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The Minds Behind the Games
The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers
Featuring interviews with the creators of 36 popular video games--including Deus Ex, Night Trap, Mortal Kombat, Wasteland and NBA Jam--this book gives a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of some of the most influential and iconic (and sometimes forgotten) games of all time. Recounting endless hours of painstaking development, the challenges of working with mega publishers and the uncertainties of public reception, the interviewees reveal the creative processes that produced some of gaming's classic titles.
216 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 20, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 27, 2018
Listen to my interview with Patrick Hickey Jr. at the Cartridge Club podcast
Patrick Hickey Jr. does something important here. He interviews a series of video game developers who worked on a variety of games from the 80s and 90s. His approach isn’t about simple fanboy-ism (though he’s obviously a fan of these games). His approach isn’t to retread paths that have been walked before, the results of which can be found re-published everyone online. No, Patrick Hickey Jr. leverages his unique interviewing and writing expertise (he’s the Assistant Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY) to document the untold stories of video game development.
You aren’t simply given a bound collection of transcribed interviews. Rather, you are given history and first-hand accounts of the origins of the games we love. This is important because those games we love, from the 80s and 90s, weren’t discussed with the same fervor and breadth that games are today. “Games journalism” was barely a concept when many of these games were made. As Hickey states in the book’s preface: “In the end, this book is about creating a platform for developers to discuss their projects and to swoon you.”
Yay for that. Yay for Patrick Hickey Jr. and his Minds Behind the Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers.
Patrick Hickey Jr. does something important here. He interviews a series of video game developers who worked on a variety of games from the 80s and 90s. His approach isn’t about simple fanboy-ism (though he’s obviously a fan of these games). His approach isn’t to retread paths that have been walked before, the results of which can be found re-published everyone online. No, Patrick Hickey Jr. leverages his unique interviewing and writing expertise (he’s the Assistant Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY) to document the untold stories of video game development.
You aren’t simply given a bound collection of transcribed interviews. Rather, you are given history and first-hand accounts of the origins of the games we love. This is important because those games we love, from the 80s and 90s, weren’t discussed with the same fervor and breadth that games are today. “Games journalism” was barely a concept when many of these games were made. As Hickey states in the book’s preface: “In the end, this book is about creating a platform for developers to discuss their projects and to swoon you.”
Yay for that. Yay for Patrick Hickey Jr. and his Minds Behind the Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers.
September 3, 2018
As a gamer, this was really enjoyable. It's not often I can get recommended great '80s and '90s games I've never heard of and learn a bunch of fun, behind-the-scenes stories about ones I already love, but The Minds Behind the Games manages both. Although it focuses on the '90s, every era is covered from the classic arcades right up to games still in development on Steam, so you're bound to read about games you love no matter when you were most active in the hobby, but I actually found that I enjoyed some of the chapters on games I hadn't heard of (or played) the most. Learning about the unique challenges, and some of the creative ways those challenges were overcome, in developing some of the medium's cult classics was interesting, but reading about them in interviews from the developers themselves was great--particularly since video game documentation and preservation has never been an industry priority.
September 28, 2018
Patrick Hickey Jr. brings unbiased journalism combined with the fascinating history of the story behind many cult video games. Each chapter can be read quickly and are clear concise stories. I loved getting to know more about the games I grew up playing and being able to pick up the book when I wanted and set it down when I had other things going on. This book is for every video game and history fan because of its readability and entertainment.
October 5, 2019
"The Minds Behind The Games" gave me a new appreciation for the games from the book that I never played and made me want to go back and replay the games I fondly remember with new found knowledge. Patrick does a great job at being informative with the content without getting too pretentious with his writing approach. The result is an accessible read that is perfect for gamers old and young.
For instance, prior to reading this book, I played "A Boy And His Blob" with my 10 year old son. When I read through the chapter about the game, I just had to read it to him. He was so engrossed with the development stories that he had me read more chapters to him about some of the other games we played together in the past.
For instance, prior to reading this book, I played "A Boy And His Blob" with my 10 year old son. When I read through the chapter about the game, I just had to read it to him. He was so engrossed with the development stories that he had me read more chapters to him about some of the other games we played together in the past.
October 7, 2019
Instead of simply rehashing or rewording what you'll find online, author, journalist, and college professor Patrick Hickey Jr. interviewed developers and programmers to create highly original, informative and enlightening chapters on numerous important and interesting video games. Books published by McFarland tend to be a little pricey, and that's the case here, but the Night Trap chapter alone is worth the price of admission. There are new insights into that game and others you'll find nowhere else but in The Minds Behind the Games. Full disclosure: I wrote the foreword to this book, but there's a reason for that: I stand behind it as a scholarly and entertaining work that will benefit generations of gamers and pop culture historians. Highly recommended!
October 5, 2019
A seminal work on cult and not so cult game developers and the passion and influence behind their creativity. A serious and entertaining study of a nascent field - ignored unjustly under the age-old erroneous belief that new forms of popular mass entertainment aren't deserving of serious academic study. Remind's me of early twentieth century monographs about another new media form called "cinema" that was proving to be enduringly popular with the "masses". Also, for all you obsessive game/toy collectors this is sure to be a future collectible. #Mustbuy.
October 5, 2019
An insightful look into some of the more intricate secrets in the game industry. Real interviews by Patrick Hickey Jr. add validity to their candid words. For anyone interested in gaming and a look into the process of the creation of a video game, from retro to modern, this is a must read.
October 5, 2019
An insightful look into the craft of video games and a histrionic look at the medium itself. The definitive look at the gaming industry as a whole. Loved every page of it.
October 5, 2019
Patrick Hickey Jr. takes us on a journey with classic video games along with very interesting stories on how they were created. Each chapter gets more exciting with titles such as NBA JAM MAX Payne and Mortal Kombat.
As a gamer, you appreciate video games much more because of the time and energy it takes for them to be created. Not only does the pure joy of an escape from life take place but there is an educational aspect that comes into play as well. The creative minds that took to make these games not only share their knowledge but their brilliant ideas of taking a concept and turning it into something special.
What makes this book so unique is that it brings you back to a time where you remember not only playing these classic video games but referencing them. The always popular phrases that come to mind are "He's on Fire" From NBA JAM and "Get over here" from Mortal Kombat. These popular quotes are even talked about till this very day.
"The Minds Behind The Games" will not only make you appreciate video games more, but it will also make you want to go out and purchase each of these classics that are wonderfully written about. If you own most of these games you will get the urge to dust them off and pop them in your console. Like a favorite movie that you could watch over and over, Video games have the same effect. If you are not a gamer, after reading this book it is guaranteed that you will be.
As a gamer, you appreciate video games much more because of the time and energy it takes for them to be created. Not only does the pure joy of an escape from life take place but there is an educational aspect that comes into play as well. The creative minds that took to make these games not only share their knowledge but their brilliant ideas of taking a concept and turning it into something special.
What makes this book so unique is that it brings you back to a time where you remember not only playing these classic video games but referencing them. The always popular phrases that come to mind are "He's on Fire" From NBA JAM and "Get over here" from Mortal Kombat. These popular quotes are even talked about till this very day.
"The Minds Behind The Games" will not only make you appreciate video games more, but it will also make you want to go out and purchase each of these classics that are wonderfully written about. If you own most of these games you will get the urge to dust them off and pop them in your console. Like a favorite movie that you could watch over and over, Video games have the same effect. If you are not a gamer, after reading this book it is guaranteed that you will be.
October 5, 2019
If you love videogames you owe it yourself to buy this book.
Read
March 10, 2020I just want to say that I dived into this book not knowing what I was getting into. Retro Gaming and gaming in general always interested me and digging into the minds of "Cult and Classic" Video Game Developers really caught my attention! The Minds Behind The Games is a phenomenal book and I just couldn't put it down!! Learning things about games that I grew up with gave me those amazing nostalgic feelings over and over again! I highly recommend this book! Even if you are not into gaming or gaming culture i would definitely add this book to your collection with an open mind! Its always fun learning about different things and opening up new atmospheres!! Loved this book!!!
June 13, 2019
From the preface:
“...writers and personalities—their credibility and accountability must always be their most valued commodity.”
“...information gets twisted and distorted to the point where its value is completely diminished.”
“However, the need for factual information is stronger than ever before.”
Also from the preface:
“Saying there is absolutely zero opinion in this book is like asking for fat free ice cream—it’s not going to happen.”
From page 263:
“Everyone watches movies and listens to music. You’re not human if you don’t.”
I won’t belabor the point with too many quotations or get caught up on the details in relation to how Patrick Hickey Jr. seems ignorant of the existence of fat-free ice cream and humans who don’t watch movies or the voluminous hyperbole that oozes from his prose.
I did not want to give this book one-star, simply because I appreciate the effort that went into it. It was a good try, but ultimately, the final product is devoid of any and all quantum of significant flow, cohesive content or general points of redemption.
I think a lot of reviews were written by friends of Hickey, given that many of the reviewers are given special mention in the dedication chapter. In fact, Pat himself decided that it was worth 5-stars (see rating below). Talk about, Pat-ing oneself on the back.
It reads as very gushy in very many places and one should be well-advised to not attempt to read this book without an ample supply of paper towels to wipe up the, “swooning,” enthusiasm that drips off the pages. Glad you’re excited, Skippy; take a couple of hits of albuterol and get you focused.
It’s an old adage, but true. Don’t ask your friends for literary criticism. Either they’ll say something that you don’t like and ruin the friendship or they’ll exclusively say what you want them to and ruin the critique.
Luckily, I am not his friend.
I have read the book. I don’t care for it. I think that it’s analogous to an online blog, back when the blogosphere was in full swing and everyone had to have one (c.2009).
I don’t know whether or not video games are for everyone. I like a lot of them, but evidently, as is the case with books; not all of them.
I think this is more of a, “niche piece,” but I don’t believe that that niche is, “gamers,” per se.
There’s going to be a sequel, I’m sure. I’ll be sure to check it out with an open mind and hope to see some growth, development and polishing.
Until then.
“...writers and personalities—their credibility and accountability must always be their most valued commodity.”
“...information gets twisted and distorted to the point where its value is completely diminished.”
“However, the need for factual information is stronger than ever before.”
Also from the preface:
“Saying there is absolutely zero opinion in this book is like asking for fat free ice cream—it’s not going to happen.”
From page 263:
“Everyone watches movies and listens to music. You’re not human if you don’t.”
I won’t belabor the point with too many quotations or get caught up on the details in relation to how Patrick Hickey Jr. seems ignorant of the existence of fat-free ice cream and humans who don’t watch movies or the voluminous hyperbole that oozes from his prose.
I did not want to give this book one-star, simply because I appreciate the effort that went into it. It was a good try, but ultimately, the final product is devoid of any and all quantum of significant flow, cohesive content or general points of redemption.
I think a lot of reviews were written by friends of Hickey, given that many of the reviewers are given special mention in the dedication chapter. In fact, Pat himself decided that it was worth 5-stars (see rating below). Talk about, Pat-ing oneself on the back.
It reads as very gushy in very many places and one should be well-advised to not attempt to read this book without an ample supply of paper towels to wipe up the, “swooning,” enthusiasm that drips off the pages. Glad you’re excited, Skippy; take a couple of hits of albuterol and get you focused.
It’s an old adage, but true. Don’t ask your friends for literary criticism. Either they’ll say something that you don’t like and ruin the friendship or they’ll exclusively say what you want them to and ruin the critique.
Luckily, I am not his friend.
I have read the book. I don’t care for it. I think that it’s analogous to an online blog, back when the blogosphere was in full swing and everyone had to have one (c.2009).
I don’t know whether or not video games are for everyone. I like a lot of them, but evidently, as is the case with books; not all of them.
I think this is more of a, “niche piece,” but I don’t believe that that niche is, “gamers,” per se.
There’s going to be a sequel, I’m sure. I’ll be sure to check it out with an open mind and hope to see some growth, development and polishing.
Until then.
April 29, 2025
I have bought this book as part of "The Minds Behind the Games" series, mostly based on the exceptional reviews. This review is for all books from this series.
I'm software developer and gamer, but after reading this series good reviews baffle me to say at least. In my opinion it's only worth the paper it's printed on as there are much better books on game developers' interviews and similar topic. The main problem is structure and sadly, the whole content. I decided to review it as advices to author as I think he desperately needs them:
1) If you write book about interviews, don't write 3-5 pages per game (minus pictures) as it's too limited, ending as vague and very shallow read, without ability to cover interesting details. And please stop pretending that few sentences you got from the game studios and paragraphs full of your personal thoughts and opinions is an inteview format! That's a misleading book title and readers expecting true interviews will not like it, at least those who are not paid for giving reviews.
2) If you write about "Game Developers", stop writing it as admirer of corporate talks and business processes when it's not the book for the future aspiring managers. Rather focus on development - see title of your book as reference. Readers don't want to read 3/4 of 'interview' about dull business around the game development, but want game development itself. That includes also all the technical issues creators were facing, list some cool tips and tricks they needed to implement, write about how exactly they solved development issues, dont be afraid to get more technical. Yes, there are few exceptions such as developer Barbara Michalec in the Sega book, but it's still less than 10 pages in total in the whole book!
3) If you write about too many games on too little pages, at least try to make it feal different. Too much focus is put on the game introduction, gameplay, controversy, relations, related stories and very little on game development itself. Your book reads as several general forms put together or some templates filled in hurry and becomes very samey & boring after reading about few games, regardless if you choose to read it as novel or pick one game at free time. I struggled and had to force myself to read about next game even after weeks of not looking in the book.
4) Don't give false impression that reader who's keen to learn also technical facts will enjoy your book (game developers = mostly technical people), as there's little to none. Even some small hints of it are immediatelly buried in business talks and related stories - overall, it's huge disappointment in this area. Mind you, mentioning ROM size, screen resolutions, sprite limits or programming language used is nice to have information, but doesn't itself make interesting story from technical view. It's sad that only few exceptions got into these books, providing some basic console knowledge and nice issue/solution stories, while this should be the basement for all games 'interviews' - one of the reason this is missing is the bad content structure (see point 1).
Book is a mess and even author himself confessed that his "Minds Behind the Games" series started as games encyclopedia(s) first, alas all serie faces the same fate. It's read as the book written by student in last school year, having the knowledge about writting but without experiences how to write.
I wonder if 5* rewiever(s) actually read it?
I'm software developer and gamer, but after reading this series good reviews baffle me to say at least. In my opinion it's only worth the paper it's printed on as there are much better books on game developers' interviews and similar topic. The main problem is structure and sadly, the whole content. I decided to review it as advices to author as I think he desperately needs them:
1) If you write book about interviews, don't write 3-5 pages per game (minus pictures) as it's too limited, ending as vague and very shallow read, without ability to cover interesting details. And please stop pretending that few sentences you got from the game studios and paragraphs full of your personal thoughts and opinions is an inteview format! That's a misleading book title and readers expecting true interviews will not like it, at least those who are not paid for giving reviews.
2) If you write about "Game Developers", stop writing it as admirer of corporate talks and business processes when it's not the book for the future aspiring managers. Rather focus on development - see title of your book as reference. Readers don't want to read 3/4 of 'interview' about dull business around the game development, but want game development itself. That includes also all the technical issues creators were facing, list some cool tips and tricks they needed to implement, write about how exactly they solved development issues, dont be afraid to get more technical. Yes, there are few exceptions such as developer Barbara Michalec in the Sega book, but it's still less than 10 pages in total in the whole book!
3) If you write about too many games on too little pages, at least try to make it feal different. Too much focus is put on the game introduction, gameplay, controversy, relations, related stories and very little on game development itself. Your book reads as several general forms put together or some templates filled in hurry and becomes very samey & boring after reading about few games, regardless if you choose to read it as novel or pick one game at free time. I struggled and had to force myself to read about next game even after weeks of not looking in the book.
4) Don't give false impression that reader who's keen to learn also technical facts will enjoy your book (game developers = mostly technical people), as there's little to none. Even some small hints of it are immediatelly buried in business talks and related stories - overall, it's huge disappointment in this area. Mind you, mentioning ROM size, screen resolutions, sprite limits or programming language used is nice to have information, but doesn't itself make interesting story from technical view. It's sad that only few exceptions got into these books, providing some basic console knowledge and nice issue/solution stories, while this should be the basement for all games 'interviews' - one of the reason this is missing is the bad content structure (see point 1).
Book is a mess and even author himself confessed that his "Minds Behind the Games" series started as games encyclopedia(s) first, alas all serie faces the same fate. It's read as the book written by student in last school year, having the knowledge about writting but without experiences how to write.
I wonder if 5* rewiever(s) actually read it?
March 22, 2020
Videos games often get a bad rap as being frivolous forms of distraction and entertainment. Patrick Hickey Jr. is here to change that. “Minds Behind the Games” isn’t simply a mere discussion of gameplay, nor does it limit itself to the mainstream titles. Every system, genre, and era is involved here, from the Atari 2600 and arcades to the PC and PS3, and everything in between. This isn’t merely a book for gamers, it’ll appeal to fans of pop-culture history as well as aspiring programmers. Technological breakthroughs, corporate intrigue, and sociopolitical impact are among the myriad topics of conversation in this excellent work of passion
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews