★★★★★ 2
would have been better as a blog
Format: Paperback
First off, I have read over half of this book, but ultimately decided to put it down because it had a low signal-to-noise ratio. If the second half is filled with magic, I apologize in advance.
What I liked:
* The author is very honest. He does not shy away from discussing his failures (and successes).
* The postmortem on the game "Life of Pixel" was especially good.
* Interviews from various indie studios are sprinkled throughout.
What I did not like:
* A number of pieces of information were already out-of-date. This makes me think that the concepts should have been discussed at a higher level. For example, specifics about game engine costs are discussed. These numbers have changed since E3 of this year. Definitely recheck any information before formulating a plan based on the book's recommendations.
* The indie studio interviews are a wasted opportunity in that they each interview has the same set of questions. It's like a questionnaire was sent out via email and the responses were pasted into the book.
* When discussing commercial options, such as engines or other software packages, blurbs once again appear to be cut-and-pasted (this time verbatim from the package's web site).
* Some of the advice is too broad and too light. For example, when writing about how to create a press release, the author discuss how to write in the active voice. I'm frankly not looking for writing tips in my Indie Game Developer Handbook.
* The book is filled with tons of web links. My paperback copy was not so useful here.
I ultimately left the book with the impression that the information would have been much better in the form of a blog. The author could have really gone in depth with the parts of the book that shined while keeping the surveys of topics in a form that serves them better (i.e. web links on the web).
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Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2015
