Get expert advice on all aspects of game creation from the masters of the games. Saltzman reveals expert advice via interviews with the industry's best-known and most admired game designers like Wil Wright, Peter Molyneux, and Tommy Tallarico, just to name a few. Throughout Masters of the Game, Marc Saltzman chats with more than 150 of the world's most-connected, top-notch game designers about how to create stellar games and break into the business today. Topics covered include creating games for the new generation platforms such as X-Box, Playstation 2, and GameCube - including online console game design tips and techniques. Massively multiplayer computer games, PDAs, and cell phone game development are also addressed. Saltzman discusses in detail the business side of the game industry, and the pros and cons of working with well-known franchises. Additionally, readers learn how to successfully sell their own shareware via the internet and how to produce PR and marketing on a shoestring. There is also a section on game design schools and courses, plus key conventions, organizations, and publications. Finally, readers find dozens of rare, never-before-seen sketches, storyboards, 3D renders, and documents. This in-depth reference is a "must read" for anyone in the game industry.
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Get expert advice on all aspects of game creation from the masters of the games. Saltzman reveals expert advice via interviews with the industry's best-known and most admired game designers like Wil Wright, Peter Molyneux, and Tommy Tallarico, just to name a few. Throughout Masters of the Game, Marc Saltzman chats with more than 150 of the world's most-connected, top-notch game designers about how to create stellar games and break into the business today. Topics covered include creating games for the new generation platforms such as X-Box, Playstation 2, and GameCube - including online console game design tips and techniques. Massively multiplayer computer games, PDAs, and cell phone game development are also addressed. Saltzman discusses in detail the business side of the game industry, and the pros and cons of working with well-known franchises. Additionally, readers learn how to successfully sell their own shareware via the internet and how to produce PR and marketing on a shoestring. There is also a section on game design schools and courses, plus key conventions, organizations, and publications. Finally, readers find dozens of rare, never-before-seen sketches, storyboards, 3D renders, and documents. This in-depth reference is a "must read" for anyone in the game industry.
About the Author
Marc Saltzman has reported on the bourgeoning consumer technology industry for the past seven years as a freelance journalist, author, lecturer, consultant, and radio and TV personality. His specialties lie in video gaming, computer software and hardware, Internet trends, gadgets, and consumer electronics. Along with his weekly syndicated columns with Gannett News Service, USAToday.com, and CNN.com, Marc contributes to more than three dozen prominent publications, including USA Today, LA Times, Newsweek, Modern Maturity, Playboy, Playboy.com, Golf Digest, National Post, GlobeTechnology.com, Access magazine, and Tribute magazine.
Gannett News Service is the USA's largest newspaper group in terms of circulation. The company's 99 daily newspapers throughout the U.S. have a combined daily paid circulation of 7.8 million.
Marc Saltzman was one of the first journalists in the world to break open the MP3 phenomenon in late 1997 on CNN Interactive (CNN.com). He correctly predicted this controversial audio file format would revolutionize the recording industry. His 10 books with Pearson Education and McGraw-Hill/Osborne are: Internet Games Directory (1996), Gamer's Web Directory: Sites, Cheats and Secrets (1997), Quake II Strategy Master (1998), Game Design: Secrets of the Sages (1999), Game Design: Secrets of the Sages, Second Edition (2000), Game Design: Secrets of the Sages, Third Edition (2001), Marc Saltzman's 250 Best Palm Games (2001, on CD), Marc Saltzman's Top 300 Games for the PocketPC (2002, on CD), Game Design: Secrets of the Sages, Fourth Edition (2002), and DVD Confidential: Hundreds of Hidden Easter Eggs Revealed (2002).
Marc also contributed to Supercade, Van Burnham's book chronicling the visual history of the video game industry (MIT press). Marc has also written popular in-game manuals for Quake II (id Software/Activision) and Sin (Ritual Entertainment/Activision).
Beginning in May of 2001, Marc became a technology expert at CNN, the Cable News Network. Marc is often a guest to talk about an array of high-tech issues, be it video games, the Internet, computers, or consumer electronics. He can be seen on the television show, Next @ CNN, which airs Saturdays at 3 p.m. (EST) and 4 p.m. (EST) each Sunday. The show won first place in the News Magazine category of the National Headliner Awards, announced Friday, March 16, 2001, by the Press Club of Atlantic City.
Marc also makes regular appearances as a high-tech expert on the CBS Early Show, CNN Headline News, Breakfast Television (BT!) in Toronto, and TechTV Canada. Beginning in April 2003, Marc began hosting his own TV show, dubbed TKO. Considered "Entertainment Tonight meets consumer technology," TKO appears on four national networks in Canada: Global, Prime, CH, and MenTV. More information on the show can be found at http://www.pyramidproductions.tv. Speaking of Global, Marc is also the host of "TechWise," a twice-a-week feature on the national MoneyWise program in Canada, hosted by Peter Kent and Dierdre McMurdy. The popular show airs coast-to-coast on CanWest Global and the Prime Network.
Marc also writes for and hosts two radio shows. The first is "Tech Talk with Marc Saltzman" on Canada's largest talk station, CFRB (1010AM in Toronto). The hour-long call-in program airs live on Sunday evenings. CFRB's parent company is Standard Radio. The second radio program is heard exclusively on Canada's largest new rock/alternative station, Edge 102 (102.1 FM in Toronto). Now in its seventh year, the pre-recorded segment airs twice a day, entitled "Cyber Escapes with Marc Saltzman." Edge 102's parent company is Corus Entertainment. Marc enjoys delivering seminars on the ever-changing world of high-tech (as far as Hong Kong!) on how to best break into the interactive entertainment industry. Marc also moderates a panel each year at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) on this very same topic. Marc has also been an official "Best of E3" judge for the past five years, nominating the best computer and console games and most promising hardware for the annual trade show. Marc is also a judge for the annual "Codie Awards" established by the SIIA (Software and Information Industry Association) to recognize innovative software and information products. Marc is a paid member of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), contributing to the violence committee. In August, 1997, Marc was decorated by the University of Toronto's Alumni Association as an "outstanding graduate" for his success across many mediums: print (books, newspapers, magazines), the Internet, television, and radio.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good to get advice from industry pros,
By Happy Gamer (WA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Game Creation and Careers: Insider Secrets from Industry Experts (Paperback)
So many times I have picked up books on game programming and game design and how to get a job in the video game industry only to be let down. This book is basically for beginners and amateurs that need some guidance in game design and breaking into the industry. This book is a compilation of interviews with professionals in the video game industry. The author, Marc Salztman, has broken down these interviews and placed the relevant portions into their respective chapters. It flows quite nicely and you can get the information you need without sifting through interview after interview. You won't find a lot of detail here on programming specifics or any of that, which is nice, because this book is geared towards people that want to design games.You get a Q/A with some of the best in the industry like Sid Meier(Civilization), Will Wright(SimCity), John Romero(need I say more), Peter Molyneux(Populous, more recently Black and White and Dungeon Keeper), Scott Miller(Duke Nukem), Shigeru Miyamoto(billed as the "Spielberg of video games", known for the Mario bros. series, Zelda and Metroid), Brad McQuaid(EverQuest), Richard Garriot(aka Lord British, creator of the Ultima series and Ultima Online), Alexey Pajitnov(Tetris) and dozens of others. I found the information on breaking into the industry the most valuable and entertaining. Actual stories of how some of the most famous names in the biz got their start. Bill Roper, formerly from Blizzard, got his start by trading an alpha Rock Hydra(Magic: The Gathering) and doing voice over work on Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. Chris Taylor, creative genius behind Total Annihilation and Dungeon Siege, started out working on a baseball game. The advice these guys give is very pertinent, considering most of them run their own development studios and their opinion carries a lot of weight when hiring. I would say the 35 pages devoted to breaking into the industry is better than most other complete books on the subject(Get in the Game, GamePlan, Break Into the Game Industry, etc). Simply put, if you want into this industry, get an entry level job doing ANYTHING and go get that job NOW. Then be prepared to put in 10 hour days, 7 days a week for months on end. Oh yeah, a college education doesn't hurt either.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
If you are not sure about working in video game design...,
By Brian Borman (Hartford, CT USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Game Creation and Careers: Insider Secrets from Industry Experts (Paperback)
...then this book is for you. It is loaded with interviews from the industry leaders, to help you gain an understanding of what are the different jobs in video game development and what a working professional can expect. I found it interesting how varied the industry is-some will assert that you should never work for a company that treats you poorly, whereas others will claim that's how it is and to be prepared for it.
In addition, there are anecdotal stories about lessons learned while developing games. These stories range from unintended behavior that became a prominent feature to how a promising game fell apart from feature creep. If you already know video game design is for you, this book will not offer advice to enhance your skills. It will however provide encouragement as you find everyone has struggled on a project sooner or later. However, if you are unsure about the video game career field, I recommend borrowing from the library to help make your decision.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Waste of time if your looking for definitive topic solutions,
By Van Der Schaat "PRoFeSsOr DoOm" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Game Creation and Careers: Insider Secrets from Industry Experts (Paperback)
This book is a summation of interview questions and answers that are too general and have no topic construction. The book's chapter titles are unrelated to the content within the chapter and the same questions were asked over and over again. There are no objectives for what you are supposed to be learning from this book. And the advice given by most of the designers is pedestrian at best or let's just say extremely obvious. The book shows little organization and is written in a substandard format. If you like name dropping you'll love this book. I'm really surprised Marc Saltzman wrote this. Not worth the money.
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