Game Production in 20 Minutes (Coffee Break Series)

Not quite what I expected from the description, but there is material here.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. Useful as a reference, less so as a straight read from cover to cover.

Excellent from start to finish. No filler, no padding.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

Finally, a book that treats game production with the care it deserves.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with game production.