Game developers (and academics) are really good at sharing their knowledge in certain ways. We have lots of conferences, we like talking to people about techniques and ideas, and the Internet is full of scattered blog posts describing this, that and the other. It’s always nice to see a larger-scale attempt to record and share our knowledge, though. This week on The Saturday Papers, there is no Saturday Paper! I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to write anything up. If you like procedural content generation, though, I do have something for you to read…
This week, you’re reading an early draft of Chapter 1 of The Procedural Content Generation Book, a book edited by Saturday Papers regulars Noor Shaker, Julian Togelius and Mark Nelson. The chapter is shared on the book’s website, as well as their table of contents, and the editors are looking for feedback and thoughts on the directions the book is going to take. I can’t think of three people from academic PCG who are better-placed to edit such a book, so if you’re sad at the lack of The Saturday Paper this week, perhaps this will tide you over in the meantime (I am sorry, though!). I’m told that future chapters will be going up regularly, so do check back if you like what you see.
Normal service will resume shortly! Thanks for all the comments, feedback and sharing the The Saturday Papers has enjoyed so far.
Wow, this looks really interesting! This is exactly the kind of book I want to read as I start a career in the games industry.
I can’t seem to find any information on the site as to whether the book will be released on paper when complete, though (I’m so old-fashioned). Will that be happening, or will this remain an eBook?
Either way, the introduction was a good read, and I’m eagerly looking forward to the next chapters. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
I don’t know about release dates, but I do know the chapter drafts will be going up online for free! If you like you can follow the editors on Twitter for more information: http://www.twitter.com/noorshak, http://www.twitter.com/mjintendency and http://www.twitter.com/togelius.
We are definitely thinking about publishing it as a paper book as well. We haven’t settled for a publisher yet, though. There are several alternatives. We are also open for suggestions regarding publishers.