Buttonless: Incredible iPhone and iPad Games and the Stories Behind Them [Paperback]

Ryan Rigney (Author), John Davison (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2011

On the forefront of the mobile gaming revolution are real people with stories that are crazy, stressful, hilarious, and, in some cases, heart-wrenching. Written by respected video game journalist Ryan Rigney, with a foreword by John Davison, Buttonless tells the stories of the people behind the games.

Rigney takes you on a tour that covers more than 65 of the best and most beloved iPhone and iPad games, telling the never-before-heard tales behind them. Based on more than 100 exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in iOS development, Buttonless chronicles the adversities that top developers had to overcome and delivers numerous funny/interesting anecdotes from behind the scenes of the iTunes App Store.

Examples include:

• George Fan - Lead Designer of Plants vs. Zombies
• Kris Piotrowski - Co-creator of Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP
• Jaakko Iisalo - Lead Designer of Angry Birds
• Katherine Anna Kang - Head of id Mobile and Lead Designer of Doom II RPG
• Justin Smith - Creator of Enviro-Bear 2010
• Paul Bettner - Lead Designer of Words With Friends
• Simon Oliver - Creator of Rolando
• Donald Mustard - Lead Designer of Infinity Blade

... and plenty of others

You'll also learn:

• The real origins of Angry Birds
• How iOS critical darling Jet Car Stunts was born from one of the worst games of 1999––Carmageddon 3
• Canabalt creator Adam Saltsman's weird obsession with leaping out of windows
• How the first-ever Iraqi video game went unpublished for 20 years before becoming an iOS exclusive
• The tweet that saved Words With Friends
• The napkin drawing that became the biggest-selling comic book series on the App Store

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An in-depth exploration of gaming's fastest growing space penned by one of its most avid and enthusiastic advocates."
— Will Herring, reviews editor at GamePro Magazine

"The App Store is so incredibly fluid, the way Buttonless locks the wonderful little stories behind them in typographical amber is nothing short of a public service."
— Justin McElroy, managing editor at Joystiq.com

About the Author

Ryan Rigney is a freelance journalist who has covered the video-game industry from every angle for publications and sites including Gamasutra, PC Gamer and GamePro. He lives in Oxford, MS, where he is pursuing an education in journalism at Ole Miss' Meek School of Journalism and New Media.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: A K Peters/CRC Press; 1 edition (December 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439895856
• ISBN-13: 978-1439895856
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.7 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #829,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for gamers, software developers, and business people January 8, 2012

By Karl Becker

Format:Paperback

Buttonless is a thoroughly researched and interviewed book that has something for gamers, software developers, and business people interested in the mobile gaming explosion of the last few years.

Though the book is difficult to categorize, it is nonetheless a very timely that is written in a timeless tone. Inside the book, each game gets 3 - 5 pages including nice color screenshots and insightful quotes and stories from the game creators. Games covered include those every mobile gamer knows (Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Flight Control, Pocket God, and more...) to diamonds in the rough that you likely have not discovered (Karoshi, Nimble Strong, and No, Human).

I am a casual gamer, an iOS software developer, and a self-employed business person, and I found this book engaged all three of those sides of me.

As a gamer, I've learned about some great new games. A few standouts:
* an iOS bartending simulation that will even help me mix drinks in real life (Nimble Strong)
* an adventure game with art done exclusively by a 5-year-old girl (Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure)
* a hybrid of Flight Control and Tetris created in 3 hours, but tweaked over the course of months (Halcyon)

As an iOS software developer, I read some valuable lessons learned on a variety of game projects. Different game creators took extremely different routes to create their game, but they all succeeded to one degree or another.

As a business person, I saw a variety of games both from the beginning of the App Store gold rush to more recent releases. Each game lists the development time, the price, and an estimate of the number of downloads, so you can get a sense for how successful various games were and factor in when they were released.

Every game has about 3 or 4 pages devoted to it, and the author Rigney's prose is clear and fun to read, perfectly matching the friendly style of communication present in the iOS developer community.

If you have any interest in learning a little more about what it takes to succeed in the mobile games space, get this book.
If you just want to learn more about some of your favorite games you play, Buttonless has that, too.

Recommended by this iOS developer who's not even in the book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book even for a non-gamer January 15, 2012

By Stacey Jackson

Format:Paperback

I recently received an iPhone and iPad and of course began immediately downloading apps. As a teacher and mom, I don't have much time to play games but I do enjoy them. My son received this book for Christmas and I have read it from cover to cover! Because even though I don't game much, I love to read. The book is well-written and interesting. Because of this book I have downloaded several of these games. I am totally addicted to Plants vs. Zombies and Cut the Rope! I believe serious gamers would really enjoy this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book January 12, 2012

By Polly Ester

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Great book so far, I've read over about ten of the chapters so far. As a developer it's definitely a good read, and I think anyone who plays a lot of iOS games would also find it interesting. Check it out!