Jason Schreier

Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes readers on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius. Exploring the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities, marketplace demands, and Donkey Kong-sized monkey wrenches thrown into the works by corporate, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels reveals how bringing any game to completion is more than Sisyphean—it's nothing short of miraculous. Taking some of the most popular, bestselling recent games, Schreier immerses readers in the hellfire of the development process, whether it's RPG studio Bioware's challenge to beat an impossible schedule and overcome countless technical nightmares to build Dragon Age: Inquisition; indie developer Eric Barone's single-handed efforts to grow country-life RPG Stardew Valley from one man's vision into a multi-million-dollar franchise; or Bungie spinning out from their corporate overlords at Microsoft to create Destiny, a brand new universe that they hoped would become as iconic as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings—even as it nearly ripped their studio apart. Documenting the round-the-clock crunches, buggy-eyed burnout, and last-minute saves, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a journey through development hell—and ultimately a tribute to the dedicated diehards and unsung heroes who scale mountains of obstacles in their quests to create the best games imaginable.

The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels

Timeo Williams

An enjoyable book detailing intricate and detailed stories behind many of the games released/and not released, in the 21st century. 

Takeaways:

Kickstarter is being used more and more to allow for the creation of novel video games. 

Those working in the videogame business, gamedesigners, have very, very long hours of work with the trade off, that in return, something of value is created. Game design is a very creative task and it involves a blend of soundtracks, voice actors, graphic artists, marketers, and engineers/game designers.

veekay

Phenomenal book. Lots of insider insights on the struggles, high and lows that developers go through while building a game. Highly recommend for game devs

matej yangwao

** spoiler alert **
           Onboarding how some games are made at high personal costs and what's artificial problems we are creating with being not there.

≥Video games are designed to bring pleasure. Their sole purpose is to serve as a pastime that's both educational and enjoyable. The general perception is that video games are always a great experience, and as such, we have come to believe that gamers and game makers alike share in this “fun.”

≥While the playing experience is enjoyable, it isn't the same for the creation phase.

≥Sometimes setting specific goals can be the pitfall of a successful project.

≥It is essential for game makers to always work in an atmosphere free of any tension to avoid errors.

≥The weight of a previous success can cause the failure of future projects. Ironically, a previous success should be the boost for more to follow; we must be careful not to be consumed with trying to match it

≥Don't let success get into your head and keep you from striving for more. As we've just discussed, nothing that hinders future accomplishments like camping on past success.

≥The making of a successful video game hinges on the efficacy of the team behind it.

≥A team is kept happy and inspired when there is a healthy influx of finance to actualize the project.

≥The team leader must find a way to give everyone involved a sense of ownership and equal importance to the group and the project as a whole. Once you can get your team working together, you can take on any challenge with the assurance that you will succeed.

≥If everyone on the team invests in the game's success, there is a higher chance of succeeding.

≥A “bug” is an error, flaw, or fault in a computer program or system that causes it to produce an incorrect or unexpected result or to behave in ways you didn't intend it to. A bug can arise from a simple mistake in one or more lines of code.

≥bug can ruin a well-designed game and can render all your hard work useless. Thankfully, a bug is just a line of code, and can be fixed with time and effort in a process called debugging. Debugging is a method of finding and resolving bugs within software. Because debugging causes project development to take longer than was projected, the release date will have to be extended, but it's doable.

≥The success of some games is based on the reputation of the studio, and this is why more prominent brands sell more.

≥It pays to keep an eye out for the dark horse and put your money on it; it might just outrun the sure bets.

≥Life doesn't always go according to our favorite video games, and it can end unhappily.

I found this book fascinating. It's a book about different video game developers' struggles to release their games. In one case, even though they had worked very hard on it, their company was acquired by another, who canceled the whole project. Reading this, you realize there is much more going into making the video games we enjoy than we often think. It is an insanely massive industry with millions of dollars each company goes through to make one game. Not all spend that much; take, for example, the developer of Stardew Valley, who struggled for years and worked on the game himself mostly. He spent so much time making it that he was sick of his project by the time it was released. Creating video games has a significant toll on its creators, especially if it takes a long. Like Stardew Valley, the developer(s) get sick and tired of their game.

A great look into the industry. I think you'll enjoy this read if you like playing video games, even casually.

Frank Enns

I found this book fascinating. It's a book about different video game developers' struggles to release their games. In one case, even though they had worked very hard on it, their company was acquired by another, who canceled the whole project. Reading this, you realize there is much more going into making the video games we enjoy than we often think. It is an insanely massive industry with millions of dollars each company goes through to make one game. Not all spend that much; take, for example, the developer of Stardew Valley, who struggled for years and worked on the game himself mostly. He spent so much time making it that he was sick of his project by the time it was released. Creating video games has a significant toll on its creators, especially if it takes a long. Like Stardew Valley, the developer(s) get sick and tired of their game.

A great look into the industry. I think you'll enjoy this read if you like playing video games, even casually.

Andrew Louis

I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I played more games (I haven't played any of the ones covered in this book) or followed the industry more closely.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes readers on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius. Exploring the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities, marketplace demands, and Donkey Kong-sized monkey wrenches thrown into the works by corporate, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels reveals how bringing any game to completion is more than Sisyphean—it's nothing short of miraculous. Taking some of the most popular, bestselling recent games, Schreier immerses readers in the hellfire of the development process, whether it's RPG studio Bioware's challenge to beat an impossible schedule and overcome countless technical nightmares to build Dragon Age: Inquisition; indie developer Eric Barone's single-handed efforts to grow country-life RPG Stardew Valley from one man's vision into a multi-million-dollar franchise; or Bungie spinning out from their corporate overlords at Microsoft to create Destiny, a brand new universe that they hoped would become as iconic as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings—even as it nearly ripped their studio apart. Documenting the round-the-clock crunches, buggy-eyed burnout, and last-minute saves, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a journey through development hell—and ultimately a tribute to the dedicated diehards and unsung heroes who scale mountains of obstacles in their quests to create the best games imaginable.

Jenn Doan 

fantastic read about the realities of game dev

Becky A

Interesting look into how the sausage (of video games) gets made. I work at a non-video game tech company and a lot of it felt painfully familiar, tbh.

Short stories about the game industry. Each story about a different game. Enjoyed the stories of Stardew Valley, Diablo 3 and Shovel Knight. 

Sven Schmidt

Nelson Zagalo

Confesso que me soube a pouco — "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made" (2017) — de Jason Schreier, tanto na análise dos casos — "Pillars of Eternity", "Uncharted 4", "Stardew Valley", "Diablo III", "Halo Wars", "Dragon Age: Inquisition", "Shovel Knight", "Destiny", "The Witcher 3" — como nas conclusões gerais. O facto de serem tudo jogos bastante conhecidos ajuda, e torna interessante a leitura, mas no final fica-se como se tivéssemos acabado de ler 10 artigos do Kotaku, um bocado mais extensos. Falta capacidade para aprofundar e poder de dar a ver, para causar reflexão. Nada do que se diz é propriamente novidade, nem tão pouco segredo como os blurbs que vendem o livro querem fazer parecer. Lê-se o primeiro capítulo sobre "Pillars of Eternity" e sente-se o mesmo discurso do documentário “Indie Game -The Movie” (análise), o que não é mau, dá algum gozo, sabe bem. Depois "Uncharted 4" confirma algumas dúvidas sobre o que tinha acontecido na relação entre Last of Us e Uncharted, sem nada de muito espantoso. E chegamos a "Stardew Valley" e o seu criador, Eric barone, para entrar definitivamente adentro de “Indie Game -The Movie”. O problema é que depois disso é sempre a descer, porque o resto dos capítulos são todos iguais, mais do mesmo, apenas com diferentes intervenientes, diferentes jogos, lugares e montantes, uma decepção completa. Schreier não só não aprofunda, como apresenta um espírito crítico de nível zero, para ele todos estes criadores são dignos de idolatração, resta-nos admirar o seu esforço e agradecer-lhes.
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Continuar a ler com links no VI: https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...

Omnya Ahmed

عرفت كتير عن العالم الخفي لصناعة الألعاب الإلكترونية، وربما عممت وقولت العالم الخفي لشركات السوفتوير وممكن كل الشركات كمان
رحلات مضنية وطويلة وفنفس الوقت ممتعة، مفيش لعبة من اللعب المذكورة متأجلش صدورها كذا مرة ومفيش تيم مكانش متأخر وبيجري عشان يلحق جدوله 
في المجمل اتبسطت وأنصح بيه أي gamer وأي حد مهتم بما يحدث وراء الكواليس في أشهر الشركات.
رغم أني مش جيمر بس طلعت بشوية ألعاب هحاول أجربهم في المستقبل أكيد خصوصاً أن دلوقتي عارفة القصة الصعبة والطويلة ورا محاولة إنتاجهم

Todd Luallen

This book is like a glimpse into my life at various times over the last 20 years. Game dev is similar all over the place, and this book tells a story (every chapter) of a given game title and all the accompanying hardships that come with it. I loved that Schreier split up the book to talk about a bunch of different games. At times the struggles and challenges are quickly passed over with a few sentences (ie. ...and two years later, working every weekend, and often until 2 am...), but for the most part Schreier does a good job of communicating how hard it is to make games. Perhaps the sequel could be about how hard it is to be a husband and father while making games - but then again I'm not sure many gamers care - nor do they really care how their cell phones or tennis shoes are made.

Bryan Maniotakis

Fun little read into the grind of the game development world. This definitely wouldn't' be a 5 star if I hadn't have played most of the games in the book though.

Shantesh Patil

Must read. Some great stories and a lot of reality checks if you have been in the industry for a while.

Anna Pinto

This book offers a really good insight into what it's like to make a video game. I liked how it included both big studios and indie stories. It made me sad about a couple of things: the lack of women's voices in this industry (something that the author recognizes in the beginning) and the mental health and burnout issues that appear to be an inevitable consequence of every good game out there.

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

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