My Recommended Book List to Game Devs

Here’s a list of books I have read that I recommend to to game devs.

I’ve divided the books into several categories: computer science, math & graphics, physics, and procedural animation.

I intentionally did not include any “gem” or “pearl” books, since they are collections of multiple stand-alone articles, and not all of them are worth reading.

Computer Science

Code by Charles Petzold
Write Great Code by Randall Hyde (Volume 1, Volume 2)
Head First Design Patterns by Elisabeth Freeman, Eric Freeman, Bert Bates, Kathy Sierra, and Elisabeth Robson
ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns by William Sanders & Chandima Cumaranatunge
Design Patterns by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides
C++ Coding Standards by Herb Sutter & Andrei Alexandrescu
Effective C++ by Scott Meyers
More Effective C++ by Scott Meyers
Effective STL by Scott Meyers

Math & Graphics

3D Math Primer for Graphics And Game Development by Fletcher Dunn & Ian Parberry
Essential Math for Games and Interactive Applications by James Van Verth & Lars Bishop
Real-Time Rendering by Tomas Akenine-Moller, Eric Haines, and Naty Hoffman

Physics

Real-Time Collision Detection by Christer Ericson
Collision Detection in Interactive 3D Environment by Gino van den Bergen
Game Physics Engine Development by Ian Millington

Procedural Animation

ActionScript 3.0: Making Things Move! by Keith Peters
AdvancED ActionScript Animation by Keith Peters

About Allen Chou

Physics / Graphics / Procedural Animation / Visuals
This entry was posted in Design Patterns, Gamedev, Math, Physics, Programming. Bookmark the permalink.

9 Responses to My Recommended Book List to Game Devs

  1. 感謝 CJ 大的分享!
    最近因為當兵很無聊,想帶幾本書進去陰間看。
    想到你有推薦遊戲開發的書單,所以來這裡看看有沒有興趣的書。

    因此想請教一下 Real-Time Collision Detection 和 Collision Detection in Interactive 3D Environment 這兩本我都看了書目,感覺大綱都差不多,但不確定內容豐富度有什麼差異。
    若是擇一的話你會比較推薦哪個?

    我是資工系的畢業生,大致知道 CD 會用到的概念和方法 (ex. AABB/OBB、Space Partitioning 等等),也有稍微看過你寫的 Game Physics 系列。

    感謝!

  2. civet says:

    Thx, very helpful. I was searching math for graphics sometimes, now I find that book covers every aspect!

  3. Awesome recommendations! Especially the 6 books on Math & Graphics and Physics. I think they’re considered classics in their respective fields. Really helpful. Thank you.

  4. terrynoya says:

    I recommend Physics for Flash Games, Animation, and Simulations. A greate book to learn physics

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