There are countless Video Game courses, tutorials, articles available online, but for some, having a book is still a necessity to learn. This is an up-to-date list of recommended books.
- Trapped in a Video Game: The Complete Series (2019)
- Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design (2014)
- Game On!: Video Game History from Pong and Pac-Man to Mario, Minecraft, and More (2019)
- Video Game Storytelling: What Every Developer Needs to Know about Narrative Techniques (2014)
- Trapped in a Video Game (Book 1) (Volume 1) (2018)
- The Video Games Textbook: History • Business • Technology (2018)
- Trapped in a Video Game (Book 3): Robots Revolt (Volume 3) (2018)
- Game On! 2019: All the Best Games: Awesome Facts and Coolest Secrets (2018)
- Trapped in a Video Game (Book 2): The Invisible Invasion (Volume 2) (2018)
- Trapped in a Video Game (Book 4): Return to Doom Island (Volume 4) (2018)
- Trapped in a Video Game (Book 5): The Final Boss (2019)
- What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Second Edition: Revised and Updated Edition (2007)
- Replay: The History of Video Games (2010)
- The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon–The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World (2001)
- The Golden Age of Video Games (2011)
Trapped in a Video Game: The Complete Series (2019)
Getting sucked into a video game is not as much fun as you'd think. Sure, there are jetpacks, hover tanks, and infinite lives, but what happens when the game starts to turn on you? In this best-selling series, 12-year-old Jesse Rigsby finds out just how dangerous video games – and the people making those games – can be. Jesse hates video games – and for good reason. You see, a video game character is trying to kill him.
Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design (2014)
If you want to design and build cutting-edge video games but aren’t sure where to start, then the SECOND EDITION of the acclaimed Level Up! is for you!
Game On!: Video Game History from Pong and Pac-Man to Mario, Minecraft, and More (2019)
Find out about the fast and furious growth and evolution of video games (including how they are quickly taking over the world!) by looking at some of the most popular, innovative, and influential games ever, from Pong, the very first arcade game ever, to modern hits like Uncharted.Learn about the creators and inspiration (Mario was named after
Video Game Storytelling: What Every Developer Needs to Know about Narrative Techniques (2014)
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.
Trapped in a Video Game (Book 1) (Volume 1) (2018)
Kids who love video games will love this first installment of the new 5-book series about 12-year old Jesse Rigsby and his wild adventures inside different video games.Jesse Rigsby hates video games – and for good reason. You see, a video game character is trying to kill him.
The Video Games Textbook: History • Business • Technology (2018)
The Video Games Textbook takes the history of video games to another level, with visually-stimulating, comprehensive, and chronological chapters that are relevant and easy to read for a variety of students. Every chapter is a journey into a different era or area of gaming, where readers emerge with a strong sense of how video games evolved, why they succeeded or failed, and the impact they had on the industry and human culture.
Trapped in a Video Game (Book 3): Robots Revolt (Volume 3) (2018)
Kids who love video games will love this third installment of the new 5-book series about 12-year old Jesse Rigsby and the wild adventures he encounters inside different video games. The robots are here and they're not happy, at all.
Game On! 2019: All the Best Games: Awesome Facts and Coolest Secrets (2018)
Get ready for another awesome year of gaming with this ultimate guide to the best games, including a definitive list of the biggest games of the past year and the new ones coming in 2019. Featuring Five Nights at Freddy’s and Hello Neighbor!Game On!
Trapped in a Video Game (Book 2): The Invisible Invasion (Volume 2) (2018)
Kids who love video games will love this second installment in the new 5-book series about 12-year old Jesse Rigsby and the wild adventures he encounters inside different video games. After Full Blast, Jesse Rigsby and his friend Eric has sworn off video games. But when Jesse is offered the chance to save his friend Mark, of course he says, "Yes." Problem is, Jesse is invisible now, sucked into the world of Go Wild—a Pokémon Go–style mobile game.
Trapped in a Video Game (Book 4): Return to Doom Island (Volume 4) (2018)
Kids who love video games will love this fourth installment of the 5-book series about 12-year old Jesse Rigsby and the wild adventures he encounters inside different video games. Alistair Gregory, the man who figured out how to put people into video games, is not what he seems. Jesse Rigsby is sure of that. Jesse’s sure of something else, too—he’s being watched.
Trapped in a Video Game (Book 5): The Final Boss (2019)
Kids who love video games will love this fifth and final installment of the 5-book series about 12-year old Jesse Rigsby and the wild adventures he encounters inside different video games. Jesse and Eric have ten minutes to save the world.
What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Second Edition: Revised and Updated Edition (2007)
James Paul Gee begins his classic book with “I want to talk about video games–yes, even violent video games–and say some positive things about them.” With this simple but explosive statement, one of America’s most well-respected educators looks seriously at the good that can come from playing video games.
Replay: The History of Video Games (2010)
A riveting account of the strange birth and remarkable evolution of the most important development in entertainment since television, Replay is the ultimate history of video games. Based on extensive research and over 140 exclusive interviews with key movers and shakers from gaming’s past, Replay tells the sensational story of how the creative vision of game designers gave rise to one of the world’s most popular and dynamic art forms.
The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon–The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World (2001)
With all the whiz, bang, pop, and shimmer of a glowing arcade. 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. From the arcade to television and from the PC to the handheld device, video games have entraced kids at heart for nearly 30 years.
The Golden Age of Video Games (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.
Best Video Game Books You Should Read
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some video game books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Game Anim: Video Game Animation Explained
Author(s): Jonathan Cooper
ID: 2915835, Publisher: CRC Press, Year: 2021, Size: 285 Mb, Format: pdf
The History of Video Games
Author(s): Drew Sleep; Emma Wood; Jon White; Andy Downes
ID: 2955181, Publisher: Future PLC, Year: 2021, Size: 169 Mb, Format: pdf
Against Flow: Video Games and the Flowing Subject
Author(s): Braxton Soderman
ID: 2972411, Publisher: MIT Press, Year: 2021, Size: 2 Mb, Format: epub
Please note that this booklist is not absolute. Some books are absolutely chart-busters according to USA Today, others are drafted by unknown authors. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant resources you could recommend? Drop a comment if you have any feedback on the list.