Game Architecture and Design [Illustrated] (Paperback)

If you are a game developer (as I am) or trying to become one, do yourselves and your colleagues a favour, buy and read this book and more importantly apply the principles it gives. I fail to understand how any developer can reject the reasoned arguments and practical advice put forward, unless of course you are one of the prim-dona or maverick developers portrayed in the book, believing it is your god given right because you have spent long hours alone learning C++ inside out and the latest 3D graphic techniques to work exactly as you please. In which case I recommend a long unsuccessful career as a one man developer.

Just because you are working to a well thought out design where the code subsystems are planned in advance and are discouraged from hacking up some great new special effect you've suddenly got the urge for, does not mean that your creativity has been replaced in the name of discipline. As Steve McConnell says in his book, After The Gold Rush, "We've all seen ugly buildings in which artistic considerations lost the battle with engineering economy, or in which aesthetics appear not to have been considered at all. Engineering without art can be ugly, but art without engineering may be impossible. Engineering does not constrain artistic possibilities. The lack of engineering constrains artistic possibilities."

In short this work is a must have if you have any aspirations at all of rising out of the game development pit of mediocrity and calling yourself a proffesional.

The first section is about game design, i.e. what will it be like to play the game. Here you can find useful information about balancing games, gameplay, the relationships between different units and developing the look and feel of the game. It also examines the systems used in existing games. It also includes some insights from influential game designers.

Then, there is a part about team management. For me, game programming is a hobby so this part wasn't very useful. Still, it contained some useful comments about the importance of planning ahead and having a good systematic approach for the development.

The third part is about game architecture. This describes techniques for creating complex game software so that it remains manageable and extensible. Some very practical insights about reuse of standard components can be found here, and several ways to make the programming easier, such as design patterns and encapsulation of complex functions. This part doesn't show you how to put a polygon on the screen or get a sound from the speaker, for that you'd need a different book. What it does show, and where many other game programming books fail, is how to take the technologies and then actually combine them into a working game.

Finally, there are design documents for some games, to illustrate the concepts used in the book by applying them to real projects.

While many game programming books are limited to a certain type of games, primarily first-person shooters, and aren't very useful when doing something different, this one contains material that will be useful to anyone making games. It doesn't matter if you're making a shooter, flightsim, strategy game or even a new genre, this book will have some useful information.

In my opinion, it's the best book on game development I've read. High-quality reading material.