Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
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. Blood, Sweat, and Pixels takes readers 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. This book reveals how bringing any game to completion is more than Sisyphean—it's nothing short of miraculous.
Praise for Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
“A meticulously researched, well-written, and painful at times account of many developers’ and studios’ highs and lows. May need to make it required reading for the developers at my studio.”
— Cliff Bleszinski, creator of Gears of War and founder of Boss Key Productions
“The stories in this book make for a fascinating and remarkably complete pantheon of just about every common despair and every joy related to game development.”
— Rami Ismail, co-founder of Vlambeer and developer of Nuclear Throne
“Jason Schreier brilliantly exposes the truth about how video games are made. Brutal, honest, yet ultimately uplifting; I’ve been gaming for thirty years, yet I was surprised by every page. Turns out what I didn’t know about my favorite hobby could fill a book. This book! Can’t recommend it enough to any serious fan of this generation’s greatest new art form.”
— Adam Conover, executive producer and host of truTV’s Adam Ruins Everything
“Making video games is one of most transformative, exciting things I’ve done in my two decades as a freelance writer. Making video games is also an excruciating journey into Hellmouth itself. Jason Schreier’s wonderful book captures both the excitement and the hell. Here, at long last, is a gripping, intelligent glimpse behind a thick (and needlessly secretive) creative curtain.”
— Tom Bissell, author of Extra Lives and Apostle
“One of the most insightful pieces of text I’ve ever read. It’s a well-written tale of real sacrifice, struggles, and more, it’s almost inspiring despite how sad it can be at times.”
— GameZone
“Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is the instruction manual to the game industry I never realized I needed.”
— GameCritics.com
“Schreier creates a compellingly warts-and-all portrait of a profession that so many who grew up playing games idolized.”
— Wired