
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
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Narrated by:
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Ray Chase
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By:
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Jason Schreier
About this listen
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 listeners 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-size 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, best-selling recent games, Schreier immerses listeners 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 multimillion-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.
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Story
With all the whiz, bang, pop, and shimmer of a glowing arcade, volume 1 of The Ultimate History of Video Games reveals everything you ever wanted to know and more about the unforgettable games that changed the world, the visionaries who made them, and the fanatics who played them. Starting in arcades then moving to televisions and handheld devices, the video game invasion has entranced kids and the young at heart for nearly fifty years. And gaming historian Steven L. Kent has been there to record the craze from the very beginning.
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Misleading title for an otherwise excellent book
- By CJ on 09-26-23
By: Steven L. Kent
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Sid Meier's Memoir!
- A Life in Computer Games
- By: Sid Meier, Jennifer Lee Noonan - contributor
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Over his four-decade career, Sid Meier has produced some of the world's most popular video games, including Sid Meier's Civilization, which has sold more than 51 million units worldwide and accumulated more than one billion hours of play. Sid Meier's Memoir! is the story of an obsessive young computer enthusiast who helped launch a multibillion-dollar industry.
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Only the Interesting Stuff
- By R. Squyres on 10-05-21
By: Sid Meier, and others
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Gamedev
- 10 Steps to Making Your First Game Successful
- By: Wlad Marhulets
- Narrated by: Yong Yea
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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The book guides you through a step-by-step process of making a commercial game. It teaches you how to learn all the necessary skills and covers various aspects of game development: mindset, preproduction, funding, business, law, development, marketing, PR, publishing, distribution, as well as pre-launch, launch, and post-launch strategies.
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The bible of modern game development.
- By Jason Parks on 11-12-20
By: Wlad Marhulets
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Fight, Magic, Items
- The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West
- By: Aidan Moher
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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The Japanese roleplaying game (JRPG) genre is one that is known for bold, unforgettable characters; rich stories; and some of the most iconic and beloved games in the industry. Inspired by early Western RPGs and introducing technology and artistic styles that pushed the boundaries of what video games could be, this genre is responsible for creating some of the most complex, bold, and beloved games in history. In Fight, Magic, Items, Aidan Moher guides listeners through the history of JRPGs.
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Excellent history of the JRPG genre
- By Cyrus on 08-14-23
By: Aidan Moher
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Code Gamers Development Essentials
- A 9-Week Beginner’s Guide to Start Your Game-Development Career
- By: A.E Colonna
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Phillips
- Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Are you a beginner who’d like to know how to program video games? A.E Colonna is an avid gamer and a self-taught game developer who is ready to give you a smooth introduction to video game development. After nine weeks, you’re guaranteed to know the basic coding concepts; you’ll be ready to create your first game using C# and the unity engine.
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f**k unity
- By Anonymous User on 04-01-25
By: A.E Colonna
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The Secret Science of Games
- By: John Hopson
- Narrated by: Matt Hicks
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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The Secret Science of Games is an accessible and entertaining guide to the hidden role of science in making games more fun. User experience (UX) research is a vital part of the story of how video games have become a cultural juggernaut, but game developers generally don’t speak publicly about how data shapes game design and game development.
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Worth reading if you are remotely interested in games and UX
- By Ayman on 10-14-23
By: John Hopson
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Control Freak
- My Epic Adventure Making Video Games
- By: Cliff Bleszinski
- Narrated by: Kurt Kanazawa
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Video games are dominating the planet. In 2020, they brought in $180 billion dollars globally—nearly $34 billion in the United States alone. So who are the brilliant designers who create these stunning virtual worlds? Cliff Bleszinski—or CliffyB as he is known to gamers—is one of the few who’ve reached mythical, rock-star status. In Control Freak, he gives an unvarnished, all-access tour of the business.
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5 star book, but obnoxious
- By Rodney on 06-10-23
By: Cliff Bleszinski
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Video Game Storytelling
- What Every Developer Needs to Know About Narrative Techniques
- By: Evan Skolnick
- Narrated by: D.G. Chichester
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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With increasingly sophisticated video games being consumed by an enthusiastic and expanding audience, the pressure is on game developers like never before to deliver exciting stories and engaging characters. With Video Game Storytelling, game writer and producer Evan Skolnick provides a comprehensive yet easy-to-follow guide to storytelling basics and how they can be applied at every stage of the development process - by all members of the team.
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Nice but shallow
- By Amazon Customer on 01-14-22
By: Evan Skolnick
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Once upon Atari
- How I Made History by Killing an Industry
- By: Howard Scott Warshaw
- Narrated by: Howard Scott Warshaw
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Once upon Atari is an intimate view into the dramatic rise and fall of the early video game industry, and how it shaped the life of one of its key players. This book offers eye-opening details and insights delivered in a creative style that mirrors the industry it reveals. An innovative work from one of the industry’s original innovators.
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Awesome
- By Aaron Valdes on 07-22-23
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Disrupting the Game
- From the Bronx to the Top of Nintendo
- By: Reggie Fils-Aimé
- Narrated by: Reggie Fils-Aimé
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Reggie Fils-Aimé, retired President and Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America Inc., shares leadership lessons and inspiring stories from his unlikely rise to the top. Learn from Reggie how to leverage disruptive thinking to pinpoint the life choices that will make you truly happy, conquer negative perceptions from those who underestimate or outright dismiss you, and master the grit, perseverance, and resilience it takes to dominate in the business world and to reach your professional dreams.
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Engaging Autobiography
- By Ryan on 12-07-22
By: Reggie Fils-Aimé
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Indie Game Publishing
- A Practical Guide for Videogame Developers
- By: Odile Limpach
- Narrated by: Carol Scheider
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Indie Game Publishing is the essential guide for indie game developers seeking to put their game into the hands of players. Whether you decide to self-publish or find a publisher to partner with, this useful guide will take you through each step of the process and thoroughly prepare you for success. This revised edition has been redesigned and tailored specially for the audiobook listener. Hear from experienced developers and expert publishers how they successfully released their games.
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Full of interviews. Not very actionable
- By Colin MacLeod on 08-05-24
By: Odile Limpach
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You Said This Would Be Fun
- What Makes a Game Good and How to Make a Good Game
- By: Jeff Warrender
- Narrated by: Quentin Hudspeth
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Good games don’t emerge out of thin air. Game design is a craft, and as in any other craft, there are skills and knowledge, acquired through study and practice, that accelerate progress toward better games. You Said This Would Be Fun explores these skills, explaining how great games exhibit qualities that designers of all experience levels can strive to emulate.
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Excellent overview of many board-game related topics.
- By Andrew Darlow on 05-05-23
By: Jeff Warrender
Great book. Really enjoyed listening to it
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A fun listen!
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A great book for anyone who is interested in understanding how games are made
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Great Insight about the Industry
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A wonderful view beyond the veil.
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Great Title!
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super interesting!
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Very In Depth
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Wonderfully narrated book. Very intriguing subject
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Insightful
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