People often ask me what games programming books I would recommend. To be honest most of them aren't worth reading and are often written by people who have never shipped a game. After all being a game programmer is a more well paid and rewarding job than being an author so it's hardly surprising.
There are exceptions of course, usually when a seasoned game developer wants to give something back to the community. Here is my (albeit short) list:
Game Engine Architecture is written by a guy who worked at Naughty Dog and is very comprehensive.
Game Coding Complete is written by a guy who worked at the legendary Origin Systems and contains some great anecdotes about his time there.
Game Programming Patterns is a newish book and also a really good read, I especially like the introduction. There is a free online version here.
The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses is easily the best book on game design I have read, rather than tell you how to design games it teaches you how to evaluate you own game designs.
There are some good general programming books of course, especially Scott Meyers books on C++, I'll probably cover general technical books in a later article.
Concur on "The Art of Game Design" - book teaches you how to think about design rather than how to use specific tools. The lessons stay relevant for much longer.
ReplyDelete