What do you call a product that collects articles from monthly magazines into a single yearly publication? The publishers came up with the term “Bookazine” to cover this concept of a very large magazine related to a specific topic.
Many of these were published with topics related to the Games Industry such as 3D Modelling, Animation, Photoshop, Programming or even just Games themselves.
| Title | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Coding Academy 2016 | Future Publishing | |
| Coding for Kids Scratch | Dennis Publishing | |
| The Hackers Manual 2012 | Future Publishing | Contains articles from Linux Format |
| The Hackers Manual 2016 | Future Publishing | |
| The Python Book | Future Publishing | |
| The Responsive Web Design Handbook | Future Publishing | |
| The Ultimate Guide to Web Design | Future Publishing | |
| The Ultimate Python Coding Manual | Papercut Limited | |
| The Web Design Annual | Future Publishing | |
| The Web Design Book | Future Publishing | |
| Web Design Tips, Tricks & Fixes | Future Publishing | |
| Web Design For Beginners | Future Publishing | |
| You can make an App | Future Publishing |
Bookazines dedicated just to gaming also exist and can contain some articles relavent to Game Development and the history of the industry as a whole.
| Title | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Games to Play before you Die | Future Publishing | Articles from Retro Gamer magazine |
| Ninteno Archives | Future Publishing | |
| Retro Gamer Collection | Future Publishing | At least 7 Volumes |
| Retro Micro Games Action | Imagine Publishing, Future Publishing | At least 10 Volumes from GamesTM Retro sections |
| SEGA Archives | Future Publishing | |
| SNES The Complete Manual | Future Publishing | |
| The Atari Book | Future Publishing | At least 2 editions available, Articles from Retro Gamer magazine |
| The Book of Mario | Future Publishing | Articles from Retro Gamer magazine |
| The N64 Book | Future Publishing | |
| The NES Book | Future Publishing | Articles from Retro Gamer magazine |
| The Playstation Book | Future Publishing | |
| The Ultimate Guide to indie Games | Future Publishing | Contains articles from PC Gamer Magazine |
| The ZX Spectrum Book | Future Publishing | Articles from Retro Gamer magazine |
| Videogames Hardware Handbook | Future Publishing | Articles from Retro Gamer magazine |
The UK Magazine GamesTM had a section dedicated to retro games every month, while it was only a small part of the magazine it had a wealth of interesting information, especially interesting for the topic of this site is the interviews with developers. While its sister magazine Retro Gamer focussed on much earlier retro gaming, the Retro section of GamesTM would go all the way up to PS2 and even PS3!
There were 10 volumes published from 2011 until 2021.
| Game | Platform | Issue # | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robotron: 2084 | Arcade | 2 | Interview with Eugene Jarvis |
| Shadow of the Beast | Amiga | 2 | |
| Xybots | Arcade | 2 | |
| MDK | DOS, Windows and PS1 | 9 | |
| Icewind Dale | 9 | ||
| System Shock 2 | 9 | ||
| Duke Nukem 64 | 9 | ||
| Star Trek Voyager Elite Force | 9 | ||
| Ghostbusters 2 | 9 |
| Name | Company | Issue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Turner | Graftgold co-founder | 1 | Apparently SEGA systems used the same assemblers as the Amiga?! Maybe custom devkit? |
| Raff Cecco | 2 | Spectrum games such as Cybernoid, Stormlord | |
| Geoff Crammond | Firebird, Microprose | 2 | BBC Micro titles such as Aviator, C64, AMIGA, ATARI ST and PC |
| David Braben | Frontier Developments | 2 | |
| Ben Daglish | W.E.M.U.S.I.C. | 2 | Musician for games such as The Last Ninja |
| The Pickford Brothers | Zippo, Rare Manchester, Software Creations | 2 | Worked on Wetrix for N64, Solstice 2 for NES and many many more |
| David Anderson | Platinum Productions | 2 | Worked on tons of Spectrum conversions! |
| Tom Kalinske | CEO SEGA of America | 9 | |
| Jas Austin | 9 | ||
| Ninh Le | 9 | ||
| Dave Grossman | 9 | ||
| Stuart Copeland | 9 |
One of the most interesting interviews is with former SEGA of America CEO Tom Kalinske who was in charge when EA reverse-engineered the Sega Mega Drive. He was furious and famously said:
“Trip [Hawkins], didn’t your mother ever teach you the difference between right and wrong?”
This may have got the meeting off to a rough start but in the end SEGA got John Madden football and EA got favoured licensing rights.
The interview with the Pickford Brothers was also facinating and mentioned that they were one of the first studios to get NES development kits outside of Japan and one of the first Game Boy developers outside of Japan. I wonder which development kits they were given for NES and Game Boy… it would have been great to ask them more details about the development kits.
They also managed to play around with one of the first SNES development kits in Europe when they worked at Software Creations. It would have been great to ask them what they remember about these development kits!
| Title | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 3D Art & Design | Imagine Publishing | From the makers of 3D Artist, 2010-2011, replaced by “The 3D Art & Design Book” |
| Flash Essentials | Future Publishing | Articles from .net magazine |
| Get Started in 3D | Future Publishing | Articles from 3D World magazine (2014-2021) |
| Illustrate with Photoshop Genius Guide | Future Publishing | At least 6 editions |
| ImagineFX Annual | Future Publishing | |
| The 3D Art & Design Annual | Imagine Publishing & Future Publishing (from 2017) | From the makers of: 3D Artist, 6 known volumes available |
| The 3D Art & Design Book | Imagine Publishing | From 2012 to 2014) it replaces 3D “Art & Design” and is further replaced by “The 3D Art & Design Annual” |
| The Sci-fi & Fantasy Art Book | Future Publishing | at least 4 editions published |
| The Ultimate Guide to Graphic Design | Dennis Publishing | contains articles from MacUser magazine |
First published in 2014 by Future this Bookazine has been republished at least 4 times with almost identical content. It contains 180 pages of pure content with no Advertisements, honestly if you can find a copy in your local newsagents then I would reccomend picking it up as it is well worth the money.
The Bookazine is split into the following sections:
The table below shows the pieces features in the Bookazine along with their artists and the software used to create them.
| Name of Piece | Artist Name | Software used |
|---|---|---|
| Dog | Caetano Silva | ZBrush, Modo, Cinema 4D, Photoshop |
| Hades, God Of The Underworld | Elena Bespalova | Maya, ZBrush, Keyshot |
| Deathstroke’s Revenge | Alessandro Baldasseroni | 3ds Max, ZBrush, Mudbox, V-Ray, Photoshop |
| Miyamoto Chu With His Super Car | Hsun-Chun Chuang | Maya, mental ray, Photoshop, After Effects |
| Cybernetic Organism Artemis AA 3057 | Sengjoon Song | Maya, Mari, Photoshop, nDo, Headus UVLayout, V-Ray |
| BingBing | Nianzu Zhang | 3ds Max 2012, ZBrush, Photoshop, mental ray, Hairfarm |
| Red-eyed Tree Frog | Gordon Goane | ZBrush, Maya, TopoGun, KeyShot, Photoshop |
| Baby Rock 2.0 - Alessio Rossi | Alessio Rossi | 3ds Max, V-Ray, Mudbox, Photoshop |
| Valhalla | Rudolf Herczog | Cinema 4D, Maxwell Render, Photoshop |
| The Pirate | Pietro Licini | Maya, ZBrush, Mudbox, Arnold, Photoshop |
The Fundamentals section is a series of 19 articles all written by Mike Griggs and previously featured in the monthly 3D World Magazine, the table below lists the articles along with the original magazine they were featured in (if known).
| Name | Tag Line | Original Issue |
|---|---|---|
| MODELS FOR GAME ENGINES | Learn core skills with this easy introduction | Issue 177 (Jan 2014) |
| TRIMMING POLYS | Removing unnecessary polys is key for workflow | Issue 169 (June 2013) |
| MESH SMOOTHING | Smoothing is an essential basic for modellers | Issue 175 (December 2013) |
| UV MAPS | The basics of using UV maps | Issue 171 (August 2013) |
| LEARN HOW TO USE RIGGING | An essential skill for animation | |
| UNDERSTAND RIGID DYNAMICS | Physics-based dynamics explained | |
| UNDERSTAND SOFT DYNAMICS | Use these to create movement in your scenes | |
| UNDERSTAND YOUR CAMERA | Create realistic viewpoints by looking down a lens | Issue 179 (March 2014) |
| USING HDR TO LIGHT SCENES | Use image-based lighting to maximum effect | Issue 170 (July 2013) |
| HAIR AND FUR | Learn how to bring hair and fur to life | Issue 174 (November 2013) |
| GREAT CREATURE DESIGN | Key steps for cracking creatures | Issue 167 (April 2013) |
| METAL SURFACES | What you need to know to render metal surfaces | |
| TILED TEXTURES | Discover seamless textures for improved workflow | Issue 166 (March 2013) |
| INSTANCING | Control objects with intelligent cloning | Issue 173 (October 2013) |
| URBAN ENVIRONMENTS | Design realistic cities in no time | Issue 178 (Feb 2014) |
| STUNNING SIMULATIONS | Explore the features and uses of particle effects | |
| FLUID DYNAMICS | Understand fluid dynamics systems | |
| SUB-SURFACE SCATTERING | Create convincing interactions with this technique | Issue 172 (September 2013) |
| MEDICAL GRAPHICS | This niche world can really influence your work |
The Theory section contains an in-depth look at the theoretical concepts that make 3D graphics work, all written by Denis Kozlov.
| Name | Tag Line | Original issue |
|---|---|---|
| VIRTUAL LENSES | Create faultless renders with virtual lenses | |
| PIXEL PERSPECTIVE | Think of pixels as data and not colours | |
| PARTICLE SYSTEMS: PART 1 | Part one of two looking at particle systems | |
| PARTICLE SYSTEMS: PART 2 | Further advice on particle systems | |
| DEPTH OF COLOUR | The basics of colour depth of raster images |
The Tutorials section contains 14 articles written for specific software such as 3ds Max, Photoshop and ZBrush. The later editions have replaced some of the older tutorials with newer tutorials from the 3DWorld magazine, the table below contains both the older and newer content found in the first three editions.
| Name | Tag Line | Author | Original issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANATOMY: PART 1 | Sculpting the torso | Dan Crossland | |
| ANATOMY: PART 2 | Sculpting the masses | Dan Crossland | |
| ANATOMY: PART 3 | Sculpting the muscles | Dan Crossland | |
| ANATOMY: PART 4 | Creating a master model | Dan Crossland | |
| HANDS | Detailed hands in ZBrush | Titouan Olive | |
| UNWRAPPING UVS | Master this core skill | Rob Redman | |
| BIG SCREEN CREATURES | Cinematic creatures in 10 easy steps | Tyler Bolyard | |
| LIGHT AND TEXTURE | Apply texture and light to a complex character | Daniele Scerra | |
| RIG-READY CREATURES | Get to grips with retopology tools | Adam Dewhirst | |
| CHARACTER CONCEPTS | Successful character concepts in 15 stages | Dan Mason | |
| 12 CAR RENDER TIPS | Use 3ds Max and V-Ray for perfect car rendering | Dave Cox | Issue 170 (July 2013) |
| SCI-FI RACING | Create futurist racing machines in 3ds Max 2015 | Al Brady | |
| REALISTIC ENVIRONMENTS | Build your own cityscape in fantastic detail (3ds max, photoshop) | Anthony Eftekhari | |
| PHOTOSHOP TEXTURES | 10 top tips for better textures in Photoshop | Leigh van der Byl | Issue 167 (April 2013) |
| Model Characters | Design and Model a Video Game Character | Marat “Flamm” Latypov | Issue 229 (Jan 2018) ArtStation - ReY |
| Shoot Like You Mean It | A primer of Filmn Grammer | Dora R. Fitzgerald | Issue 231 (March 2018) |
The Questions and Answers section contains 6 of the most popular Q&A sections from the monthly magazine.
| Name | Tag Line | Original Issue |
|---|---|---|
| QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1 | Your problems solved by our experts | |
| QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 2 | More 3D problems solved | |
| QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 3 | Modelling dinosaurs and more! | |
| QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 4 | Includes a mech design masterclass | |
| QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 5 | Global illumination in C4D and more | |
| QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 6 | Includes how to create realistic materials | |
| PORTFOLIOS | The pro’s guide to building a better portfolio by Andrew Gordon | |
| PUT YOURSELF IN THE FRAME | Follow these tips to land your dream job by Ian Dean |
