Copyright Roberto Dillon 2010
All rights reserved
Published by CRC Press / AKPeters, 2011:
This book focuses on the history of video games, consoles, and home computers from the very beginning until the mid-nineties, which started a new era in digital entertainment. The text features the most innovative games and introduces the pioneers who developed them. It offers brief analyses of the most relevant games from each time period. An epilogue covers the events and systems that followed this golden age while the appendices include a history of handheld games and an overview of the retro-gaming scene.
Reviews / Comments:
"From the very first commercial games and home consoles, to Japan's earliest involvement in video games, to the great video game crash of 1983 that almost completely killed the market, to the technological leaps and bounds achieved across the decades, The Golden Age of Video Games is an excellent, succinct, and thoroughly accessible history. Highly recommended."
Midwest Book Review, June 2011
"This book is far from [being] just an encyclopaedia and is a riveting read. It was hard to pull myself away from reading."
Nigel Parker, Commodore Free #57
“The Golden Age of Video Games' offers a complete and witty journey through videogame history. And if videogames are becoming the most important medium of this century, it's a journey worth traveling”
Federico Fasce, Game Designer & CEO, Urustar srl
"The Golden Age of Video Games brings back great memories in a detailed and entertaining format.
It's been a great source of insight and inspiration on the path of becoming an independent developer"
Davide Pasca, Game Developer & Founder, Oyatsukai.com
"A suggestive and enthralling ticket for a unique voyage down memory lane. Every videogamer can now rediscover these digital gems thanks to precise and evocative descriptions "
Piermarco Rosa, Executive Director, Master in Videogame Design, University of Genoa
Published by AKPeters, 2010:
"How can video games be fun and immerse players in fantastic worlds where anything seems possible? How can they be so engaging to have become the main entertainment product for children and adults alike? In On the Way to Fun, the author proposes a possible answer to these questions by going back to the roots of gaming and showing how early games, as well as modern indie productions, captivated generations of players even without the need for fancy graphics and effects but by relying on basic emotions and instincts instead. This book will be most beneficial to aspiring and beginning game designers and to anyone who wants a better understanding of human nature and how it relates to the design process of immersive video game experiences."
Reviews / Comments:
“I love the ‘6-11 Framework’. It's a brilliant analysis. Wish I'd thought of it. Emotion is essential to establishing a deep connection with games. So many games lack it, and this book shows the way. The analyses of retro and indie games, and how they invoke emotion through instincts, are insightful and well thought out.”
Tom Sloper, Game Designer and Producer
"Through diagrams, screen-shots and dissections of each evaluated game, the author builds an admirable case for what amounts to a viable, tangible toolset for game designers to use in their never-ending pursuit of successfully injecting fun into their games. Such power is concentrated in this short, concise and ultimately refreshing handbook. Highly recommended."
CHOICE Magazine, November 2010 (Albert Chen)
"On the Way to Fun outlines a fine framework linking human emotions and instincts to successful game design, blending a theoretical framework with keys to analyzing game play. The framework is then applied to both successful and unsuccessful games to make for a fine survey for any who want to properly design and develop ideas to maximum benefit."
Midwest Book Review
"Looking at early games and how they created fun without many resources, and how some modern games can miss it, Roberto Dillon provides a thoughtful and solid analysis. 'On the Way to Fun' is a choice pick for any would be game designer"
Carl Logan
“Constraining 'Fun' into a formula, or a diagram, seems like an impossible task. However, 'On the Way to Fun' gets damn close!”
Sergio Marchi, Writer
Other game design related books I highly recommend: