Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: Uncovering the Fascinating Stories Behind the Making of Video Games

shannon: As a gamer, I appreciate to see what went in the backstage in those developments. Some were amazing stories…one of them I knew was totally crap. It confirmed my suspicions and the other one surprised me completely. It is enjoyable to read something like this. I wanted to give 3.5 stars but I think 4 stars would be fair for a decent book like this, especially for gamers who enjoy reading too.

United States on Oct 11, 2023

Nicolás Darde: Interesantísimo libro donde se relatan diez desarrollos de videojuegos diferentes, con sus retos y problemáticas. Como en cualquier reto empresarial y más artísticos, se narran los altos y bajos del periodo de desarrollo de estos videojuegos, desde Stardew Valley a Pillars of Eternity.
Un indispensable para cualquiera que le interese la industria del videojuego.

Spain on Jul 15, 2023

Raul: Solo pude conseguir la versión física de este libro en Amazon

Mexico on Jul 08, 2023

Sudeep Tirupati: Must read for anyone interested in games and game development. Has insight several popular and one very popular cancelled Star Wars game

India on Nov 21, 2022

nerd-gedanken.de: Als Kunde in der Welt der Videospiele sehen wir vor allem das fertige, hochpolierte Produkt, das wir idealerweise am angesagten Releasetag über eine Plattform für unser Spielgerät herunterladen oder - ganz klassisch - noch in einer Box im Laden kaufen. Was hinter den Kulissen während der Entwicklung passiert ist, welche Teams wie daran gearbeitet haben oder warum ein Spiel, das dank der damit verknüpften, weltbekannten Lizenz eigentlich ein Renner hätte werden müssen, plötzlich nicht mehr weiterentwickelt wird, erfahren wir als zahlende Kunden maximal durch die Spielepresse.

Meist nur dann, wenn es einzelnen Journalisten gelingt, genügend Entwickler, Kreative und Entscheider kennenzulernen und ein Vertrauensverhältnis aufzubauen, das kritischere Fragen und Einblicke in schwierige Momente zulässt. Einer dieser Journalisten ist Jason Schreier, derfür das amerikanische Gaming-Onlinemagazin Kotaku.com arbeitet und regelmäßig Insiderinformationen von an der Entwicklung verschiedener Spiele beteiligter Menschen erhält, die er dann für das geneigte Publikum journalistisch aufarbeitet.

Aufmerksam auf Jason Schreier wurde ich durch einen seiner Insider-Artikel...

Germany on Jul 10, 2019

Daniel Bastian: "Oh, Jason," he said. "It's a miracle that any game is made."

Finally, a book that captures the complexity of game development that anyone can pick up and enjoy. Jason Schreier of Kotaku spent two years traveling around the world to score in depth interviews with the industry's most renowned gaming studios. Drawing from sources speaking both on and off the record, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels provides a rare glimpse into the pain and passion that go into bringing a modern video game to market. In ten absorbing chapters Schreier covers the downright grueling development process behind such hits as Blizzard's Diablo III, Naughty Dog's Uncharted 4, CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3 and, of course, Bungie's Destiny.

Speaking of Destiny, it was Schreier's crucial 2015 exposé that laid the groundwork for this wonderful little book. (Portions of his chapter on Destiny are taken directly from that article.) As fans of the blockbuster series will remember, that Kotaku piece brought Destiny's murky origin story to light. Importantly, it provided the necessary background for understanding how the company that gave us Halo could have produced — at least at launch — such a...

United States on Feb 16, 2018

Sulaiman: I don’t consider myself a gamer now because of all the other things that have taken over my priority list (also because I haven’t bought any current gen console, still on PS3). Regardless, I am still a videogame enthusiast and have been playing games for a long time now, since the 3rd gen (NES, MSX). I came across this book as a suggestion on Goodreads, and later saw it being recommended by the likes of Blake J. Harris (author of Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation) on Twitter. I was especially interested in this because it covers the development stories of Uncharted 4 (a game I’ve completed and absolutely loved), Destiny (a game I’ve played a little and have strong opinions on) and the beloved Star Wars 1313 (most of gaming people know what this is).

This book covers the development cycle of 10 games, namely:
Diablo
Diablo III
Destiny
The Witcher 3
Halo Wars
Uncharted 4
Shovel Knight
Pillars of Eternity
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Stardew Valley, and
Star Wars 1313

What’s common between all these 10 games? They all have been delayed at least once (or sadly, cancelled). Each game gets around...

India on Jan 25, 2018

Spidey: Blood, Sweat and Pixels, by Jason Schreier is a look at the process of creating video games in a way that most people don't really think about. From the legally unavoidable piracy issues in Poland leading to CD Projekt Red's formation to the lackluster release of Vanilla destiny, Jason tells us the behind the scenes stories of not only what happened to some of the video games released in an unexpected state, but why.

The writing is charming and well-paced. Reading it feels like listening to the story the developer would tell about the formation of their game, rather than the bland timeline of a game's development. At just under 300 pages, and containing ten chapters, no individual story wears out its welcome.

Someone asked me who the target audience of this book was. I think that if you're a fan of our show, you're definitely in that demographic. In general, if you're interested in getting into game development, if you've ever been baffled a features' lack of inclusion in the game, or wondered why a broken game was shipped in that state, this book will definitely answer a lot of questions you've had. One thing that's made clear is that nobody is more aware of a...

United States on Sep 06, 2017