The books that taught you game development

[Deleted member 12790]

I found this the other day and wanted to post it:

This was my introduction to computer programming. This was a binder that came with our very first computer, an Emerson 8088 bought from QVC. It's technically not a Q-basic manual, but rather GW-Basic, although they were completely compatible. This book is what taught me the basics (no pun intended) of game development. I read this whole manual front to back as a kid, basic interpreter in hand.

This was the second book on computer programming I read:

This is actually how I got my copy of the borland C compiler, haha. This comes with one of those "teach yourself C in 21 days" books from SAM publishing. Surprisingly, not awful.

All that said, THIS is the book that probably had the most important impact on me:

More than any book I've read, I use things in Abrash's graphics programming black book to this very day. I actually very much recommend this book to people even today, even if nearly everything in it is technically "outdated." The specifics may be outdated, but the broad topics it approaches are very much just as relevant.

Feel free to post the kind of books you've read over the years that helped you learn game development as well, perhaps these can help people starting out.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

I never went beyond making simple trivia games but I enjoyed learning some BASIC as a kid from the Commodore manuals.

 

[BaconHat]

My first ever game programming book is long gone now, it was called Game programming from start to finish if i remember correctly. Would not recommend it, it tried to show you how to do games in visual Basic.

Speaking of programming books OP, have you managed to finish writing your Dreamcast programming book?

 

[Segafreak]

What games have you worked on?

 

[Man God]

The Vic 20 manual is an incredibly well written document that goes over the basics of BASIC.

 

[zombiejames]

Not specifically about game development but this book was my gateway drug to programming:

C is still my go-to language.

 

[Launchpad]

This is great Krejlooc. I've really wanted to learn more about Graphics Programming. I'll need to check out that Abrash book, are there any other good and more recent books on the subject?

 

[Nexus2049]

This is as good a thread as any to ask this: I am planning to go to school because I want develop games (more specifically, develop my own games). I am torn between going to a game design specific course (where they teach basic programming, 3D modelling, writing, concept art, level design, etc), or if I should just take a Computer Programming course? I guess the programming part would be more of a importance to me, but I'd like to know how to do the rest as well.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

What games have you worked on?

Click to shrink...

Done lots of contract programming jobs for various projects people wouldn't have heard about. Most recently I developed an iOS game about being a DJ for this small business in South Houston. I've been working on my own indie game for many, many years, burning through my own savings, too. I formed my gamedev company back in 2014.

Probably the thing people on this board would have played would be the Half Life 2 VR mod from before the DK2 launched.

 

[low-G]

Jeez my first books on game dev I read when I was literally 6. Don't remember the titles of the books or anything. All TI994a stuff..

Took me forever to grok binary storage of sprites. I used to guess random hex values until I got something close to what I wanted lol!

 

[Kientin]

Been slowly chipping away through Abrash's book and it is indeed a good read.

 

[NoPiece]

Applesoft BASIC Programming Reference Manual - Apple Computer : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Applesoft BASIC Programming Reference Manual - Apple Computer

archive.org

It took me decades before I realized the name Applesoft was a conjunction of Apple and Microsoft.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

This is great Krejlooc. I've really wanted to learn more about Graphics Programming. I'll need to check out that Abrash book, are there any other good and more recent books on the subject?

Click to shrink...

Game Engine Architecture by Jason Gregory is relatively new, it was written around the time he had just left naughty dog after working on Uncharted. Game Programming Patterns by Robert Nystrom is an awesome read, and like Abrash's book, it's available online for free: https://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/

For more general things not necessarily related to game development, I recommend Concurrency in .Net by Riccardo Terrell for better understanding of multicore design principles, and 3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development by Fletcher Dunn.

For something maybe a little more geared towards beginners, the Game Engine Black Books for Doom and Wolfenstein by Fabien Sanglard are must-reads.

 

[Meatwad]

What books would you recommend someone starting out today?

 

[Cucurbitacée]

I won't pretend it taught me coding, I can barely code nowadays. But it explained to me what the Amiga was actually doing with all these fancy things on screen. I have AMOS Pro installed on an emulator and I regularly try to make an Amiga game. I don't know how many times I tried and failed. But that's one fantasy from my childhood that I'd like to fulfill one day.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

This is as good a thread as any to ask this: I am planning to go to school because I want develop games (more specifically, develop my own games). I am torn between going to a game design specific course (where they teach basic programming, 3D modelling, writing, concept art, level design, etc), or if I should just take a Computer Programming course? I guess the programming part would be more of a importance to me, but I'd like to know how to do the rest as well.

Click to shrink...

Those are basically two completely different fields. I personally think you'd get more out of Comp Sci than any game dev course, but I'm also a programmer foremost.

 

[MysteryM]

I found this the other day and wanted to post it:

This was my introduction to computer programming. This was a binder that came with our very first computer, an Emerson 8088 bought from QVC. It's technically not a Q-basic manual, but rather GW-Basic, although they were completely compatible. This book is what taught me the basics (no pun intended) of game development. I read this whole manual front to back as a kid, basic interpreter in hand.

This was the second book on computer programming I read:

This is actually how I got my copy of the borland C compiler, haha. This comes with one of those "teach yourself C in 21 days" books from SAM publishing. Surprisingly, not awful.

All that said, THIS is the book that probably had the most important impact on me:

More than any book I've read, I use things in Abrash's graphics programming black book to this very day. I actually very much recommend this book to people even today, even if nearly everything in it is technically "outdated." The specifics may be outdated, but the broad topics it approaches are very much just as relevant.

Feel free to post the kind of books you've read over the years that helped you learn game development as well, perhaps these can help people starting out.

Click to shrink...

Fuck me that's a blast from the past. Completely forgot about abrashes Dr Dobbs Journals.

At the age of 18 I was experimenting with mode 13x but gave all that up when I got to uni as win-g/direct x was taking over and 8086 asm was dying out. I'm a professional dot net dev now but the yearning to actually write something will always be there.

I'm actually contemplating going back, picking up some z80 and writing a spectrum game. Then perhaps 68000....

 

[low-G]

Oh shit I found a text I did have, although I think this was just games you could type in, but you could still learn from it!

New TI-99/4A TI99 COMPUTE! First Book of TI GAMES Programs Manual | eBay

Books Publication. This is COMPUTE! Magazine plus many never before published. This is Edited with an introduction and notes by C. Regina. ISBN 0-942386-17-5. 211 pages. The glossy surfaces have lightly stuck to next book causing color drop when pulled apart.

www.ebay.com

this too!https://www.ebay.com/itm/Texas-Instruments-TI-99-4A-Computer-Beginners-TI-BASIC-Language-Instr-Manual/274156570083?_trkparms=aid=1110001&algo=SPLICE.SIM&ao=1&asc=225074&meid=c7985ff4a2944af298b3245e304ed53b&pid=100623&rk=4&rkt=5&sd=372861085766&itm=274156570083&pmt=0&noa=1&pg=2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1

ANOTHER! A programming one here

TI-99/4A 99/4 Book PROGRAMMER'S REFERENCE GUIDE by C. Regena COMPUTE! *New* | eBay

This programming guide was written by C. Regena and published by COMPUTE! Publications, Inc. a divison of ABC of Greensboro, NC for use with the TI99. Seven chapters lead you through the process of learning to program with clear explanations of BASIC TI-99/4A programming plus dozens of programs...

www.ebay.com

ps I hate iOS

 

[Deleted member 12790]

At the age of 18 I was experimenting with mode 13x

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I've actually been playing with raw VGA programming here recently due to the lockdown! That's what got the Abrash book on my mind, I generally work with mode 13h because of the chunky memory, but I wanted to try my hand at mode X now that I have extensive experience with planar hardware. The first time back in the 90's I tried dinking with mode X, it was absolutely bonkers owing to my only previous experience coming from Sega Genesis hacking, which was chunky pixel land. But today, planar memory layouts don't feel as daunting anymore. Fun, fun stuff.

 

[SickNasty]

This is as good a thread as any to ask this: I am planning to go to school because I want develop games (more specifically, develop my own games). I am torn between going to a game design specific course (where they teach basic programming, 3D modelling, writing, concept art, level design, etc), or if I should just take a Computer Programming course? I guess the programming part would be more of a importance to me, but I'd like to know how to do the rest as well.

Click to shrink...

If you take a programming course you would learn the programming part in a lot more detail and absolutely nothing about all of the other parts and would end up having to teach yourself about them anyway.

Bear that in mind as if you want to make your own game based solely off your own ideas, you're more than likely going to have to make every single part of it yourself.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

Forgot to mention that the game engine black books for DOOM and Wolfenstein are both free:

Game Engine Black Book DOOM

Game Engine Black Book: Wolfenstein 3D, 2nd Edition

 

[SteveWinwood]

Forgot to mention that the game engine black books for DOOM and Wolfenstein are both free:

Game Engine Black Book DOOM

Game Engine Black Book: Wolfenstein 3D, 2nd Edition

Click to shrink...

these are both worth reading even if you have little to no knowledge of programming like me

it's still super interesting and pretty easy to follow, hardest it gets into is some basic trig

 

[Deleted member 12790]

these are both worth reading even if you have little to no knowledge of programming like me

it's still super interesting and pretty easy to follow, hardest it gets into is some basic trig

Click to shrink...

Along the same lines, if all you know is basic trig, you have the tools to read this:

It uses that basic trig, to teach you 3D math.

 

[Launchpad]

Game Engine Architecture by Jason Gregory is relatively new, it was written around the time he had just left naughty dog after working on Uncharted. Game Programming Patterns by Robert Nystrom is an awesome read, and like Abrash's book, it's available online for free: https://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/

For more general things not necessarily related to game development, I recommend Concurrency in .Net by Riccardo Terrell for better understanding of multicore design principles, and 3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development by Fletcher Dunn.

For something maybe a little more geared towards beginners, the Game Engine Black Books for Doom and Wolfenstein by Fabien Sanglard are must-reads.

Click to shrink...

Thanks a lot!

 

[Nexus2049]

For someone who has 0 knowledge of programming, where would you suggest I start? A specific book? YouTube tutorial?

 

[astro]

No books, learning via Udemy course atm. I learnt much better watching videos and building set things then deconstructing and building my own. It's how I learnt web development.

 

[BaconHat]

Most of my newest employees also learned via Udemy and they are going good work so i second that choice.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

For someone who has 0 knowledge of programming, where would you suggest I start? A specific book? YouTube tutorial?

Click to shrink...

Well, that depends on what your goals are. Just as a hobby, simply in pursuit of knowledge? I've always recommended people start as far away from actually touching code as possible. Learn the broad, general concepts of computer programming, like how loops work, what conditionals are, the concepts of variables. I actually started with Hypercard:

If you want to start dinking around with programming concepts, go with the most basic WYSIWYG tools you can get. There is that petite computer series on nintendo consoles which uses basic that would be a great place to start. For specific knowledge, there are so, sooo many tools out there today with the internet to help, like the ones you mentioned. Youtube and such. One resource novices seem to hate for some reason (I guess pride?), is stack overflow. Incredible resource.



Here's a good series for learning the foundational concepts of computer science, from PBS:



Syntax, so-called "coding" is rote and mechanical, the first book in my OP is a reference manual, meaning it's just a list of every command in the language with short descriptions of what they do. That part is super easy to pick up. The broader concepts about how to structure a program, how programs are designed, that's computer science and that's the fun part.

 

[ray_caster]

This is great Krejlooc. I've really wanted to learn more about Graphics Programming. I'll need to check out that Abrash book, are there any other good and more recent books on the subject?

Click to shrink...

Real-Time Rendering by Akenine-Möller et. al. Second edition is my favorite but I guess fourth is the most updated.

 

[Weltall Zero]

I learned Basic for the ZX Spectrum (pre-NES microcomputer that was mostly popular in Europe) using these books circa 1985.

Far more recently, I enrolled for free on the course I mentioned in this post, and it was enough for me to make my first commercial game. :)

 

[Anatole]

I've kept a list of various books and syllabi at well-known schools that use them in my phone for a while. I am in a scientific field, but I am slowly developing my CS knowledge as I can.

 

[Weltall Zero]

This is as good a thread as any to ask this: I am planning to go to school because I want develop games (more specifically, develop my own games). I am torn between going to a game design specific course (where they teach basic programming, 3D modelling, writing, concept art, level design, etc), or if I should just take a Computer Programming course? I guess the programming part would be more of a importance to me, but I'd like to know how to do the rest as well.

Click to shrink...

If you can afford to do both, do both, specifically in that order (the game design course first, then the programming one). The more you know of every single facet of game making, the easiest it will be for you to make games, even if you work with other people (because you share a language to communicate with them). This is especially true if you're going to go into indie development solo.

If you absolutely cannot do both, think what you most desire to make in a game. Imagine a team composed of three people: a coder, a designer (gameplay + levels), and an artist. In this scenario, which one is your dream job? Which is the one you see yourself sticking with, even through the most boring parts (and believe me, all of them have boring parts)? Which one do you most realistically see yourself doing for ten or twenty years and never getting tired of? The answer to this is what you should study, because in the long run, passion counts for much more than your current skillset, and very often, also trumps even innate talent.

 

[Deleted member 13101]

Books from the 1970's and 1980's. Still have some in my attic. Joined the computer programming book club in the 80's, order by mail and wait weeks for a book to arrive. Had an early abrash book with all the details you could want about drawing a line segment from any angle. There were even books on doing RPGs. Code listings from magazines too. Assembly, turbo pascal, BASIC. Nothing really so useful today, fun to think back on it all though.

 

[MysteryM]

I've actually been playing with raw VGA programming here recently due to the lockdown! That's what got the Abrash book on my mind, I generally work with mode 13h because of the chunky memory, but I wanted to try my hand at mode X now that I have extensive experience with planar hardware. The first time back in the 90's I tried dinking with mode X, it was absolutely bonkers owing to my only previous experience coming from Sega Genesis hacking, which was chunky pixel land. But today, planar memory layouts don't feel as daunting anymore. Fun, fun stuff.

Click to shrink...

it's a byte per pixel from memory back in the days for 320x200 from memory, and planar mode takes some getting used to. The zx spectrum has a really weird screen memory as well but you learn to code around it.

I'm 46 now, and was coding did stuff back in the 90s too. Back then you could code in something like Borland pascal and stick in inline assembler just by adding the keyword asm.

The 90s was the Wild West for coding, remember writing a few tsrs (terminate and stay resident) that filled in the words 'dirty bastard' when someone tried to type in dir into a dos window. Ah the fun of being in uni.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

I'm 46 now, and was coding did stuff back in the 90s too. Back then you could code in something like Borland pascal and stick in inline assembler just by adding the keyword asm.

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I still do this, for like modern projects. Usually for very rare situations where I need to explicitly access an instruction in a non-obvious way that the compiler wouldn't optimize. My compiler of choice has always been gcc, so I use the extended inline ASM syntax, which is a little bit more annoying than straight assembly language due to the need to document the use of registers. Not to mention that x86_64 assembly language is hideous compared to the beautiful stuff like the 68000 or z80 or 6502 haha.

 

[Deleted member 2620]

Not game development, but getting this at a young age got me so pumped and led to me messing with basic scripting/mod stuff throughout the years and eventually to game development:

 

[Deleted member 2620]

If you want to start dinking around with programming concepts, go with the most basic WYSIWYG tools you can get. There is that petite computer series on nintendo consoles which uses basic that would be a great place to start. For specific knowledge, there are so, sooo many tools out there today with the internet to help, like the ones you mentioned. Youtube and such. One resource novices seem to hate for some reason (I guess pride?), is stack overflow. Incredible resource.

Click to shrink...

Worth noting that the latest version of this, Smilebasic 4 on Switch, is now available in English!

PICO-8 is also pretty similar (I'd say it's clearly inspired by Petit Computer/Smilebasic) and cheap and runs on Windows, Mac, Linux.

 

[Crayon]

This got me as far as I ever got.


Actually no. I did a godot tutorial and changed the little spaceship into harambe. Verify me.

 

[unapersson]

Wow, that takes me back, when I had my first programming job in my teens I was writing in GW-Basic, before porting it to one of the VB versions.

First proper programming book would have been this one:

 

[Ciao]

Anyone with C# knowledge and experience can give me a good book for learning the basics of the language?

 

[Deleted member 12790]

This got me as far as I ever got.

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This was actually a good series, although the Abrash book covers much of it all:

Wow, that takes me back, when I had my first programming job in my teens I was writing in GW-Basic, before porting it to one of the VB versions.

Click to shrink...

My dad surprised me with Visual Basic 6.0 right after it came out for christmas one year, I moved from hyper card to gw basic to visual basic to c and beyond. I loved Visual Basic 6.0, it taught me so much about modern APIs. I learned how to manipulate windows GDI directly and aribtrarily plot pixels. It was so slow, so I would learn about old atari st tricks like using dirty regions to make it manageable. Eventually I learned how to poll the gameport on my soundcare through the API and made a bunch of full shmups. I had photoshop at school at the time, so I'd take floppies, and make enormous backgrounds with it, then zip it and put it on multiple floppies and bring it home for the game, haha.

 

[Carn]

This is as good a thread as any to ask this: I am planning to go to school because I want develop games (more specifically, develop my own games). I am torn between going to a game design specific course (where they teach basic programming, 3D modelling, writing, concept art, level design, etc), or if I should just take a Computer Programming course? I guess the programming part would be more of a importance to me, but I'd like to know how to do the rest as well.

Click to shrink...

Serious question: are you already trying to create stuff? Most people I know that are creatives (ranging from musicians to some (ex)-programmers) did follow a fitting study (could be a conservatory, or something like computer science), but they were already very active in their 'hobby' before. The study and time at school mostly helped for more focus and specilisation and networking. Most of the skills they learned, they didnt learn at their school (school did make them better at it tho).

 

[finalhour]

I learned how to program games back in the day with Flash/Actionscript. This was my bible for learning how to code:

I followed that up with this one, which I still reference. A lot of the concepts translate across well to any language:

These two authors, Keith Peters and Colin Moock, were amazing teachers, I owe them a lot.

 

[the-pi-guy]

Well I know what I need to get now.

I've kept a list of various books and syllabi at well-known schools that use them in my phone for a while. I am in a scientific field, but I am slowly developing my CS knowledge as I can.

Click to shrink...

Pretty good list of CS books, proud to say I own most of the books.

 

[Nexus2049]

Serious question: are you already trying to create stuff? Most people I know that are creatives (ranging from musicians to some (ex)-programmers) did follow a fitting study (could be a conservatory, or something like computer science), but they were already very active in their 'hobby' before. The study and time at school mostly helped for more focus and specilisation and networking. Most of the skills they learned, they didnt learn at their school (school did make them better at it tho).

Click to shrink...

I used to have Unreal Engine downloaded and fiddled around with the level creator/blueprint mode. Been a while though. I'm sure things like 3D modelling I can self teach and just practice with myself. So the recommendation to take Computer Science/Programming course is probably a good idea as it would be the toughest for me to learn.

 

[Carn]

I used to have Unreal Engine downloaded and fiddled around with the level creator/blueprint mode. Been a while though. I'm sure things like 3D modelling I can self teach and just practice with myself. So the recommendation to take Computer Science/Programming course is probably a good idea as it would be the toughest for me to learn.

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My point was more that it if you really want to make a career out of it; spend hours each week trying to get more familiar with things; maybe through a small project like trying to code your own version of space invaders; or just some more time playing around with UE. Programming and gamedevelopment arent skills you can only pick up in school (altough as mentioned, proper courses will surely help). There is so much you can already do with resources online and proper commitment; I think that working on games (just as with making art) does require a solid amount of intrinsic motivation. A friend of mine worked at a few development studios and is now at Nvidia. Sure, he studied computer science but he was also trying to create his first mods when he was 12 and later his own 3d engine when he was 15.
But yeah, if you have to pick a course, something more focussed on programming will be a solid choice; not just regarding games.

 

[knightmawk]

I don't still have any of them, at least I don't think I do, but I bought a massive "Making games with C++" book when I was in middle or high school, don't remember which, and powered my way through that, and then later in life my dad bought me this set of reference CDs on making games with Python because they were on sale or something, he used to buy a lot of discs for things that didn't strictly need to be discs.

Then there was the allmighty OpenGL red book in college, I didn't actually own it, but my 3D Graphics professor gave us scans of a bunch of relevant pages. Same professor taught "Interactive Multi-Media", which was like a Java game making course, and I think he actually wrote the textbook for that and just gave it to us, can't remember now, that may have been a different class.

 

[Nexus2049]

My point was more that it if you really want to make a career out of it; spend hours each week trying to get more familiar with things; maybe through a small project like trying to code your own version of space invaders; or just some more time playing around with UE. Programming and gamedevelopment arent skills you can only pick up in school (altough as mentioned, proper courses will surely help). There is so much you can already do with resources online and proper commitment; I think that working on games (just as with making art) does require a solid amount of intrinsic motivation. A friend of mine worked at a few development studios and is now at Nvidia. Sure, he studied computer science but he was also trying to create his first mods when he was 12 and later his own 3d engine when he was 15.
But yeah, if you have to pick a course, something more focussed on programming will be a solid choice; not just regarding games.

Click to shrink...

Appreciate it! I'm working on getting a new computer, so I'll be able to finally go back to tinkering around with stuff and learning more! :)

 

[RPTGB]

Back when I had aspirations of actually being able to use my first home computer properly...

Still a great book for character animators and modellers

 

[Disorientator]

At one point of my life this was my bible, but disappointingly not much came out of it in the end.
Can't say it actually taught me game development, but it was great going though it back in the day anyways.