Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made by Jason Schreier

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made Reviews

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  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
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  Martijn ter Haar

  De videospelindustrie is berucht vanwege het fenomeen 'crunch': werkweken van 80 tot 100 uur in de laatste maanden van de ontwikkeling om de deadlines maar te halen, met alle gevolgen voor de geestelijke en lichamelijke gezondheid van de betrokken van dien. Jason Schreier
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  Chris Bucher

  Als geneigter und leidenschaftlicher Zocker waren mit viele der hier porträtierten Games bestens vertraut. Die Irrungen und Wirrungen der dahintersteckenden Entwicklungen jedoch nicht. Schreiers Buch liest sich stellenweise fast wie ein Thriller und gibt interessante und
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  Username Exists

  Wer schon immer wissen wollte, wie und unter welchen Bedingungen unsere Lieblingsspiele entwickelt werden, kommt mit diesem Buch voll auf seine Kosten!Sehr locker und interessant geschrieben :).
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  Checkpiont

  In diesem Buch wird beschrieben, wie Träume von Entwicklern wahr werden, sich der Realität beugen müssen, oder am Ende sogar zerschmettert werden. Wir bekommen normalerweise nicht die Leute zu sehen, die ein Spiel wirklich erschaffen. Wir sehen den Creative
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  MarvMartin

  Insg. handelt es sich bei Blood, Sweat, and Pixels um ein tolles Buch für alle Videospiel Interessierten. Geschrieben wurde das Buch vom Journalist Jason Schreier. Schreier selbst schreibt hauptberuflich für Kotaku, eine der bekanntesten und angesehensten Internetseiten im
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  Grit

  Es ist für jeden empfehlenswert, der sich für die Spielebranche und die Personen dahinter interessiert. Das Buch erzählt von verschiedenen Geschichten, Schwierigkeiten und allen möglichen Erfahrungen von einzelnen Videospielentwicklern bis studios bei der Spieleentwicklung
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  Semi Mike

  Jason Schreier interviewt in diesem Buch eine reihe Entwickler und erzählt die Geschichten zu ihren Spielen und deren Entstehung. Dabei musste sich jedes Projekt anderen Herausforderungen stellen. Besonders interessant ist dabei wie unterschiedlich die Entwicklung von
• 
  A. Whitehead

  Making video games is hard work, whether you're a solo operator developing an indie game inspired by a Nintendo classic or an experienced team of 200 working with a budge in nine figures. In this book, video game journalist Jason Schreier investigates the making of ten different video games: Pillars of Eternity, Uncharted 4, Stardew Valley, Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, Halo Wars, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Shovel Knight, Destiny, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Star Wars: 1313.Most people know that the making of video games is a difficult, long winded and expensive process. But just how long winded and expensive that task is remains mind boggling. This book explores some of those stories. A single cancelled contract almost destroyed veteran video game studio Obsidian Entertainment, until they launched a successful Kickstarter for an old skool RPG called Pillars of Eternity that was a big commercial hit and saved the company. Naughty Dog Studios had already delivered three critically acclaimed Uncharted games and were a well oiled machine, but still almost crashed into ruin whilst making the fourth game in the series. Blizzard Entertainment had been a 20 year veteran of game development with almost 100 million games sold but still managed to release Diablo III in a chaotic and divisive state, forcing them to save the game with an expansion pack that revamped a lot of how the game worked. Star Wars: 1313 was a game that looked absolutely amazing and was playing very well when it was abruptly cancelled when Disney took over LucasArts in 2012, flushing several years, tens of millions of dollars and thousands of hours of work down the toilet.Schreier recounts the story of each game in a well researched, intelligent manner based on interviews with the people involved and, in some cases, spending time embedded at the studio in question. Arguably the most fascinating chapter is on the development of Stardew Valley, a rare modern game created by just one person (Eric Barone), showing the insane work required to bring what is apparently a very simple game idea to the masses. The most explosive is certainly about the development of Destiny, an online game created by Bungie Studios to escape the treadmill of developing Halo games until the end of time, but that was easier said then done and by the end of development most of those who had been pushing for abandoning Halo had left the company, leaving a lot of anger and bitterness behind (which is an ongoing story, through the problematic release of Destiny's expansion and sequel). The most frustrating story is that of 1313, a genuinely exciting sounding game that was killed in its infancy.If there are any negatives to the book, it's probably the lack of depth. The book can only give about 25 pages to each project, and often the chapter ends just as the story gets interesting and we're moving onto the next game. There could also be better context: the Diablo III chapter focuses on the expansion, but we learn nothing about the ten year development of Diablo III itself and why the game ended up being released in such a chaotic state. The Witcher III chapter also lowballs the game's reportedly hellish crunch period, which led to many people leaving the company (also it also resulted in arguably the greatest video game of the last twenty years). You occasionally feel that Schreier pulls his punches at least a little to retain future access to the companies involved.That said, if you play video games but have no idea how they're made or the workload involved, this book (****) will be revelatory. Well written, informative and entertaining, it marks a good beginner's guide to the crazy world of making video games.
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  Jason

  Mostly a quite enjoyable read overall but each chapter was very similar:Small games company has idea for a great gameThey write software which takes a lot longer than planned so many late nights are requiredMoney is tight so funds need to be raisedGame is finally released to much acclaimIt's not a technical/geeky book, so if you're into the nuts and bolts of writing games or how to develop a game, this isn't the book for you. It's pretty high level and while quite interesting as to how these gaming companies managed to release their games, there's nothing that exciting here.
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  David Barnett

  Game development is quite the story Tales of odds overcome, challenges faced from within and without not to mention the immense strain both personal and professional placed upon those who go out on a limb to see their vision through to completion.It is quite the story but when you've read the tenth consecutive version of it you begin to wonder if something is off either in the story or the telling thereof. Without a doubt it's well researched and I was gripped to those first few chapters.But then it becomes apparent that every story plays out to the same template with some interesting omissions made to fit the narrative. Hit me especially during the Destiny chapter, a story of hope outreaching it's grasp to hear it here.No real discussion of the business practices that lead to such an incomplete game being released, of the DLC model filling in the gaps or the monetisation that crept in after. Just plucky endeavor and long hours at the code mines. It's quite the story but not really a definitive one.
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  Jojo Chanway

  The book is structured by specific games with interviews from those who worked on the projects. There are some interesting and quite funny observations such as a live demo of a Dragon Age prototype being staged animations, but because of this structure, most of the information of these different games overlap each other so much that it becomes too repetitive to casually enjoy reading, I skimmed through some chapters because of it.I think the book would've been better if it was instead structured according to the typical process and stages of gaming development production. It would have removed some of the repetition, and it would have resulted in a much shorter read, but if the author researched games, he could've had enough good research for a good 250 300 page book.
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  Esiotrot

  This is my first book based on games and it was definitely a great introduction to the gaming industry. Each chapter is based on a different game and how the developer sought to deliver it to he public without getting too heavy on politics or specific knowledge of the games in question. One lesson I have learnt from this book is how many developers over promise and under deliver and it’s a shoddy practice that needs calling out a lot . The interviews with staff and team members are insightful but for each chapter I wanted a little meat on the bones of it all. This might be a bit of a stretch given game companies don’t really want to talk about their struggles publicly, however the author has certainly received some good sources for the material. A good book and would happily recommend to anyone interested in games.