industry as a whole.

If you have a game idea, but don’t really know how to turn it into a finished game, we have a couple of options for you. Game Design by Bob Bates will walk you through the entire process of designing a game, starting from the initial idea. A similar book is Les Pardew’s Game Design for Teens, which deals specifically with creating a game design document (GDD). The GDD is a living document that has a plan for creating the game. Parts of it are used to communicate what your finished game will be like to the developers and other stakeholders. Finally, Richard Rouse III’s Game Design: Theory and Practice discusses the theory of game design in a way that makes it easy to use that theory in your own project.

If you’re interested in only a specific aspect of game design, we have many books to help you out, too. For those interested in programming, a great book is Programming Like a Profor Teens by Charles R. Hardnett. Hardnett’s book is excellent for anyone who is new to programming; it progresses gradually, introducing concepts and jargon only as you need them.

If you’re an artist, why not check out Chris Solarski’s Drawing Basics and Video Game Art: Classicto Cutting-Edge Art Techniques for Winning Video Game Design, which shows you how classical art theory and skills are used within video game art. Les Pardew’s Beginning Illustration andStoryboarding for Games goes a little further, showing you how to storyboard a game; Pardew’s book also shows you how art appears in the GDD.

While art and programming are the two roles that typically spring to mind when thinking about game design, they are by no means the only ones. If you want to get into level design, try John Fiel’s Beginning Game Level Design. For quality assurance, which typically means testing games for bugs, check out Charles P. Schultz, Robert Bryant, and Tim Langdell’s GameTesting All in One. If you’d like to be a game producer, then Dan Irish’s The Game Producer’s Handbook is for you!

If you’re not interested in making video games but instead would prefer to develop more traditional card or board games, then don’t despair - the library has The Game Inventor’sGuidebook by Brian Tinsman. The Game Inventor’s Guidebook will show you the steps for publishing your non-video game.

So if you’d like to make games, no matter their form, the library has something for you!

Shauna Kosoris