emsemce123's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
4.0
The true stories of how some of the biggest video Games were made. The author puts it bluntly and perfectly in the beginning, we all become inspired by and then want to or think about at some point making video games. This book shows you some of the ins and outs and problems that the developers faced while making some the biggest and some of the lesser known indie titles, yet all are beloved, and one of the infamously canceled. Hearing the challenges they faced to bring some of this stuff to fruition is insane and makes me love video games even more, with a new found respect for just how much work, dedication, and hardship goes into the making of them. It also seems like going it alone may be the best option as a lot of the bigger titles problems spawned from studio interference, money problems, deadlines, creative changes from higher up. It's incredibly frustrating to hear about and makes me wonder how differently things might have played out if they're original ideas weren't changed. I'd highly recommend if you're even the slightest bit curious about the behind the scenes of video game creation. (You don't have to have played any of the games, but you might have a better time if you have. I'd only played Uncharted 4 when I read this, but wanna check out the other titles covered in this book)
yrsbrn's review against another edition
5.0
A ton of shorter stories centered around the birth, development and launch of 10 video games. I’d only played a couple of them, but the stories were engaging and short enough. Some pretty good ancillary project management lessons to take from these, even if you won’t ever work in video game development.
raalux's review against another edition
5.0
A riveting book! I didn't know much about any of the games discussed in the book, but I was still fascinated by the trials and tribulations described by Schreier. A must-read for video game enthusiasts, though I would definitely recommend it to any fan of narrative nonfiction.