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 | | Game Architecture and Design: A New Edition (New Riders Games) by Andrew Rollings, David Morris ISBN-10: 9780735713635 ISBN-10: 0-7357-1363-4 ISBN-13: 9780735713635 ISBN-13: 978-0-7357-1363-5 Paperback 2003-11-03 New Riders Games Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description Game Architecture and Design: A New Edition is a revision of the classic that you have been waiting for! This is a detailed guide to game design and planning from first concept to the start of development, including case studies of well known games. Originally published in 1999, Game Architecture and Design, has been updated by the original authors Andrew Rollings and Dave Morris. They tap back into what they teach so well and update this classic with skills and techniques found in the industry today. With more than just re-usable code, it's a comprehensive study that deals specifically with the issues of game design, team building and management, and game architecture. Through the use of real-world experiences and case studies, Andrew and Dave share it all. They show you what's worked and why as well as what to avoid and how to fix any errors. This intelligent and well-argued book is a glimpse into the often-disordered world of game development. Readers will gain solid advice and know-how that can bring some order to the often-chaotic world found in game development. | ||
Amazon.com Review Game writers have a hard lot. In order to compete, they're expected to write fantastic works of art and action that feature spectacular visual and physical effects, and which can render those effects with great speed. If they don't write for the latest hardware (which is often barely stable), the designers end up with something that looks antiquated. In the end, as well, there is the target market: Mostly males between the ages of 15 and 30, who have sharpened their volatility of taste to a fine edge. Game Architecture and Design is a protracted meditation on what makes a game (and a game development company, and a game developer) good. This is not a programming book; it is a design book. Andrew Rollings and Dave Morris do talk about game architecture, and pick apart some top games with state diagrams and sketches of class hierarchies, but that sort of content is in the minority. Mostly, the authors provide informed opinions about bigger engineering decisions, such as the question of whether to use Microsoft DirectX or OpenGL, or how to spread processor cycles across artificial intelligence and rendering operations. They make frequent reference to successful (and failed) games, explaining why each might have worked out as it did. --David Wall Topics covered: How to write good games, and other entertainment software. Overall, emphasis is on developing an idea into a product, with long and carefully considered digressions into architectural decisions (such as gameplay and visual effects), implementation choices (languages, libraries, and algorithms), and team management. | ||
Reviews | ||
Not what I expected but certainly worth the effort. I began reading this book expecting to learn something about game programming and architecture but what I came out with was less about programming and specific technical advice (though there was some of that) and more about the process of creating games, including how someone might attempt to manage a game development project. Even though my expectations were not met I can honestly say that I was not disappointed. The book was very well written and thorough in many ways (e.g., project management, "what is a game?") and weak in others (e.g., programming tricks, guidelines). The first half of the book was dedicated to the process of creating games. The project management side of game creation. There are plenty of books about gaming programming with API X with Language Y. In my opinion these books are frequently unfulfilling because they concentrate on tiny details (such as a specific method in DirectX). Things you should be able to glean from help documentation such as the MSDN or user forums. They rarely show the larger picture. Game Architecture and Design introduced me to a side of game development I had never considered and this was easily the most interesting and well thought out portion of the book. I've often thought about what kind of game I would like to create but I never asked myself: What is a game? What makes a game fun? How do I design a game specification document? What sort of project management pitfalls might I come across and how can I void them? This book constantly asks these sorts of questions. Interestingly, while reading through this section I found myself asking the same questions when playing through some professional big budget games and found that even the professionals could have used this book to improve their games. The latter half of the book touched upon the actual game architecture. I found this part rather weak. Though it promotes the idea of abstraction, modules and flexibility these are not new concepts to software development in general and are covered in better details in books dedicated to software design patterns, techniques and technologies. Some of the suggestions are more suited to company policy such as variable naming guidelines, commenting etc. That's not to say that these things aren't important (I personally try to adhere to a particular style), but I'm not convinced these sorts of opinion driven items will fit everyone's coding style. Overall I found the book incredibly engaging, especially the first half of the book. I've always thought about game development in terms of classes, variables, source control etc and I never questioned what happens before coding begins. I would highly recommend this book to any budding game developer in so far as understanding the entire game development process, from inception to documentation to creation. Though not the Rosetta stone for game developers it is an excellent resources for beginners and experienced developers alike. | ||
I don't recommend this book The authors often lose plenty of time talking too much. I do not recommend this book to anyone, although one can find anything interesting it is not necessary to read the whole book to learn the new concepts. | ||
A great book, a must for new game designers. This book should be on the shelf of every game developer and designer. It's a relatively complete guide to the development/design process of a video game and will give excellent insight into the techniques and approaches used by the professionals of the field. It covers a lot of topics so it ends up not being (nor pretending to be) a specialized "textbook", but it is a very high quality overview of the creative phase with many great tips and guides. Placing an example game design document at the end of the book was a classy and very appreciated decision :) If you're interested in game design or game development in general, please, do buy this book. If you're interested in a specific area of development, such as general coding, buy game programming gems or game programming graphics gems if you're into gfx. If you're looking for a hardcore game programming guide, this is not what you want. | ||
Interesting Insight into the Game Industry I found this book to be very interesting in designing a game from start to finish. However, finished in this case means the design document. The book sparcely covers the technical and programming aspects of game design and instead considers designing the game completely on paper. It covers various topics including concept, character creation, play balance, and working with the programming team. The examples included are simple rock-paper-scissor rules with other interesting variations. It covers how to document object attributes and the game effects they have. By following the book the new developer should realize the author's ideal development environment, where the developer(s) make a design document that is sufficient for the programmers to code without requiring constant attention from the designer(s), and thus freeing designer(s) to work on a new game (with a new programming team) while the current one is programmed. This approach is explained more fully in a rather lenghty section near the end of the book. Additionally, the author comments on the industry's currently development model, and compares it to his model. There appear to be several flaws with the book. For example, the author favors first-person perspective shooters as the most interactive type of game and therefore the most fun. The emphasis placed on interactivity seems to be mostly in the form of different ways of doing the same task (i.e. shooting different guns, etc.). To me this seemed to be adding features that did not radically affect gameplay, something the author warns not to do. Also, it is mostly written in the form of experience and ideas applied to real world examples and not general game theory. While general game theory is not completely neccessary, serious developers should learn general game theory and not just a few working examples, if they want to innovate and not derivate. Overall, this book succeeds in its goal to provide a beginner with a basic idea of game development and does it without complicated theory and math. | ||
Original edition was great I haven't read "A New Edition", but I did read the 1999 edition of Game Architecture and Design. I've just recommended it to the Game Designers mailing list as a valuable book. I've been a professional game designer since 1988. GA&D had a different perspective on design and has been really useful to me. I'm sure the updated edition is even better. Corey Cole (co-lead designer of Quest for Glory, Shannara, Castle of Dr. Brain, and others) | ||