What do you think?
Rate this book
FIRST-CHANCE EXCEPTION: A Tale of Games, Gaffes, and Going Online
When a beloved game studio's last-ditch effort means transforming their single-player masterpiece into an always-online experience, chaos isn't just expected—it's a feature. First-Chance Exception chronicles what happens when "just add multiplayer" meets reality, and Murphy's Law isn't just a theory—it's a game design document.
Follow Tim, a veteran backend engineer who thought his eCommerce days had prepared him for everything, as he returns to game development only to discover that managing shopping carts was nothing compared to preventing horses from phasing through mountains.
Along with his team of sleep-deprived developers, he must
• Cross-platform features that make herding cats look easy
• An AI system that gives rabbits existential crises
• A UGC system that turns player creativity into questionable architecture
Written by someone who's survived the trenches of game development, this book offers a hilarious peek behind the scenes of modern game development. It's a story about friendship, technical debt, and the hijinks that ensue when players create content without proper moderation.
Perfect
• Developers who want to feel better about their own launch disasters
• People who think adding multiplayer to a game is easy ( it's not)
• Those who enjoy watching carefully laid plans encounter actual players
May contain traces of rubber-banding, inappropriate geometry, and philosophical rabbits. Reading this book will not make your game run better, but it might make you feel better about your own development struggles.
Every bug is just a feature you haven't documented yet.
Follow Tim, a veteran backend engineer who thought his eCommerce days had prepared him for everything, as he returns to game development only to discover that managing shopping carts was nothing compared to preventing horses from phasing through mountains.
Along with his team of sleep-deprived developers, he must
• Cross-platform features that make herding cats look easy
• An AI system that gives rabbits existential crises
• A UGC system that turns player creativity into questionable architecture
Written by someone who's survived the trenches of game development, this book offers a hilarious peek behind the scenes of modern game development. It's a story about friendship, technical debt, and the hijinks that ensue when players create content without proper moderation.
Perfect
• Developers who want to feel better about their own launch disasters
• People who think adding multiplayer to a game is easy ( it's not)
• Those who enjoy watching carefully laid plans encounter actual players
May contain traces of rubber-banding, inappropriate geometry, and philosophical rabbits. Reading this book will not make your game run better, but it might make you feel better about your own development struggles.
Every bug is just a feature you haven't documented yet.
236 pages, Paperback
Published February 15, 2025
2 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 9, 2025
3.75/ A fun and funny look at a very satirized world of video game design. Jokes fill every page, mixing coding and comedy in an easily digestible format.
It sometimes gets a little too into the weeds while not developing the characters enough, stretching a 5 minute scene from Mythic Quest where they talk to the programmers in the basement into a whole book.
That being said, anyone who has played an online game from launch will be able to relate to this hilarious look at the other side.
It sometimes gets a little too into the weeds while not developing the characters enough, stretching a 5 minute scene from Mythic Quest where they talk to the programmers in the basement into a whole book.
That being said, anyone who has played an online game from launch will be able to relate to this hilarious look at the other side.
April 2, 2025
The stories felt super familiar and relatable if you've worked in the game industry before, which combined with the jokes, made it an easy-enjoyable read.
That said, sometimes the story moved a bit too fast. There wasn’t enough time to really get to know all the characters, and I found myself mixing up names (like Jen and Jane) a few times. I wish there had been a little more time for each character to shine in their own way.
All in all, it's a great read with plenty of humor and heart!
That said, sometimes the story moved a bit too fast. There wasn’t enough time to really get to know all the characters, and I found myself mixing up names (like Jen and Jane) a few times. I wish there had been a little more time for each character to shine in their own way.
All in all, it's a great read with plenty of humor and heart!
February 26, 2025
Fun easy read from someone in the inside of the gaming industry! Really resonates if you have ever been part of an online game launch. Extra fun for coding nerds with all the code examples inserted in!
October 17, 2025
Disclaimer: the author is a friend of mine :) And I really liked reading this book as it's filled with funny situations clearly imagined from real world experience in building AAA, multiplayer online games. Thank you Raymond!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews