Game designer from Denmark Shurd De Jong, known for his work on Unreal Tournament 2004, Killzone and Syndicate, made his game development books and Unreal Engine tutorials free.
Previously, digital versions of his works The Hows and Whys of Level Design and The Hows and Whys of the Games Industry were distributed for money. Printed versions can be purchased now. Both books will cost you $78.
The Hows and Whys of Level Design is dedicated to creating levels for first-person shooters and third-person action games. It describes a number of aspects of development: from the basics of building levels for multiplayer games to the arrangement of sound sources. The book, according to the author, is a little outdated. He plans to release the third edition next year or 2018.
The Hows and Whys of the Games Industry is aimed at young developers who are just about to dive into the industry. It contains numerous interviews and answers to questions like “How much do they earn in the industry”, “How to get to work in the studio” and so on.
Shurd’s large-scale tutorials cover working with different versions of the Unreal Engine. In total, about 10 hours are devoted to working with the fourth version of the engine, and 16 hours to working with UDK.
Shurd De Jong is not only a game designer of AAA titles, but also a teacher at the Stockholm game educational platform FutureGames, which has been operating since 2008. The school teaches game development full-time for two years. Also, Shurd is now an independent developer. The total sales of his three indie projects, including the VR game The Solus Project, amount to 500 thousand copies.
A source: hourences.com