Game Design and Game Development Resources¶

This page lists useful resources that can explain how to design games in general. It also lists resources for a specific subtopic of game design, the structure of the game's code. Try to divide this page with useful subheadings that group the links.

Story Design¶

• The master himself on "Fairy Stories" (sic): J.R.R. Tolkien, On Fairy Stories (1939). In: C.S. Lewis (editor), Essays presented to Charles Williams. William B. Eerdmans Pub., Grand Rapids 1947.
  • English Wikipedia summary, German Wikipedia summary. Reading the original is recommended, but Tolkien's English is very elaborate and for a non-native speaker quite challenging. There's a German translation around somewhere, but Tolkien heavily draws from language specifics, thus the essay cannot really be fully understood in another language than English.

Code Design¶

Game coding¶

• Robert Nystrom, Game Programming Patterns (web version is free of charge, consider buying the hardcopy)
• OpenGL tutorial: https://learnopengl.com/
• HN discussion on enemy pathfinding
• Generating organic patterns with L-systems
• Small study on small custom game engines
• This person wrote a custom C++ game engine from OpenGL scratch in 30 weeks with a team size of 11 persons
• Background on programmatical colour handling

Coding in general¶

• If you need to refresh your C++ knowledge: learncpp.com
• How to properly organise C++ header files: Kieras, C++ Header File Guidelines (2015)