Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
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Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
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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.
©2017 Jason Schreier (P)2017 HarperCollins PublishersWhat listeners say about Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Paul Stewart
- 28-10-2017
Insightful
An insightful, clear and well-paced book. It puts a human face on game development. Having enjoyed Schreier's work on Kotaku, I had a feeling it would be solid, but it was better than expected The attention to detail was particularly pleasing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 13-01-2020
Essential reading for gamers
For anyone interested in video games, this is essential reading! Jason Schreier does a fantastic job collecting stories of how game devs actually make a game, and how lucky we are that this art form exists.
Having each chapter focus on a single game makes the book easy to digest, and they way it is written is very easy to follow.
I highly recommend this book. Please read it!!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 27-10-2019
wish Jason read it himself.
Learning what it can take to make a game was fasinating, loved the amount of detail in the book can't wait for the second installment.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Rhett Leech
- 28-01-2020
Very interesting collection of developer interviews
As a corporate software developer is was extremely interesting to hear the same issues scheduling, unclear management and shifting priorities extend to other like companies.
Structuring each chapter as a separate game provided a natural break point.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Gage
- 25-01-2018
Fascinating Throughout
Was hoping there'd be more small scale stories but a worthwhile listen regardless. Narration was appropriate and competent.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Kindle Customer
- 10-02-2022
Extremely well written developer stories
This was an extremely well written book containing about 10 stories regarding the turbulent development of popular video games. Jason's writing is extremely engaging and easy to listen to and you can see why he's one of the gaming industry's best journalists.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Daniel B
- 14-12-2021
Great Look at the Gaming Industry
Jason Schreier provides some of the best games journalism and this book is no exception. As gamers we sometimes undervalue the effort that goes into game development and this book shines a light on what happens to get them across the finish line. Both for indie games and triple A titles.
A must read for Gamers.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Atlas Talisman
- 28-07-2019
Lifting the curtain to see the humans behind the game
Loved gaining insight into the culture which births iconic video games. Fascinating to see the tenacity and human turmoil involved. The lucky strikes and tragic misfires.
Highly recommend this for anyone wanting to geek out on a game dev industry behind-the-scenes.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Matthew
- 09-09-2018
Amazing insight into the world of game dev
Started to choke up a little bit right near the end there. Heart touching and inspiring
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Annabelle
- 30-12-2020
Amazing
Loved every minute, super interesting and well written. Great narration and great stories! Thank you!!!
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1 person found this helpful