[game_edu] Great New Textbooks!

[Suzanne Freyjadis]

New Books by IGDA Member Chris Solarski

*Interactive Stories and Video Game Art: A Storytelling Framework for Game
Design*
CRC Press 2017
Amazon preorder page
<https://www.amazon.com/Interactive-Stories-Video-Game-Art/dp/1498781500/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478497330&sr=8-1&keywords=solarski+interactive>
The success of storytelling in games depends on the entire development
team―game designers, artists, writers, programmers and musicians,
etc.―working harmoniously together towards a singular artistic vision.
*Interactive
Stories and Video Game Art* is first to define a common design language for
understanding and orchestrating interactive masterpieces using techniques
inherited from the rich history of art and craftsmanship that games build
upon. Case studies of hit games like *The Last of Us, Journey,* and
*Minecraft* illustrate the vital components needed to create
emotionally-complex stories that are mindful of gaming’s principal
relationship between player actions and video game aesthetics. This book is
for developers of video games and virtual reality, filmmakers, gamification
and transmedia experts, and everybody else interested in experiencing
resonant and meaningful interactive stories.

"The convergence of narrative in film, video games, and virtual reality
will fundamentally change the entertainment industry in coming years. Chris
Solarski’s book gives content creators crucial insights into interactive
story composition and how to adapt these concepts for transmedia
storytelling."
―*Marc Forster*, Film Director and Producer "

The clever thing about this book is that it bridges the worlds of game
design and storytelling. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to get
into game design and understand what’s going on beneath the surface. It
reminds me of Robert McKee’s *Story*, the classic book on screenwriting.
You read it and you think: Aha, this is how storytelling works in film, it
really can be explained! And you can see this book as a companion volume
that is essentially doing the same thing for games."
―*Tom Standage*, Deputy Editor and Digital Strategist of The Economist and
a New York Times Bestselling Author

"As a gamification designer you look for inspiration from multiple sources
to create behavior-change and evoke emotions that help your audience make
decisions. Chris Solarski captures brilliantly how dynamic composition
techniques for transmedia storytelling can assist in reaching your audience
through shapes, flow, positioning and much more."
―*An Coppens*, Chief Game Changer at Gamification Nation Ltd.

*///*

*Drawing Basics and Video Game Art: Classic to Cutting Edge Art Techniques
for Winning Game Design*
Watson-Guptill 2012
Amazon customer reviews
<https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Basics-Video-Game-Art/product-reviews/0823098478/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_summary?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=helpful>
*Drawing Basics and Video Game Art *is first to examine the connections
between classical art and video games, enabling developers to create more
expressive and varied emotional experiences in games. Artist-game designer
Chris Solarski gives readers a comprehensive introduction to basic and
advanced drawing and design skills—light, value, color, anatomy, concept
development—as well as detailed instruction for using these methods to
design complex characters, worlds, and gameplay experiences. Artwork by the
likes of Michelangelo, Titian, and Rubens are studied alongside AAA games
like *BioShock, Journey,* the *Mario* series, and *Portal 2*, to
demonstrate perpetual theories of depth, composition, movement, artistic
anatomy, and expression. Although *Drawing Basics and Video Game Art* is
primarily a practical reference for artists and designers working in the
video games industry, it’s equally accessible for those interested to learn
about gaming’s future, and potential as an artistic medium.

"This book supports my own 30-year crusade to demonstrate that games are an
art form that undeniably rivals traditional arts. It gives detailed
explanations of game art techniques and their importance, while also
highlighting their dependence on artistic aspects of game design and
programming.”
—*John Romero*, co-founder of id Software

"Solarski’s methodology here is to show us the artistic techniques that
every artist should know, and then he transposes them to the realm of video
games to show how they should be used to create a far more artful gaming
experience ... if I were an artist planning to do video game work, I’d have
a copy of this on my shelf."
—*Marc Mason*, Comics Waiting Room

///

*Author Bio*
CHRIS SOLARSKI (SOLARSKI STUDIO) is an artist-game designer and author of
the seminal book, *Drawing Basics and Video Game Art* (Watson-Guptill
2012), which has been translated into Japanese and Korean. Chris’
professional background―which mixes game art development at Sony Computer
Entertainment and fine art figurative painting―has led him to lecture on
emotions and storytelling in video games at international events including
the Smithsonian Museum's landmark *The Art of Video Games* exhibition,
SXSW, Game Developers Conference, and FMX. Chris’ personal projects at
Solarski Studio continue to explore the intersections between video games,
classical art and film to develop new forms of player interaction and
emotionally-rich experiences in games.
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