For novice developers, there are books about the features of indie game development, as well as the creation and development of their own studio. A selection of such useful publications was published by the portal 80lvl. And App2Top — translated it.
Indie Games: From Dream to Delivery
The 500-page book “Indie Games: from Dream to Release” was written by the author of Utopia and one of the creators of Neverwinter Nights – Don L. Daglow.
It is a step-by-step master class for novice developers. It is based on Daglow’s reports from major gaming conferences.
The Indie Game Developer Handbook
The indie Developer’s Handbook by Richard Hill-Whittall is dedicated to the creation and management of independent studios.
The list of topics covers game development itself, quality control, financing, publishing, marketing, etc. The book contains case studies and interviews with industry professionals.
The Pyramid of Game Design: Designing, Producing and Launching Service Games
The author ofthe Pyramid of Game Design, Nicholas Lovell, lists methods for creating exciting and profitable indie games.
He also tells how game dev developed — from the first arcade games to modern freeplay.
Practical Guide to Indie Game Marketing
“Practical guide for the promotion of indie games” by Joel Dreskin (Joel Dreskin) is dedicated to marketing.
The author of the book claims that an indie game can be promoted even with a small budget and limited resources. To this end, he included in the book “marketing cheat sheets” (what can and cannot be done when promoting a project), as well as tips and guides on launching games, building up the community and advertising campaigns.
Video Game Law: Everything you need to know about Legal and Business Issues in the Game Industry
“Video Game Law” is for those who want to better understand the industry from a legal point of view.
The book by S. Gregory Boyd, Brian Pyne and Sean F. Kane talks about competition in game development, copyright, piracy, privacy policy, etc. Thus, it allows indie developers to become more savvy in legal matters related to the creation of video games.
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