I'm writing a book on game development... Help needed

frumbert

Wow, wouldn't it be great to have a game exactly like I imagined everything to be. It would bo sooo fun to play. Perhaps what I should do is write a book on how to make such a game.

Obviously I'd need to be able to write - well that's ok because my posts on most forums sometimes take up over three paragraphs, and I have my own blog - a sure sign of journalistic abilities - so that means I'm qualified. Now, I've read many (more than four) of the hundreds of books on games already out there, so I know they practically write themselves. All I need is an intro by some buy mentioned in Game Develop magazine one time, a colour section towards the back showing renders of teapots and jet fighters, and a section at the back telling you [the readers] where to look on the net for actual information you might really use, such as sealed behind the commerciual sections of gamasutra. Also, practically done and done.

Now that that is sorted, I'll need to flesh out the structure I'm going to use. That, too, is obvious. I'll base it off my own experience of games.

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Chapter 1: Crates
Chapter 2: Toilets
Chapter 3: Rusty Metal Pipes
Chapter 4: Tunnels and Sewers
Chapter 5: Abandoned Buildings
Chapter 6: The phrase "Post Apocalyptic"

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Oops, I seem to be building the ultimate first person shooter. I better add some chapters that a strategy game would use. I don't know that much about it, so I'll google for a while and just pop in the things that get the highest results.

[quote]Chapter 7: A* Pathfinding
Chapter 8: Tile Sets for you "next-gen" CGA graphics
Chapter 9: Camera Zoom: An ants eye view
Chapter 10: Building a great title screen
Chapter 11: The 80/20 Rule: 80% pre-rendered sequences...
Chapter 12: AI, Game Play, Graphics, Persistence, Difficulty, Sound, Etc[quote]

Ok, RPG's now and MMOG's. Shouldn't be too hard! I've played many and seen what people complain about on fan sites the developers don't even know about, so obviously I'll mention those in the order of prioroty they should be implemented:

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Chapter 13: Changing your characters hair colour
Chapter 14: Setting up a realistic physics simlulation of a cloak
Chapter 15: Shaders for Swords, Staves, Knives, Shields and Lances
Chapter 16: All dragons breathe fire: a guide to fire colour
Chapter 17: Trolls, Greifers and Hard-core RPGers: An experiential guide
Chapter 18: Crafting: an easy implenetation of a player driven economy
Chapter 19: Please make the wood-wolves near Haggendhur easier

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I'm nore sure about that last one but it did come up a *lot* on one of the forums I was reading so it seems like it's the sort of thing people are really looking for in a game.

19 chapters already? HeftY book, and I haven't even gotten to the game engine yet. Better put that in.

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Chapter 20: Engine, Physics, Network, Server, System Requirements, Story

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There. Here would be a good spot to put those colour plates of teapots and perhaps a capture of the first level of Doom 1. Ooh, it's getting big. I might not be able to finish this book before lunchtime, so I had better wrap it up with the really important stuff: Information about the companies who will be queueing up to buy your game once it is done.

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Chapter 20: Electronic Arts: "Purchase Everyone"
Chapter 21: THQ: Game play is for losers, graphics is where it's at.
Chapter 22: Indie software: To pay or crack? That is the question.
Chapter 23: Mobile games: Remember the 80's? Nor does your target market.
Chapter 24: A preview of book 2 in the series
Chapter 25: A preview of book 3 in the series

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There we go. Wow, that was a lot of hard work. I suppose I should go get myself a cup of coffee and fire up my open source editor (making sure I switch off the spell checker, of course). I'll have to mention that I used an open source editor as well, as it will give me more credability with the people thick enough to buy this book when it hits the shelves.

Off to work, then!

Xoshua

Please add me to msn:  army.josh@hotmail.com

or yahoo:  bkxoshua

 

I would love to help you, I am very good with graphic design.  I helped create Project Wish.  So just give me an email please!   I've also wanted to help!