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

Title: Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
Author: Jason Schreier
First Published: September 5, 2017
Publisher: Harper
Pages: 304
Genre: Non-Fiction, Pop Culture, Technology
Format: Paperback
Source: Library
Rating:


Synopsis:

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.

Buy the Book: Amazon

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Review

I love video games as much as I love books, so this book was a natural selection. I was excited to get my hands on this book, especially to read about the creation of Stardew Valley, one of my all-time favorite games. This book was shocking but fun, and an easy recommendation for any gamer. Jason Schreier has made a name for himself in the last few years for bringing attention to the poor practices in the gaming industry, particularly about crunch culture. This book feels like a stepping stone to the articles he writes today and provides a broad survey of video game development. AAA and indie titles are covered in this book, both the ones that became huge hits and others that never made it into the hands of gamers.

It is interesting to read this book after the recent controversies surrounding many of the major publishers, like Naughty Dog’s brutal crunch and Blizzard’s toxic frat-boy culture. With the recent backlash, all the boasting from the developers that were interviewed becomes disgusting instead of inspiring. I shook my head at how many of the absolute worst teams referred to themselves as some flavor of rebellious. While the short deadlines set by major publishers set by greedy publishers are as awful as to be expected, they aren’t the only bad guys in the gaming industry. I shuddered reading how quick developers were to set up a multi-million dollar fundraising project without a concrete idea on what kind of game they’d make, or how often solid leadership was lacking.

Schreier has done good work with this book, it provides a realistic portrait not only of the trials and triumphs of game design. It’s a wake-up call to gamers that aspire to get into development “to play games all day.” It’s a grueling industry that revels in its unhealthy work environments in the name of art.

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