Blood, Sweat and Pixels Review

Posted by Mark Goninon on
Let's hope there's less blood and sweat, and more pixels!


Quick Info
Reviewed by: Mark Goninon
Title: Blood, Sweat and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
Author: Jason Schreier
Publisher: HarperCollins
Number of pages (paperback): 304 pages
Publication Date: 15 Nov 2017

Last year I developed an itch to find more books about the video game industry and game development and I ended up ordering two books: a relatively new one called "Doom Guy" by the famous John Romero, and a slightly older book called "Blood, Sweat and Pixels" by Jason Schreier. Jason is a well known and respected game journalist and has since published a few books but it all started with this one. This book frequently featured on many recommended reading lists with respect to video game development and received glowing testimonials from the likes of Cliff Bleszinski (creator of Gears of War), Rami Ismail (indie dev creator of Nuclear Throne) and Adam Conover (famous comedian who also happens to be into video games). Consequently, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and that's why I'm reviewing the book today.

The book is 304 pages long and starts off with an introduction provided by Jason that almost reads like an executive summary of why developing video games is hard. Jason bases his opinions on roughly 100 game developers he's interviewed over several projects, some on record, some anonymously, before delving into what happened in each of these projects proper. There are ten chapters in the book that correspond to multiple game projects that run the gamut from indie darlings like Stardew Valley and Shovel Knight, to AAA titles like Destiny and Diablo III. Incomplete projects even get a mention with the entire final chapter dedicated to Star Wars 1313 and the demise of LucasArts.

Jason covers a lot of issues that plague the video game development industry and dispels some myths along the way: there is no silver bullet or best practice when it comes to developing video games since each one is unique. Also, the advantages found in employing one approach can sometimes be a disadvantage in disguise. For example, covering the development of Pillars of Eternity and Shovel Knight, two games that started off as crowd funded Kickstarter projects, highlighted how the developers had initial freedom in developing what they wanted without any interference from a publisher, but keeping the backers happy presented its own challenges, such as being more transparent and frequent with updates (which takes time away from development). Also, publishers were sometimes a safety net since they could invest more funds into the game if necessary and it's not as easy to convince backers of reducing the scope of the game once you've already promised what you're going to deliver: publishers are probably more forgiving in this regard, provided you're still earning them a profit.

Glowing endorsements from game devs, journos and comedians!

You also learn how frequent changes in management or interfering by management, can result in costly delays that sometimes even stifle creativity. This is covered in the chapter on Halo Wars, where Microsoft mandated that Ensemble's RTS had to be set in the Halo universe or when George Lucas said that Star Wars 1313 had to have Boba Fett in it.

The assigning of Ensemble to the Halo franchise would also have other repercussions, causing tension between development studios as Halo was Bungie's baby. This kind of friction between teams would also be touched in the chapter covering Dragon Age Inquisition where it's mentioned the Dragon Age team felt they were always second fiddle to the Mass Effect team.

One of the more controversial insights this book seems to make is that crunch is inevitable: it seems that for just about every developer in this book, whether it's solo developer Eric Barone creating Stardew Valley or big AAA studios like Naughty Dog or CD Projekt Red, crunch becomes a necessity in order to ship a game. I admit that this has been the way in the industry for a very long time, probably ever since the first bedroom coders struggled to make a name for themselves, to show the rest of the world that video games were cool and could be heaps of fun if you'd only give it a chance. However, decades later, the video games industry has grown bigger and matured, and yet many developers (at least according to this book) still seem to operate this way. I'd like to believe that it is possible to develop video games without the need to develop PTSD in the process, but maybe that's why I'm not a celebrated game developer!

Overall, it's an enjoyable book that gives you a behind-the-scenes look into the video game development industry. Jason has done extensive legwork in compiling so many interviews and done a commendable job in detailing the history of each of the projects in a digestible manner. As the book came out in 2017, many of these projects are quite old now (at least by video gaming standards) but there are some universal truths to be gleaned regardless of how old these projects are, and at the very least, the book acts as a time capsule, providing a snapshot of where game development studios were at around a decade ago, and how far they've come (or fallen) since.


8

"Blood, Sweat and Tears" demonstrates to us how challenging it is to make video games, from office politics, micromanaging executives, finding creative ways to raise money, and more. While I find the inevitability of "crunch" in a creative pursuit as somewhat cynical, maybe it is the truth, but oh I wish it wasn't so.

Regardless this is a good read and recommended for anyone with a passing interest in what happens behind closed doors from solo indie developers, to AAA video game development studios. You will come out with a better understanding of how it all works.

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