My good friend Luis at Novy PR sent me an industry-driven introduction to game development called GAME DEVELOPMENT ESSENTIALS: AN INTRODUCTION by Jeannie Novak. The book is meant to prepare game developers for a successful career in the field. The book delivers on that promise by examining content creation and the concepts behind development. It also gives readers a background on the evolution of game development and how it has become what it is today. GAME DEVELOPMENT ESSENTIALS also includes chapters on project management, development team roles and responsibilities, development cycle, marketing, maintenance, and the future of game development.
I reached the age of video game playing just as Pong came to market, so I was there at the beginning, literally. Today, I read that something like 90 percent of kids play video games. If that's true, the world is going to need a lot of developers. Perhaps, if I had to do it all over again and a book like this existed as I was transfixed by Pong, I might have gone into game development instead of becoming a writer of reviews about books like this one.
The bottom line is that Novak's book is a wonderful, informative textbook for those interested in learning about video games. It contains tons of useful information about the past, present, and future of video game development.