The game designers behind such hits as Angry Birds, Boom Beach, Cities: Skylines, Trials, Clash Royale, Max Payne have learned plenty of trial-and-error lessons while creating an amazing array of world class gaming success stories. All of them have one thing in common: Finland. Today Finland is recognized internationally as a power nation among game developers - punching well above its weight, when it comes to gaming successes. The capital Helsinki alone has over 50 game studios and more are popping up monthly. Game industry insiders Konsta Klemetti and Harro Grönberg decipher the secret sauce of Finnish game design by interviewing eleven award-winning, fearless designers from the cool North to talk about the best practices in engaging players and how they avoid the common pitfalls of game design. Their tips and ideas will come in handy for anyone looking to learn how to create video games for any platform. www.gamedesignerconfessions.com

A gaming academic offers a “fascinating” exploration of why we play video games—despite the unhappiness we feel when we fail at them (Boston Globe) We may think of video games as being “fun,” but in The Art of Failure, Jesper Juul claims that this is almost entirely mistaken. When we play video games, our facial expressions are rarely those of happiness or bliss. Instead, we frown, grimace, and shout in frustration as we lose, or die, or fail to advance to the next level. Humans may have a fundamental desire to succeed and feel competent, but game players choose to engage in an activity in which they are nearly certain to fail and feel incompetent. So why do we play video games even though they make us unhappy? Juul examines this paradox. In video games, as in tragic works of art, literature, theater, and cinema, it seems that we want to experience unpleasantness even if we also dislike it. Reader or audience reaction to tragedy is often explained as catharsis, as a purging of negative emotions. But, Juul points out, this doesn't seem to be the case for video game players. Games do not purge us of unpleasant emotions; they produce them in the first place. What, then, does failure in video game playing do? Juul argues that failure in a game is unique in that when you fail in a game, you (not a character) are in some way inadequate. Yet games also motivate us to play more, in order to escape that inadequacy, and the feeling of escaping failure (often by improving skills) is a central enjoyment of games. Games, writes Juul, are the art of failure: the singular art form that sets us up for failure and allows us to experience it and experiment with it. The Art of Failure is essential reading for anyone interested in video games, whether as entertainment, art, or education.

In 1981 Bill Kunkel and Arnie Katz founded Electronic Games magazine, the first magazine devoted entirely to the new generation of plugged-in entertainment from video and computer games to hand-helds, tabletop games, coin-ops and even state-of-the-art military and training simulators. Although the magazine only lasted just a few issues past its third birthday, it is still regarded as one of the finest game magazines ever published. Now, Bill Kunkel, a.k.a. The Game Doctor, reveals the untold stories behind both the magazine, and the people who brought us the 'classic' era of electronic gaming, along with other personal memoirs ranging from his early days as a comic book writer and rock guitarist to the sad saga of how his lifelong dream of becoming The Batman became the basis of a nightmarish movie/computer game tie-in experience. Whether you're a fan of videogames, comic books, or simply love to hear good inside stories told with a spark of wit and candor, gather round. Confessions of the Game Doctor is just what the doctor ordered.

This book is a must read for computer gamers and artists who enjoy classic cover art of some of their favorite games. The book is visually beautiful and showcases all the classic covers I painted between 1985 and 1994. It also describes what it was like getting the commissions and painting them. This is a fun read for any one interested in being an artist and wondering what it is like to create classic cover art for games and movies. Told candidly and with a sense of humor you can learn the nostalgic history behind these paintings and many of my other paintings not lost to the digital age.

High school was pretty much like this huge party I wasn't actually invited to, but I still had to show up to every day. Hailey Harper has always felt invisible. Now her dad has a new job and the family is moving to Hollywood. Just what Hailey needs: starting a new high school. As she's packing, Hailey finds a journal that belonged to her older sister, Noel, who is away at college. Called "How to be a Hater," it's full of info Hailey can really use. Has Hailey found the Bible of Coolness? Will it help her reinvent herself at her new school? Will her crush notice her? Will she and the other Invisibles dethrone the popular mean girls? After all, they deserve it. Don't they? In Confessions of a Hater, Caprice Crane's funny—and deeply felt—observations about high school, bullies, popularity, friendship, and romance will leave teens thinking . . . and talking.

When people think of World of Warcraft, they think of a socially awkward, acne-faced teenager with "no life." Confessions of a Teenage Gamer challenges those stereotypes and shows how a kid from a wealthy family with every opportunity at his fingertips ended up finding himself in a video game. Confessions of a Teenage Gamer is funny in its honest retellings of teenage puberty, witty in its commentary on rich suburban life, and thought provoking in a way that questions the meaning behind success and happiness. This true story draws parallels between sports, music, and video games-and shows how, at the core, they teach many of the same lessons. With a successful spine surgeon for a father, a music teacher for a mother, and a house full of driven, high-achieving siblings, Nicolas Cole's Confessions of a Teenage Gamer shows how far one boy will go to chase his dream of becoming a professional gamer.

After the death of her father, Rose Zarelli struggles to contol her feelings and manage her life as a freshman in high school.