One of the best ways to get an insight into the games industry is to look at the magazines that were available at the time, both game-specific magazines and digital/creative magazines have a wealth of information.
Occasionally you can be lucky enough to find a whole magazine specifically dedicated to Game Development but they can be few and far between.
Unfortunately, most are now defunct but one excellent title remains until the time of writing: Wireframe magazine, if you are in a position to support this magazine I would strongly recommend it.
| Title | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Develop | NewBayMedia | UK Magazine which was published from August 1996 Until November 2017 |
| Game Developer | UBM Tech | US Magazine which was published from March 1994 until July 2013 - Note that the free pdfs online do not have the full content such as adverts inside |
| GameMaker | Future Publishing | UK magazine dedicated to Game Modding and Development. Only 1 issue was published in October 2003 before it became a supplement for the PC Format magazine (which also didn’t last long) |
| Journal of Computer Game Design | Self Published | From June 1987 until 1993 when it rebranded to Interactive Entertainment Design |
| Wireframe | Raspberry Pi Press | From November 2018 and lasted until January 2023 (70 issues) |
GameMaker was a very unique magazine published in the UK on October 2003, it was a game development and modding magazine targetted at the general public!
Sadly the topic was deemed too niche and only one issue was ever published before it became a section of PC Format magazine for two issues (159 & 160) and then a stand along supplement distributed along with the magazine for a further 3 issues until it was replaced in issue 165 by a Doom 3 supplement instead.
If anyone has the 4 GameMaker supplement magazines from issue 161-164 then please get in contact we would love to see them!
| Issue | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | WARCRAFT 3 | The basics of creating a map in the Warcraft 3 Map Editor with a hero (Hercules) an enemy (Hydra) and victory conditions |
| 1 | UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2003 | Introduction to Unreal Editor 3.0, using brushes to carve out maps, adding textures, lighting and even creating moving platforms |
| 1 | MAKE A MOD | General advice from Kieron Gillen about modding games such as the scope of the project and how to recruit other modders |
| 1 | NEVERWINTER NIGHTS | Introduction to the BioWare Neverwinter Nights Toolset for creating a simple adventure game including scripting and adding factions |
| 1 | ADVENTURE GAME STUDIO | Introduction to AGS to create a simple point-and-click graphic adventure game with scripts and background music |
| 1 | THE SIMS | Briefly covers tools like SimShow, Facelift, HomeCrafter, Transmogrifier, Blueprint, Career Creator and how to replace the radio station MP3 files |
| 1 | HALF-LIFE/COUNTER-STRIKE | Brief introduction to the Value Hammer Editor |
| 1 | THE GAME FACTORY PRO | Create a very simple snowboarding game (similar to ski free) in The Game Factory Pro |
| 1 | HISTORY OF MODDING | Covers the history of game modding such as “Adventure”, “Ms Pac-Man”, “Castle Smurfenstein”, “Team Fortress” etc |
| 1 | GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY | Introduction to modding GTA Vice City, using tools such as CROA, ZModeler, CarEd 1.4, IMG Tool 1.3, ViceTXD |
| 1 | RAILROAD TYCOON 3 | Create a very simple map in Railroad Tycoon 3 with the built-in editor including adding a volcano with the Paint Terrain tools |
| 1 | 3DS MAX AND UNREAL ED | Tutorial for getting a 3D Studio Max model into UT2003 including fixing textures with Photoshop rigging with Character Studio 3 and exporting with ActorX |
| 1 | FLIGHT SIMULATOR 2004 | Using GMax to create custom aircraft and scenery for Flight Simulator 2004 |
| 1 | NVIDIA CHARACTER DESIGN | Article by Daniel Hornick, Hubert Nguyen and Curtis Beeson from Nvidia |
| 1 | MILKSHAPE | Tutorial for creating a 3d man with a gun that can be imported into Unreal Tournament |
| 1 | QUAKE III | Detailed guide for how to create a level in Quake 3 using Q3Map2Toolz |
| 1 | LOW POLY MODELLING | Creating a low poly model of a cartoon character in 3D Studio Max 5 |
The “Journal of Computer Game Design” was founded by Chris Crawford, a well-known game designer and developer, in June 1987 1. The journal’s primary focus was on computer and video game design. It was one of the first publications to provide insights and discussions on the art and science of game design.
It cost $30 a year to subscribe and the journeals were released every other month, it was the first attempt to foster a community around game design 2;
The journal featured articles, essays, and discussions about various aspects of game design, development, and theory. It covered topics such as game mechanics, narrative design, player engagement, and industry trends. No programming or asset development articles were posted it was purley for game design.
The “Journal of Computer Game Design” ceased publication in the early 1990s. While it had a significant impact during its existence, it was succeeded by other publications and academic efforts dedicated to game design and development.
All the articles are now freely available on Chris Crawford’s website in a well categorized manner so there is little benefit to repeating that work here, if you are interested in early articles about game design then head over there now!
Wireframe is an excellent magazine that blends developer interviews with practical tutorials such as how to implement various game mechanics in programming languages such as python or even C programming for the original Game Boy!
They even release all the issues they make free on their website in pdf form for everyone (not just subscribers).
Sadly Wireframe magazine is no longer producing new magazines after issue 70.
You can view all the issues on their official website: Issues — Wireframe Magazine
It is worth reading the entire Wireframe issues cover-to-cover but the most important section for game development is the “Toolbox section of the magazine.
Here is a table of the articles most relevant to both modern and retro game development:
| Issue | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Design principles | An Atari veteran on the philosophy of game design (Howard Scott Warshaw) |
| 1 | City Craft | The design Theory behind video game cities (Konstantinos Dimopoulos) |
| 1 | Source Code | How particle physics turned Defender into a coin-op classic (Python/pygame) (Craig Grannell) |
| 1 | Maths of balance | Examining the curves and formulae behind the games we play (Will Luton) |
| 2 | Life in the trenches | interview with Jane Whittaker on Atari Jaguar development of Alien vs Predator |
| 2 | FPS level design | Learn the basics of shooter level design with Half-Life 2 |
| 2 | CityCraft | How understanding city functions results in better game design |
| 2 | Source Code | The simple yet effective AI behind Galaxian’s angry aliens |
| 2 | Maths of balance part 2 | Exploring how maths governs matchmaking and economics |
| 3 | Design principles | What Yars’ Revenge can teach us about design goals and planning |
| 3 | CityCraft | The abstract models that will make your video game cities shine |
| 3 | Source Code | How parallax scrolling gives 2D games the illusion of depth |
| 3 | Build a shooter in Unity | Get to grips with Unity in our step- by-step guide to making an FPS |
| 4 | CityCraft | Clever tricks to make our video game cities seem bigger and busier |
| 4 | Source Code | How to recreate the thrust motion in Atari’s coin-op classic, Asteroids |
| 4 | Publishing on itch.io | Our step-by-step guide to publishing and selling your games |
| 4 | Getting into the industry | Some professional advice for anyone hoping to make games for a living |
| 5 | Design principles | Why being prepared to deviate from established design ideas is essential |
| 5 | CityCraft | Three ways of making a truly immersive video game city |
| 5 | Source Code | How to create your own arcade-style high-score table |
| 5 | Improving your Unity FPS | Part two of our guide to makinga first person shooter |
| 6 | CityCraft | The pitfalls to avoid when designing a game city |
| 6 | Source Code | How to recreate the whipping alien tail from R-Type |
| 6 | Localisation | Prepare your game for a global audience |
| 6 | Level design | Six tips to make your level designs shine |
| 7 | Design Principles | How economy and theatre make better games |
| 7 | CityCraft | Why a game city is only as good as its surroundings |
| 7 | Source Code | Recreate the jumping physics from Super Mario Bros. |
| 7 | Finalising your Unity FPS | Add menus, special effects, and more in the final part of our guide |
| 8 | CityCraft | Ways to make your horror game locations even scarier |
| 8 | Structurally Sound | How music and sound intertwine to create atmospheric game worlds |
| 8 | Source Code | The code behind Missile Command’s unforgettable vapour trails |
| 8 | Squeezing the Beeb | How to fit a 1KB score attack game onto the BBC Micro |
| 9 | Design Principles | The power of marketing – and a strong game title |
| 9 | CityCraft | Understanding the hierarchies of villages, towns, and cities |
| 9 | Source Code | Recreating the disintegrating shields from Space Invaders |
| 9 | Character building | Import and animate a 3D character model in Unity |
| 10 | CityCraft | Must-read books for budding virtual city designers |
| 10 | Source Code | Recreate Pang’s evil bouncing balloons in Python |
| 10 | Get into Twine | A beginner’s guide to creating interactive fiction in Twine |
| 10 | Multiplayer detox | Ways to make safer, friendlier multiplayer games |
| 11 | Design Principles | Defining the difference between theme and design |
| 11 | CityCraft | Finding fantasy in medieval towns and cities |
| 11 | Source Code | Recreate the block smashing action of Breakout |
| 11 | Paper prototyping | How paper and card can help you make better games |
| 12 | CityCraft | Infrastructure fundamentals for virtual cities |
| 12 | Source Code | Recreate Bomberman’s four-way explosions |
| 12 | Making Snake | Code your own arcade game in JavaScript |
| 12 | Pushing PICO-8 | How to go beyond the virtual console’s memory limits |
| 13 | Design Principles | Defining the meaning of the word game’, and why it’s important |
| 13 | CityCraft | Bringing vibrancy and realism to your video game streets |
| 13 | Teleporting in Unity | Your guide to making an Overwatch-inspired blink mechanic |
| 13 | Source Code | Recreate Gyruss’s zooming starfield effect |
| 14 | CityCraft | Analysing the genius of City 17 and New Vegas |
| 14 | Art and commerce | Making creative games that actually sell |
| 14 | SIN made simple | Master the SIN function without all the fiddly maths |
| 14 | Source Code | Make a Donkey Kong-style animated walk cycle |
| 15 | Design Principles | What video games say about their creators and players |
| 15 | Blasting off | Make a Jetpack feature in Unreal Engine 4 |
| 15 | Source Code | Ant Attack-style isometric graphics explained |
| 15 | A new dev diary | Why the vertical slice is an indie dev’s best friend |
There are many magazines related to Gaming both past and present, however only a few of them have interesting articles about game development, the ones we know about are listed in the table below.
| Title | Publisher | Run | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computer Gaming World | 1981-2006 | USA Magazine that ran from 1981-2006 | |
| DC-UK | Future | 1999-2001 | Short lived UK Dreamcast magazine |
| Dreamcast Magazine | Paragon | 1999-2002 | UK Dreamcast Magazine (34 issues) |
| Dreamcast Monthly | Quay Publishing | 1999-2001? | UK Dreamcast Magazine (17 issues?) |
| Dreamcast Official Magazine (UK) | Dennis Publishing | 1999-2001 | UK Dreamcast Magazine (23 issues including specials) |
| Dreamcast Official Magazine (USA) | Imagine Media | 1999-2001 | USA Dreamcast Magazine with 13 issues |
| Dreamcast Solutions | Paragon | 1999-2001 | UK Dreamcast Magazine |
| Dreamcast Strategies | Quay Publishing | 1999 | UK Dreamcast Magazine |
| DC-Tips | Future | 2000 | UK Dreamcast Magazine Spin off of DC-UK |
| Dreamcast Tips | LCD | 1999 | UK Dreamcast Magazine with only 1 issue ever published |
| EDGE | Future | UK magazine that contained interviews with game developers and even adverts for Development Kits | |
| GamesTM | Highbury | 2002-2018 | UK Magazine that contained interviews with Game developers reached 213 issues |
| GameBytes | 1992-1994 | MS-DOS based application for an interactive magazine released on BBS between 1992-1994 https://www.dosgames.com/gamebytes.php | |
| Mean Machines Sega | EMAP | 1992-1997 | UK Sega Magazine that has 53 issues |
| MEGA | Future | 1992-1995 | UK based Sega magazine with 38 issues |
| Mega Action | Europress | 1993-1994 | UK Sega Mega Drvie Magazine with 11 issues |
| Mega Machines | Impact | 1993-1994 | UK Sega Magazine with 5 issues |
| Mega Play | Sendai | 1990-1995 | US Sega Magazine |
| Mega Power | Paragon | 1993-1995 | UK Sega Mega Drive Magazine |
| MegaTech | EMAP | 1991-1995 | UK Sega Mega Drive Magazine (43 issues) |
| Megazone | Megazone Publications | 1990-1994 | Australian Amiga & Sega Magazine had a regular section called “Pirates Cave” where crackers could write in and share their thoughts on software piracy |
| Mr Dreamcast | Magical Media | 2000 | Only 2 issues were published of this UK Dreamcast magazine |
| PC Gamer | Future | 1993-present | Long Running UK Magazine dedicated to PC Gaming, sometimes has game developer and modding content |
| PSi2 | Thin Ice Media (Datel) | 2000-? | This occasionally contains top quality articles about Homebrew and Game Development for the Playstation 2 |
| Retro Gamer | Live/Imagine/Future | 2004-present | Long running UK Magazine dedicated to Retro games, often has interviews with game developers |
| Super Pro | Paragon Publishing | 1992-1994 | Super Nintendo Magazine that had some interviews related to game development such as the interview with Brain Fargo of Interplay |
GameBytes was a very unique magazine as it wasn’t published in a traditional sense, it was released for free online on Bulletin Board Systems, it was also unique in its format as it was an actual interactive MS-DOS Application!
Over its relativly short life span it obtained some very interesting articles related to the Game development industry, including multiple reviewes of the Computer Game Developers Conference in 1994.
You can experience the magazines online through an emulator on DOSGames.com.
The magazine EDGE published its first issue on August 19th 1993 with a focus on going more in-depth on technical details such as how games are made, technical aspects and development issues 3. It targeted multiple console/PC platforms (Mega Drive, SNES, Amiga etc) and is famous for hiring many of the engineers at Rare due to their advertisements (Dr Doak is one example of someone who applied thanks to an EDGE advertisement).
For their news sections they would “borrow” from Japanese magazines such as “Weekly Famitsu” and US magazines such as “EGM” 3.
Published by Thin-Ice Media (Owned by Datel) it was the only non-official Playstation 2 magazine to include a playable CD every issue.
Each CD would contain a few Action Replay Cheats and save games that can be applied to a few select games, it formed as a good advertisement to Datel’s Action Replay product.
Whether it was always intended to be just another advertisement route for Datel or not, it ended up having a good run of 38 issues or just over 3 years on High Street shelves!
As Psi2 was an unofficial magazine published by Datel it was a good magazine for news about development topics and homebrew along with general game reviews and news. Here is a table of the most relevant articles for the topic of the site (game development and homebrew)
| Issue | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | Linux PS2 | PSi2 interviews developers such as Charles Cecil to find out if the PS2 Linux kit can revive the “bedroom coder”. They are pretty harsh on the kit and outright say its only beneficial for people learning to porgram and that its better to learn on Windows with Visual Studio and DirectX |
| 18 | Yabasic Appeal | The editor asks for readers Yabasic games/programs to be put on next issues cover disk |
| 18 | Indie day | Interview with indie developer Vis entertainment who developed games like Tom & Jerry Fists of Fury on N64 |
| 19 | Developer files; Europe | History of DMA Design (GTA 3), Lost Boys (Knights), Bizarre creations (Fur Fighters), Amuze (Headhunter), Criterion (Burnout) |
| 19 | Indie day | Interview with indie developer Runecraft founded in 1997 with 120 employees |
| 20 | One step beyond | Interview with Beyond games they mention they have a game engine called “Brainstom” which they used for Motor Mayhem and Hot Wheels which apparently has networking capabilities |
| 20 | A Week in the life of Runcraft | Lays out the day to day work of the art development of Runecraft while they develop games for the PS2 such as Premier manager. They use photoshop for tecturing but its unclear what software they use for 3D modelling as the screenshots are too low-res but possibly 3DS Max. |
| 20 | Indie day | Interview with Pivotal games on their game Desert Storm |
| 21 | A Week in the life of Kuju | |
| 21 | Indie day | Interview with Argonaut games |
Some of the Magazine CDs/DVDs contained Video content on behind the scenes information for upcoming games, such as interviews with developers and even yabasic games with source code.
| Issue Number | Content |
|---|---|
| 19 | Yabasic Tetris by Marc Gale (Xalthorn) |
| 20 | Yabasic Asteriods Lab X by Christopher Rankine |
| 21 | Yabasic Bats in the Lab by Christopher Rankine |
| 21 | Trailers for Auto Modellista, Red Dread Revolver, Dino Stalker, JoJo’s Bizare Adventure and others |
| 22 | Behind the Scenes of V-Rally 3 |
| 23 | Talking about the Mechanics of The Thing |
| 28 | Trailer of travel documentaries from Pilot Guides to places like Mexico, Spain, India (Pilot Film and Television Productions Home Page) |
| 29 | The Making of Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness |
| Issue Number | Interview Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Graham Goring | Goring is a member of Retrospec, a group that remakes classic games. The interview does not specify which games Goring has worked on or for which platforms. | |
| 2 | Andy Hewitt | Hewitt discusses his work with the game developer group Ovine by Design, including the group’s history and their use of game development tools like Jamagic. The interview mentions that Ovine by Design’s latest game, Imogen, is a platform game for the ZX Spectrum. | |
| 3 | Simon Ullyatt & Jonathan Cauldwell | Ullyatt and Cauldwell are members of Cronosoft, a group that develops new games for older platforms. The interview mentions several of Cronosoft’s games, including Egghead in Space (for the ZX Spectrum) and Plan 9 Channel 7, More Tea, Vicar?, and Reaxion (all for the Commodore 64). The interview also mentions that Cronosoft was considering making a BBC Micro version of Egghead in Space. | |
| 5 | Protovision | The members of Protovision discuss their work developing games for the Commodore 64. The interview mentions several of their games, including Metal Dust, Tanks 3000, and Pac It. | |
| 5 | Stuart Fotheringham | Fotheringham discusses his work on games like Mega-tree, Heartland, and Nodes of Yesod. Mega-Tree was in development for the Commodore 64, but never released. The interview mentions that the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 versions of Heartland shared the same map data. Nodes of Yesod was released for the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64. The interview also discusses Fotheringham’s work on an unreleased version of Star Raiders for the Commodore 64. | |
| 6 | Nick Harlow | Harlow discusses the history of 1632 Systems, which started as a Public Domain library for the Atari ST. | |
| 7 | Matthew Smith | This issue contains an interview with Matthew Smith, creator of Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy, for the ZX Spectrum. | |
| 8 | Nolan Bushnell | Bushnell is known for his work on games like Pac-Man, Breakout, and for founding Atari. | |
| 9 | David Doak | Doak is known for his work on GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64. | |
| 10 | Steve Meretzky | Meretzky is known for his work on text adventures such as Planetfall, Sorcerer, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The interview does not specify which platforms these games were developed for. | |
| 11 | Malcolm Evans | Evans is known for his work on games such as 3D Monster Maze (for the ZX81), Trashman, and The Ishar trilogy. | |
| 11 | Color Dreams/Wisdom Tree | This interview features developers from Color Dreams/Wisdom Tree, discussing their unlicensed, religious-themed NES games. | |
| 11 | Francois Lionet | Lionet discusses his work on the game development tools AMOS (for the Amiga) and Klik & Play (for the PC). | |
| 12 | Vicky Carne | Vicky Carne was the founder of 8-bit software house Mosaic Publishing. Mosaic Publishing was responsible for bringing the “amazingly original titles” [Hover Bovver and Revenge of the Mutant Camels] to the Commodore 64. One of the company’s more notable releases was Battle Command, a tank game for the Commodore 64 that was lauded for its “fast-filled 3D graphics”. | |
| 12 | Jeff Minter | Jeff Minter is a game developer known for his work with Llamasoft. Some of his more popular games, such as Gridrunner++ for PC and Mac, are known for their “diversity and humour”, containing enemies that range from “footballs to giant Mutley heads”. | |
| 12 | Albert Yarusso | Albert Yarusso was the chief maintainer of the AtariAge website in 2005. | |
| 13 | Jamie Fenton | Jamie Fenton was one half of the duo, with partner Dennis Koble, who created the game Sea Wolf, released in 1976. | |
| 13 | Julian Golop | Julian Golop was a game developer who worked on games such as Lords of Chaos and X-Com. Lords of Chaos was released on an unspecified platform, but was designed to be a combination of “the best bits of Chaos and Laser Squad”, with additional RPG elements. The first X-Com game was programmed for the PC because it was “the most popular platform for strategy games” at the time. | |
| 13 | Jeff Kunkel | Jeff Kunkel was a game developer who worked on arcade games, including Dragon’s Lair. One of his personal projects was adding a “freeplay mode” to his copy of the arcade game Frogger. | |
| 13 | Ben Heckendorn | Ben Heckendorn was a console modder who, by 2004, had created portable versions of the Virtual Boy, PlayStation, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Atari 2600, and PlayStation 2. His “dream project” was to create a laptop that could play Atari 800 games. | |
| 13 | Steve Wilcox | Steve Wilcox was a game developer who worked with Elite. One of the company’s notable releases was Battle Command for the Commodore 64, a game that impressed with its use of 3D graphics despite the technical limitations of the Commodore 64. | |
| 14 | Jon Ritman | This issue contains an interview with Jon Ritman, the developer behind Match Day and Head Over Heels for the ZX Spectrum. The article also touches on his work on Batman. | |
| 14 | Dino Dini | This issue features an interview with Dino Dini, creator of Kick Off and Goal!. Kick Off was originally developed for the Atari ST and later ported to the Amiga. Goal! was released on the Sega Megadrive as Dino Dini’s Soccer. | |
| 15 | Walter Ginner | Walter Ginner was a competitive gamer in the 1980s. | |
| 15 | Fergus McNeil | Fergus McNeil was the founder of the software company Delta 4. One of the company’s games, Quest for the Holy Joystick, was a text-based adventure game that parodied the software industry and contained references to contemporary gaming magazines. | |
| 15 | Keith Hughes | Keith Hughes was a game developer who, as of 2005, worked at Kuju. | |
| 16 | Mr Biffo and Mr Hairs | Mr Biffo and Mr Hairs were the pseudonyms of the creators of Digitiser, a Teletext gaming section that ran on Channel 4. | |
| 16 | The guys behind Gilsoft | Gilsoft was a company best known for their game creation software The Quill, which allowed users to create text-based adventure games. | |
| 17 | Paul Carruthers | Paul Carruthers is a programmer best known for his work on the game Xor, which was originally released in 1987 for the BBC Micro. Xor was later ported to the Electron, Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad, Amiga, and Atari ST. | |
| 17 | Dave Reidy and Keith Warrington | Dave Reidy and Keith Warrington were the creators of the game Skool Daze. Skool Daze was programmed for the ZX Spectrum. | |
| 18 | Tim Skelly | Tim Skelly was a programmer best known for his work on the arcade game Reactor. Reactor was the first arcade game to include the programmer’s name on-screen. | |
| 18 | Dave Needle and R.J. Mical | Dave Needle and R.J. Mical were the engineers behind the Atari Lynx, released in 1989. The Lynx was notable for being the world’s first colour handheld games console. | |
| 18 | David Crane | David Crane was the programmer behind Little Computer People. Little Computer People allowed the player to interact with a virtual person who lived in their computer. | |
| 18 | Mark Cale | Mark Cale was the co-founder of System 3, the company that developed the Last Ninja series. The first Last Ninja was released for the Commodore 64 and a few other platforms. The second game in the series was released for almost every gaming platform available at the time. | |
| 18 | John Twiddy | John Twiddy was a programmer who worked on all three of the Last Ninja games. The first Last Ninja game was programmed for the Commodore 64. The second game in the series introduced a new setting (New York) because it allowed for more varied environments compared to the first game, which took place in a garden. The Atari ST and Amiga versions of Last Ninja 2 were outsourced to external programmers. | |
| 19 | John and Ste Pickford | John and Ste Pickford were brothers who worked together in the games industry for many years. Their first game together was the Spectrum game Zub. They later worked on the NES at Rare. One of the games they worked on at Rare was a Game Boy wrestling game that won a “Best Game Boy Game” award at CES, despite only featuring four frames of animation per wrestler. | |
| 20 | Chris Roper | Chris Roper won the Oliver Twins’ remake competition at Retro Ball 2005. The game he created for the competition was a remake of the ZX Spectrum game Horace and the Spiders. | |
| 20 | Stephen Robertson | Stephen Robertson was a graphic artist best known for creating loading screens for the Commodore 64. One of the games he worked on was Cybernoid, a game known for its side-scrolling shoot ‘em up gameplay. | |
| 20 | Staff at Technos Japan and American Technos | Technos Japan was a company best known for their work on the Kunio-Kun series of games. Double Dragon was one of their most commercially successful games. WWF Superstars (1989) and WWF Wrestlefest (1991) were two of their licensed games. | |
| 21 | Nolan Bushnell | The interview is about Bushnell bringing gaming to the masses. He is the creator of electronic gaming, designer of Pong, and founder of Atari. | |
| 22 | Tim Schafer | In this interview, Schafer discusses how he got his start in the gaming industry. He worked on games such as The Secret of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and the Sam & Max series, across platforms like PC, Amiga, Mac, and Sega CD. | |
| 22 | Gary Liddon | In this interview, Liddon discusses his career and games such as Delta, the sequel to Sanxion. | |
| 23 | Andy Davidson | This interview focuses on Davidson and how his game Total Wormage turned into Team 17’s successful franchise, Worms. | |
| 24 | Trip Hawkins | Hawkins discusses the forming of EA, one of gaming’s biggest empires. He also talks about M.U.L.E, a game whose origins can be traced to Strategic Simulations Inc., for the Atari 800. He shares his thoughts on the gaming industry. | |
| 24 | Eugene Jarvis | The source mentions that Jarvis is the creator of several arcade games. | |
| 26 | Yuji Naka | Naka avoids answering most questions in this interview. He is asked about his time working for Sonic Team and about his work on an emulator that allows Famicom games to be played on the Mega Drive. | |
| 27 | Dale DeSharone | In this interview, DeSharone discusses his work on games such as Below the Root for the Commodore 64 and the Zelda games for the CD-i. | |
| 28 | Dave Grossman | This interview focuses on Grossman’s work on the Monkey Island series. He has also worked on Sam & Max Hit the Road, the Pajama Sam series, Freddi Fish 4, Ollo, Moop and Dreadly, and other games for Humongous Entertainment and Tell Tale Games. | |
| 30 | Steve Ellis | Ellis discusses his work as Director of Free Radical Design, where he develops games for the PlayStation 3. | |
| 32 | Mark Cale | Discusses the development of Impossible Mission for DS and PSP, noting the effective use of the touch screen in the DS version and the superior visuals of the PSP version. | |
| 32 | Martyn Brown | Known for co-founding Team 17, creators of the Worms series and other Amiga classics | |
| 33 | Satoshi Tajiri | Discusses the development of Pokémon for the Game Boy, mentioning his mentorship under Shigeru Miyamoto and the naming of characters Ash and Shigeru after himself and Miyamoto. | |
| 33 | Dr Peter Favaro | Discusses the development of Alter Ego, a ‘life simulator’ released by Activision in 1986. | |
| 34 | Jon Ritman | Discusses his isometric adventure game Head Over Heels. | |
| 34 | Ron Gilbert | Discusses the creation of Monkey Island, including the game’s development process and his collaboration with Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman | |
| 34 | Mark Cale | Discusses the history of System 3, including their past titles and plans for the future. The company is known for titles like Impossible Mission and The Last Ninja | |
| 35 | Steve Wright | Discusses his time at Atari | |
| 35 | John Wilson | Discusses his work at Zenobi, a company he founded to create text-based adventure games, including Arrival on the Atari ST, An Everyday Tale Of A Seeker Of Gold, and Fuddo And Slam. | |
| 36 | Jonathan Thompson | Discusses a new retro game competition he is involved in, seeking new ideas inspired by classic titles like Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Tank Wars. | |
| 37 | David Crane | Discusses the making of Pitfall II: Lost Caverns | |
| 38 | Developers at System 3 | Discuss their updated version of California Games, which includes Summer Games 1 and 2 | |
| 39 | Developers of Lemmings | Discuss the creation of Lemmings | |
| 39 | Developers at Rare | Discuss the making of Jetpac Refuelled for Xbox Live Arcade | |
| 40 | Developers of Libble Rabble | Discuss the development of Libble Rabble | |
| 40 | John Romero | Discusses his time at id Software and the development of Quake, including his design philosophy and his eventual departure from the company to form Ion Storm. | |
| 41 | Andy Walker | Discusses his work on Cad Cam Warrior and Super Pipeline 2 | |
| 41 | Kelvin Aston | Discusses his entry into the gaming industry as a QA tester for Team17 on Worms, and his eventual role as lead producer on Worms: Open Warfare 2 | |
| 42 | Alexey Pajitnov | Discusses the creation of Tetris | |
| 42 | Developers at NG:DEV.TEAM | Discuss what inspired them to create a shoot ‘em up game like Söldner-X for the PlayStation 3 | |
| 42 | Jeff Minter and Giles Williams | Discuss their work at Llamasoft, including the development of Space Giraffe for Xbox Live Arcade and their plans for future titles like Sheep in Space and Ancipital | |
| 43 | Jon Hare | Discusses the creation of Sensible Soccer for the Amiga | |
| 44 | Developers of Fort Apocalypse | Discuss the development of Fort Apocalypse | |
| 45 | Philip Oliver | Discusses the creation of Treasure Island Dizzy | |
| 45 | Yuji Naka and Takashi Izuka | Discuss the making of NiGHTS into Dreams and its sequel, Journey of Dreams for the Wii | |
| 46 | Developers of California Games | Discuss the creation of California Games | |
| 46 | Brian Moriarty | Discusses his adventure game Loom | |
| 47 | Will Wright | Discusses his contributions to the gaming industry, including his work on simulation games like SimCity and The Sims | |
| 48 | Matthew Smith | Discusses the making of his seminal platformer Manic Miner | |
| 48 | Matthew Smith | Discusses his type-in game, Andre’s Night Off, which he coded in BASIC for Computer & Video Games magazine, and mentions his work on Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy, and Styx | |
| 49 | Developers at Vectordean | Discuss their game Tavern RPG | |
| 50 | Martyn Carroll | Discusses the creation of Retro Gamer magazine | |
| 50 | Various Developers | Discuss the games that changed their lives, including Tir Na Nog and Jet Set Willy | |
| 51 | Developers of R-Type Delta | Discuss the making of R-Type Delta for the original PlayStation | |
| 52 | Chris Wilkins | Discusses the upcoming Retro Fusion event and the guests who will be in attendance, including Archer MacLean, Andy Nuttal, Jon Hare, Martin Hollis, Alex Trowers, Simon Goodwin, and Ste Pickford. | |
| 55 | Chris Gibbs | Chris Gibbs was one of the founding members of Attention To Detail, a game development company. He worked with Jon Steele and Martin on a conversion of Super Sprint for the Atari ST. After this project, they were commisioned by LucasArts to make PC, Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64, Spectrum, and Amstrad versions of Night Shift. | |
| 55 | Jon Dean | Jon Dean was a producer for Activision. While there, he met Chris Gibbs, Fred Gill, and Jon Steele. They created a conversion of Super Sprint for the Atari ST. Dean proposed the group start a company called Attention To Detail that would work exclusively with PMC. | |
| 55 | Fred Gill | Fred Gill was one of the founding members of Attention To Detail. Before forming the company with Chris Gibbs, Jon Steele, and Jon Dean, his Spectrum shooter Octan was published by Firebird. | |
| 55 | Jon Steele | Jon Steele was one of the founding members of Attention To Detail. He worked with Chris Gibbs and Martin on a conversion of Super Sprint for the Atari ST. | |
| 56 | Hideo Kojima | Hideo Kojima is a game designer known for his work on the Metal Gear series. He has stated a desire to direct a film. | |
| 57 | Eugene Lacey | Eugene Lacey was involved with Computer & Video Games magazine during the 1980s. | |
| 58 | Jim Levy | Jim Levy was involved with the founding of Activision. He understood the desire among developers to receive credit for their work. | |
| 59 | Jon Hare | Jon Hare co-founded Sensible Software, the company behind Sensible Soccer. He has also worked at Argonaut Games. | |
| 60 | Trevor Storey | Issue 60 of Retro Gamer featured an interview with Trevor Storey. | |
| 61 | Toru Iwatani | Toru Iwatani is the creator of Pac-Man. In this issue, he discusses rebooting the franchise for Xbox Live Arcade. | |
| 61 | Tony Crowther | Tony Crowther developed the games Blagger and Burnout Paradise. | |
| 61 | Matthew Smith | Matthew Smith was a game developer. | |
| 61 | Jeff Minter | Jeff Minter is a game developer. | |
| 62 | Trip Hawkins | Trip Hawkins is the founder Electronic Arts (EA). He discusses EA’s role in the success of the Sega Mega Drive. | |
| 62 | Tomohiro Nishikado | Tomohiro Nishikado is the creator of Space Invaders. | |
| 63 | Charles Cecil | Charles Cecil co-founded Revolution Software. He discusses the founding of the studio and how the Wii and DS were revitalizing point-and-click games. | |
| 63 | Archer MacLean | Archer Maclean developed Dropzone, which he showed to Atari UK in 1982. | |
| 63 | Harri Tikkanen | Harri Tikkanen created the Super Stardust series, including Super Stardust HD for the PS3. | |
| 63 | Kevin Toms | Kevin Toms created the Football Manager series. | |
| 64 | Ally Noble | Ally Noble worked at Denton Designs on a game about the pop band Frankie Goes To Hollywood. | |
| 64 | Simon Goodwin | Simon Goodwin worked at Ocean, Denton Designs, and Beyond Software. | |
| 64 | John Twiddy | John Twiddy developed Last Ninja and Putty Squad. He also worked on the Konix Multisystem. | |
| 64 | Mev Dinc | Mev Dinc created the Spectrum version of The Last Ninja. | |
| 64 | Jamie Woodhouse | Jamie Woodhouse is a game developer who worked on Qwak for Team 17 and Nitro for Psygnosis. | |
| 66 | Trip Hawkins | Issue 66 of Retro Gamer featured an interview with Trip Hawkins. He talked about his game Crazy Penguin Catapult. | |
| 67 | Charles Cecil | Charles Cecil co-founded Revolution Software and talked about their work on Lure Of The Temptress and Broken Sword: Director’s Cut. | |
| 67 | Jon Hare | Jon Hare co-founded Sensible Software. He discussed the development of Shoot-‘Em-Up Construction Kit for the C64. | |
| 68 | Hideo Kojima | Issue 68 of Retro Gamer featured an interview with Hideo Kojima. | |
| 68 | Gary Bracey | Gary Bracey worked at Ocean Software, where he oversaw more than 104 games. Notable releases he worked on include Batman: The Movie and Head Over Heels. | |
| 69 | Takeshi Arakawa | Takeshi Arakawa is the game director of Dissidia: Final Fantasy. | |
| 69 | Simon Pick | Simon Pick worked at The Sales Curve, Probe Entertainment, and Digital Integration. He developed the Die Hard Trilogy game, which was released for Playstation, Saturn, and PC. | |
| 69 | James | James worked at Digital Integration and NovaLogic. He developed the Die Hard Trilogy game, which was released for Playstation, Saturn, and PC. This was his first published game. | |
| 69 | Geoff Crammond | Geoff Crammond developed Super Invaders, Aviator, Revs, The Sentinel, and Stunt Car Racer. His Grand Prix series is his most notable work. | |
| 70 | Jon Hare | Issue 70 of Retro Gamer featured an interview with Jon Hare of Sensible Software. | |
| 71 | Jeff Minter | Jeff Minter discussed his work on games including Defender 2000, Revenge Of The Mutant Camels, and Trip-A-Tron. He also mentioned disliking working on Defender 2000. | |
| 71 | N/A | Issue 71 of Retro Gamer featured an interview with an unnamed developer who converted After Burner to the Commodore 64. | |
| 71 | Peter Molyneux | Peter Molyneux worked on Castle Crashers and Braid. | |
| 72 | Philip Oliver | Philip Oliver is the co-creator of the Dizzy series. | |
| 72 | Tony Oakden | Tony Oakden worked as the lead programmer on Driver. | |
| 72 | John Gibson | John Gibson worked at Imagine, where he was involved with the Bandersnatch project. | |
| 72 | Stephen Crow | Stephen Crow created the game Starquake. | |
| 73 | Martin Hollis | Issue 73 of Retro Gamer featured an interview with Martin Hollis, the director and producer of GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark. | |
| 74 | Jon Hare | Jon Hare co-founded Sensible Software, the company that developed Sensible World of Soccer, Cannon Fodder, Mega Lo Mania, Wizball, and Wizkid. | |
| 74 | Jon Burton | Jon Burton designed and programmed the game Leander. He was also involved in the development of the LEGO games, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Crash Bandicoot. | |
| 75 | Dave Grossman | Dave Grossman co-created The Secret of Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle. | |
| 75 | Robert Weatherby | Robert Weatherby was involved with the development of RoadBlasters. | |
| 75 | Steve Bristow | Steve Bristow was involved in the development of Pong, Tank, and Computer Space. | |
| 76 | John Romero | John Romero worked at id Software on Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. He was responsible for programming many of the interactive elements in Doom. | |
| 77 | Ste Pickford | Ste Pickford worked on the game Zub with his brother, Jon. | |
| 77 | Dave Lebling | Dave Lebling co-created the text adventure, Zork. | |
| 78 | Steve Lycett | Steve Lycett worked on Sega All-Stars Racing. | |
| 78 | Yu Suzuki | Issue 78 of Retro Gamer featured an interview with Yu Suzuki. | |
| 78 | Roland Perry | Roland Perry worked for Tynesoft, where he designed the motherboard for the Amstrad CPC. | |
| 79 | Alex Trowers | Alex Trowers worked at Bullfrog on games such as Populous and Theme Park. He also worked at Black Rock Studio on Split/Second. | |
| 79 | Richard Hanson | Richard Hanson co-founded Superior Software. | |
| 79 | David Crane | David Crane co-founded Activision. | |
| 80 | Eric Schwartz | Eric Schwartz created public domain cartoons for the Amiga. | |
| 80 | Violet Berlin | Violet Berlin was a presenter on the video game TV shows Bad Influence and Gamepad. | |
| 80 | Larry DeMar | Larry DeMar was involved in the development of Robotron: 2084 and Defender. | |
| 82 | Jamie | Jamie developed the arcade game Gorf. | |
| 86 | Ste Pickford | Ste Pickford co-developed the game Zub with his brother, Jon. He has also worked on titles in the Plok! series. | |
| 86 | Andrew | Andrew developed the game Druid. | |
| 86 | Jez San | Jez San founded Argonaut Software and worked on the game Starglider. | |
| 89 | Lyle Rains and Dennis Koble | Issue 89 of Retro Gamer features an interview with the developers of Sprint 2, Lyle Rains and Dennis Koble. | |
| 89 | John Szczepaniak | Issue 89 of Retro Gamer includes an interview with John Szczepaniak about the creation of Resident Evil for the Game Boy Advance. | |
| 92 | Steve Turner | Steve Turner worked for Graftgold and was involved in the creation of several ZX80, Dragon 32, Commodore 64, and Atari ST games. | |
| 94 | Nick Humphries | Issue 94 of Retro Gamer contains an interview with Nick Humphries, the creator of Your Sinclair: Rock ‘N’ Roll Years. | |
| 95 | Matthew Smith | Issue 95 of Retro Gamer includes an interview with Matthew Smith about the creation of Alien Trilogy. | |
| 95 | Shaun Hollingworth | Shaun Hollingworth worked at Teque London and developed the Commodore 64 game Firelord. | |
| 95 | Slvye Ybarra | Issue 95 of Retro Gamer features an interview with Slvye Ybarra, who discusses his time working on Project Firestart. | |
| 96 | N/A | Issue 96 of Retro Gamer includes an interview with the developers of Radiant Silvergun. | |
| 96 | David Leitch | David Leitch worked for The Stamper brothers and was involved in the development of games for the Spectrum, such as Double Dragon. He also completed freelance work for Tiertex and converted Rainbow Islands for them. | |
| 97 | Greg Omi | Greg Omi reveals how he ported Klax from the Arcade to the Atari Lynx | |
| 97 | Paul Norman | Paul Norman discusses the making of Aztec Challenge for the Commodore 64 |
Creative Magazines related to topics such as art/3d graphics and even web development are just as valuable a source as gaming magazines for the time as they would often talk about industry events and software that were often used by game developers.
| Title | Notes |
|---|---|
| 3D Artist | UK magazine published by Imagine Publishing from 2009 until December 2019 |
| 3D Design | US Magazine published by Miller Freeman, changed its name to just 3D in July 1999 issue |
| 3D World | Global magazine from ? and still going today |
| Computer Artist | USA magazine From 1994 until at least 1997 published by PennWell Publishing Company |
| Computer Arts | UK magazine from 1995 until 2020 but was also published globally |
| Computer Graphics World | USA magazine from 1977 until 2022 published by PennWell Publishing Company |
| Cre@teOnline | UK Magazine from 2000 until ? |
| Digit | UK magazine that was published by IDG and lasted 112 issues until it got renamed into Digital Arts |
| Digital Arts | UK magazine |
| Linux User & Developer | UK magazine that was published for 19 years and reached issue 196 |
| Photoshop Creative | until September 2018 |
| Web Desginer | UK magazine from 2004 until ? |
| .net | UK magazine published until May 2020 |
3D Design was a magazine published in the USA by Miller Freeman, we are unsure when it started (1994?) but it changed its name to just 3D in the July 1999 issue.
They also hosted an event called the 3D Design Conference & Exhibition in 1997 and 1998 including what they called the Big Kahuna Awards Ceremony.
| Issue | Title | Author | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997-06 | Inside The Sixth Man | Gretchen J. Bay | L.A.-based visual effects house Available Light pushes 3D to the limits as we look behind the scenes at the CG effects created for Disney’s recent live-action release, The Sixth Man. |
| 1997-06 | Mastering the 3D Pipeline | Omid Rahmat | The Applications Programming Interface (API) affects everything from 3D performance to the actual look of the final image. If the ultimate ambition of your 3D design is real-time interaction, you better get a grip on the basics of 3D APIs because they may dictate how far your art can go. |
| 1997-06 | Accelerated 3D: Round One | Chris Tome | Do you really have to spend a lot of cash to get a 3D graphics board that is perfect for your needs? Not necessarily. Look here as the testing begins on nine 3D boards from ATI, Matrox, Intergraph, Diamond Multimedia, Dynamic Pictures, Accelgraphics, and Number 9, all of which retail for less than $1,000. |
| 1997-06 | Plugged In | Dan Ablan | That Special Glow. From glowing-hot logos to the shimmering halos of heavenly creatures, Gaffer, Worley Lab’s latest release for LightWave, lets animators pull out all the stops when creating shadows and light effects. |
| 1997-06 | Plug-ins on the Side | Gretchen J. Bay | We’ve rounded up five exciting new plug-ins for 3D Studio MAX, Softimage, and Photoshop that can add flare and finesse to your next design project. |
| 1997-06 | Lighting 3D Cinematically. | Don Schaab and Robert Nederhorst | Lighting is a critical part of any 3D scene, but the principles of lighting have been around a lot longer than any software package you may have. Take a look at some of the tried-and-true lighting concepts pioneered by the folks in the film industry, and see how things done in the movies apply to the computer screen. |
| 1997-06 | Try to Maintain | Chris Tome | Managing all the resources for your creative endeavors can be a daunting task at best, particularly when they’re stored in that silicon-based repository on your desk. Here are some helpful (and, of course, free) solutions to help you organize the plethora of files, data types, and projects cluttering up your hard drive. |
Computer Graphics World (CGW) is one of the longest running magazines dedicated to computer graphics, published initially in the late 70s right up to the present day (2022+).
One of the good things about CGW is that they have articles from each issue available on their web page, going all the way back to 1999.
However one of the bad things is that they seem to actively take down PDFs of pre-1999 issues from sites such as Archive.org. This really is a shame as they are one of the best resources to see the state of the art in 3D graphics at a particular point in time.
Since this website is dedicated to real-time applications of computer graphics the most useful years are from the 90s onwards when colourful 2D and 3D graphics become possible on consumer hardware.
The magazine is formed of 80+ pages of content, some of which are adverts (interesting CG tool adverts however!) and the following main content sections:
The table below focuses on the articles related to Game Development, the list is still a WIP:
| Issue | Title | Author | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990-06 | Visualizing Math | Lisa Stapleton | May give interesting information used by early 3D game developers |
| 1990-06 | Stereo 3D | Phillip Robinson | Very early article on Stereoscopic 3D (does it mention Master System 3D?) |
| 1990-12 | Silicon Graphics Straddles PC\Workstation Market | Unknown | Early SGI articles are always interesting |
| 1991-02 | A Real-Time Stroll | Unknown | Early real-time graphics from 1991 |
| 1991-03 | The Video Toaster | Unknown | Later became Lightwave3D |
| 1991-05 | 3D from the Ground Up | Unknown | Might have interesting technical details |
| 1991-06 | Algorithmic Advancements | Peter Sorensen | These algorithms influenced CG and game developers |
| 1991-10 | Painting in 3D | Barbara Robertson | Early 3D painting technology |
| 1992-03 | Virtual Reality | Arielle Emmett | |
| 1992-03 | Multimedia Development | Unknown | Games are multimedia so might be an interesting article for a 1992 perspective |
| 1992-05 | Let the Games Begin | Diana Phillips Mahoney | |
| 1992-05 | The market for virtual reality | Unknown | Early VR tech |
| 1992-07 | SIGGRAPH ‘92 Preview | Unknown | Would be good to see what was shown at SIGGRAPH 1992 |
| 1992-11 | Modeling Made Easy | Caren D. Potter | |
| 1992-12 | Galactic Graphics | Patricia Barnes-Svarney | |
| 1993-01 | Prime-Time Proving Ground for 3D Graphics | Barbara Robertson | |
| 1993-06 | Kicking the Tires of VR Software | Louis M. Brill | |
| 1993-07 | Hell-Bent on Adventure | Gaye L. Graves | |
| 1993-08 | The Amiga: Is it Time You Took a Second Look? | Rick Cook | |
| 1993-09 | Terrain Modeling | Laura Lang | |
| 1993-10 | Evaluating 3D on the High End | Tim Forcade | |
| 1993-12 | The Games People Play | Laureen Belleville | |
| 1994-09 | Interacting With the Gods | T. Reveaux | |
| 1994-10 | Inside the Game Developer’s Toolbox | D. Coco | |
| 1994-11 | Exploring the Options Beyond 3D Studio | D. Pope | |
| 1994-12 | Fresh Paint: Like word processing, page-layout, and image-editing programs, 3D painting software-which enables artists to paint texture maps directly and interactively onto 3D models-is one of those technologies that seems impossible to imagine ever having been without | B. Robertson | |
| 1995-02 | 3D conquers the PC | Donna Coco | |
| 1995-04 | User Snapshots - Animations help sell cereal. Creating cartoon characters for new CD-ROM game. | Unknown | |
| 1995-05 | Driving VR | Diana Phillips Mahoney | |
| 1995-05 | Plug-Ins Electrify 3D Studio | Barbara Robertson | |
| 1995-05 | Model Shop - Designing a watch with Alias Studio | Unknown | |
| 1995-12 | Real-Time 3D Games Take Off | Donna Coco | CGW: Feature: Real-Time 3D Games Take Off (12.95) |
| 1995-12 | Capturing Motion | George Maestri | Only in Physical Magazine |
| 1995-12 | Architecture for the Fun of It | Diana Phillips Mahoney | Only in Physical Magazine |
| 1996-01 | 3D Graphics Accelerators for PC Game Development | Audrey Doyle | CGW: News: 3D Graphics Accelerators for PC Game Development (01.96) |
| 1996-03 | Graphics for Games - Workstation | Laureen Belleville | CGW: Products: Graphics for Games - Workstation (03.96) |
| 1996-04 | A Window of Opportunity? | George Maestri | Takes a look at the three Windows NT compatible 3D animation suites (Softimage, Lightwave and 3DS Max) |
| 1996-12 | New Tools for 3D Gamers | Donna Coco | CGW: Feature: New Tools for 3D Gamers (12.96) |
| 2006-12 | Middle Ground - The use of third-party middleware within the entertainment realm is expanding | Michael Arrington |
Computer Artist was a monthly magazine published every 2 months by the PennWell Publishing Company in the US and dedicated to Digital art creation Computer Artist – PennWell Publishing Company. It is currently unknown when the first issue was published but the last issue was in June 1997 when it merged into Electronic Publishing magazine.
Due to their age Computer Artist issues are hard to find, but the ones we can find had the following articles listed in the table below:
| Issue | Article Title |
|---|---|
| 1996-08 | Profile: Louis Fishauf - When this award-winning Canadian graphic designer picked up digital tools a decade ago, his illustration work came to the fore. |
| 1996-08 | Lean and Clean Art - Vector illustration programs are the preferred tool of some of today’s most original and creative digital artists. |
| 1996-08 | Clip Art’s New Life - Digital tools and ever-tighter schedules have re-energized one of design’s most venerable resources. |
| 1996-08 | Soft Shadows in QuarkXPress - Depending on the effect you’re after, one or more of these workable approaches may fill the bill. |
| 1996-08 | Shapes Functionality Empowers Painter 4 - Resolution-independent “Shapes” add new dimensions to Painter’s flexibility. |
| 1997-02 | Editorial: The Algorithmic Artist |
| 1997-02 | Behind the Art; Creators of Children’s Books Go Digital - Exploring Textile Design |
| 1997-02 | Makeready: The Fifth-Color Follies - A fifth color on press can enhance images, too. |
| 1997-02 | Review: Fractal Design Takes Painting to 3D |
| 1997-02 | Profile: Ken Musgrave - This landscape artist, who paints by programming, has just moved from an East Coast academic setting to Hollywood’s hottest special-effects house. |
| 1997-02 | The Computer Artist’s Studio - Whether you’re starting from scratch or updating your digital tools, these guidelines include the latest considerations for artists and designers. |
| 1997-02 | Bit by Bit: Taking it to the Web - FreeHand 7 offers a variety of ways to put images on the Web, as this exercise shows. |
Computer Arts was a popular UK magazine dedicated to 2D and 3D creation on PC/Mac, it contained a wealth of information related to asset creation for game development.
It lasted 305 issues before the pandemic in 2020 stopped production of the magazine, if you can find back issues of this magazines they are well worth picking up 4.
Computer Arts was initially published as a one off in December 1995 but then became bi-monthly in July 1996 and eventually switched over to being Monthly in September 1997.
| Number | Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1995-12 | Seeing is Believing |
| 2 | 1996-07 | The Secrets of Digital Art |
| 3 | 1996-09 | Get the hang of Scale |
| 4 | 1996-11 | 100 Photoshop Tips |
| 5 | 1997-01 | 3D Rendering |
| 6 | 1997-03 | Photo-manipulation |
| 7 | 1997-05 | Techniques for Textures |
| 8 | 1997-07 | Increase your Photoshop Skills |
| 9 | 1997-09 | Develop your 3D Skills with Extreme 3D |
| 10 | 1997-10 | Compositing with xRes |
| 13 | 1997-Winter | |
| 121 | 2006-04 | Design Hotspots |
| 122 | 2006-05 | The Money Issue |
| 123 | 2006-06 | 50 Ways to Become a Better Designer |
| 130 | 2006-12 | Create Perfect Characters |
| 135 | 2007-05 | Branch out |
| 136 | 2007-06 | Be The best |
| 137 | 2007-07 | Illustrate » Animate |
| 140 | 2007-09 | Global Challenge |
| 141 | 2007-10 | The Inspiration Issue - Young Guns |
| 143 | 2007-12 | Logo Secrets |
| 148 | 2008-05 | |
| 150 | 2008-07 | |
| 151 | 2008-08 | |
| 152 | 2008-Summer | |
| 153 | 2008-09 | |
| 154 | 2008-10 | |
| 155 | 2008-11 | |
| 156 | 2008-12 | |
| 157 | 2009-01 | |
| 162 | 2009-06 | |
| 168 | 2009-11 | |
| 172 | 2010-03 | |
| 173 | 2010-04 | |
| 175 | 2010-06 | |
| 177 | 2010-08 | |
| 178 | 2010-Summer | |
| 179 | 2010-09 | |
| 180 | 2010-10 | |
| 181 | 2010-11 | |
| 182 | 2010-12 |
The accompanying CD for Computer Arts often had extracts from popular industy books in PDF format, this was a great way to both advertise the book in question and supply useful content for artists. Much of these are extracts from books that game artists would almost certainly have in their collection.
| Issue | Book Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 130 | Reinventing Music Video | |
| 130 | Advertising is Dead: Long live Advertising | |
| 137 | ESSENCE: The Face | Chapter on simulating tissue damage for Face Textures by Paul Fedor. Pages 142-150 |
| 137 | Character Animation: 2D Skills for Better 3D | Extract for taking a 2D Dog walking animation and turning it into a 3D animation. Pages 152-157 |
| 137 | Sticker City: Paper Graffiti Art | Pages 118-119, 130-131, 142-143, 147-147 |
| 140 | Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-on-One | Pages 302-355 but it’s missing the actual images!! |
| 140 | Painter X Creativity: Digital Artists Handbook | Pages 19-34 and 229-248 |
| 141 | EXPOSE 5 | |
| 141 | Secrets of Digital Illustration | |
| 143 | Choosing and Using Paper | Book by RotoVision, free pages 0-21 |
| 143 | How to Cheat in Adobe Flash | Pages 2-5 and page 33 |
| 143 | The Adobe photoshop Layers Book | Pages 1-5 |
Often the CDs would contain free resources from around the Web, such as a few sample hours of Video training courses or templates/images. One awesome thing they started doing was including full PDFs for issues from 2 years prior but sadly this didn’t last very long.
| Issue | Free Resource | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viewpoint and Nvision Datasets | 3D models in Alias and Wavefront formats including a scorpion, skyscraper, dinosaur, lazer equipped truck and even an army general |
| 1 | Truespace 2.0 | Animation and Rendering suite |
| 1 | Adobe Premiere 4.0 | Save disabled version of the movie editor |
| 1 | Calamus 95 | Windows 95 version of the popular Atari ST Desktop Publishing (DTP) package, save-disabled demo version |
| 1 | Photoshop 3.0 | Fully featured demo version of photoshop but save is disabled |
| 121 | 50 photoshop plugins for Digital Darkroom | |
| 121 | Pentagram documentary | |
| 121 | Lynda.com Dreamweaver 8 Essential Training | |
| 121 | 50 iStockphoto images | |
| 121 | 16 Typephases fonts | |
| 122 | MyPictureMarc | Freeware |
| 122 | Lynda.com Flash 8 Professional Essential Training | |
| 122 | 4 Fontoville fonts | |
| 122 | 3 Media Artist Secrets podcasts | |
| 123 | Maxdox Mobile Publisher Personal Edition | Freeware mobile publishing software |
| 123 | 5 ShowStoppersFX motion backgrounds | 5 Royalty-free videos |
| 123 | Lynda.com After Effects 6 Essential Training | |
| 123 | 30 PhotoObjects images | 30 Royalty free images used in the tutorial for Adobe Bridge |
| 123 | Issue 100 PDF | PDF for each page of the 100th Issue of Computer Arts |
| 130 | 50 Fotolia images | |
| 130 | The Designer Series Three: Studio Output | |
| 130 | Lynda.com Illustrator CS2 and Flash 8 Integration training | |
| 130 | 10 Icon Republic icons | |
| 130 | Jeremyville videos | |
| 136 | Issue 113 PDF | PDF for each page of the 113 Issue of Computer Arts from September 2005 |
| 136 | 100 royalty-free Fotolia images | |
| 136 | Ten Project Dogwaffle tutorials | |
| 136 | Lynda.com After Effects 7 Essential Training | |
| 137 | Issue 114 PDF | PDF for each page of the 114 Issue of Computer Arts from October 2005 |
| 137 | Lynda.com Flash CS3 Professional Essential Training | 1 hour 13 minutes of content (chapters 2-4) from Lynda.com’s 8 hour Flash training course Flash CS3 Professional Essential Training - lynda.com Online Training Library® |
| 137 | FlashVillage.com Flash Template | Free Television Template, this was also free on their website: FlashVillage.com - FREE Flash Templates |
| 140 | FlashVillage.com Flash Template | Orbital Template, this was also free on their website: FlashVillage.com - FREE Flash Templates |
| 140 | Issue 117 PDFs | PDF for each page of the 114 Issue of Computer Arts from Christmas 2005 |
| 140 | Lynda.com Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-on-One: Advanced Techniques | 1 hour of content from Smart Objects (chapter 21) of the 9.5 hour training course |
| 141 | 26 Diomedia royalty-free photos | |
| 141 | CG Wallpapers | |
| 141 | Issue 118 PDF | PDF for each page of the 118th Issue of Computer Arts |
| 141 | Lynda.com Actionscript in Flash CS3 professional Essential Training | |
| 143 | Free CG Wallpapers | 4 Desktop Wallpapers from CGWallpapers.com in different resolutions |
| 143 | Issue 120 PDF | PDF for each page of the 120th Issue of Computer Arts |
| 143 | 50 Free Fonts | Free Fonts available on the web from: ultimatefontdownload.com, haroldsfonts.com, iconian.com, larabiefonts.com |
| 143 | 200 Free CSS Templates | CSS Templates that are free on the web from freecsstemplates.org |
| 143 | 68 free deviantART Photoshop brushes | 68 free brushes available on chain.deviantart.com such as fingerprints, footprints and paper |
| 143 | 35 free vector images | Creative Commons Vector art from a wide range of different sites such as LAFKON and Ben Blogged |
| 143 | 7 Go Media Spray Paint brushes | Seven 2500px Photoshop brushes provided by gomedia.us |
| 143 | Lynda.com Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-on-One: Advanced Techniques | 1 hour of content from the Adjustment Layers chapter (number 22) of the 9.5 hour training course |
Occasionally as an incentive to buy the magazine there would be a few paid products that are offered “free” as long as you have bought the magazine. Not all issues included free full products but the ones that did were generally worth picking up, but of course it was always an older version of the products as an incentive to upgrade to the latest versions.
| Issue | Free Product | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monitest | Windows 3.1 Application to highlight areas of phosphor damage to a CRT |
| 1 | Picture Publisher 3.1 | 2D Image editor by MicroGrafx |
| 1 | WinImages: Morph V1 | Tool by Black Belt that allows you to morph a 2D image into an animation as a standard .AVI movie or .FLC file that can be played with AAPLAY |
| 1 | Imagine 3.0 | Complete 3D program worth £500 |
| 121 | Shade 7 Designer LE | |
| 122 | Carrara Studio 2.1 | |
| 122 | TaxCalc Lite | |
| 123 | Cleanerzoomer 1.0.1 | PC only, removes artifacts from images |
| 136 | Bryce 5.0 |
Published by Future in the UK, cre@teOnline was aa magazine dedicated to designing online content such as web sites or flash games.
There was a preview issue provided free in issue 46 of Computer Arts (July 2000). It is unknown when the first issue was published but it lasted a good 37 issues before closing down in 2003 5.
| Issue Number | Focus of Issue |
|---|---|
| 11 | Streaming Video |
| 14 | Flash |
| 15 | Where Next? |
| 16 | Client Relationships |
| 17 | Technology |
| 18 | The State of the Net |
| 19 | Ecommerce |
| 20 | XML |
| 21 | Offline |
| 23 | Interactive Tv |
| 24 | Flash MX |
| 25 | The Games Issue |
| 26 | Usability |
| 28 | New Talent |
| 30 | Motion Graphics |
The most relevant to this site are the games and flash issues, giving an insight into what it was like developing games for the web back in the early 2000s.
Web Designer Magazine was a popular UK magazine purely dedicated to Web development, it was a relaunch of a previous magazine called Practical Internet and was known by the lengthy title Practical Internet Web Designer from issue 86 until dropping the prefix altogether by issue 95 in 2004.
It was initially published by Highbury House until they went into receivership on January 20th 2006 where it was bought by Imagine Publishing, which eventually it was sold to Future Publishing and then discontinued at issue 293 [confirmation required].
Strangely for a magazine dedicated to Web Development, there was no website for the magazine or even its sister title Practical Web Projects. This changed in mid-late 2004 when they bought the domain www.Total-Web-Design.com to represent both magazines.
Web Designer issue number 97 (from August 2004) had a behind the scenes look at the creation of the website, Luckily the Wayback machine has an archive of the website which you can view here: Total Web Design
It was edited by Thomas Watson from the rename of Practical Internet in 2003 until issue 101 where it was taken over by Mark Hattersley in issue 104. Issue 102-103 did not have a named editor and was simply signed off by The Web Designer Team.
Each issue had a main focus but they all contained tutorials for a wide variety of software such as Photoshop, Dreamweaver, PHP and Flash.
The issues we know about are listed in the table below:
| Number | Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 86 | 2003-10 | Create Amazing Websites |
| 87 | 2003-11 | Sound and Vision |
| 88 | 2003-12 | Futuristic Web Design |
| 89 | 2004-01 | 2004’s Most influential Designers |
| 90 | 2004-02 | Build Brilliant Flash Games |
| 91 | 2004-03 | Dreamweaver Power Tips |
| 92 | 2004-04 | Think like a Webmaster |
| 93 | 2004-05 | ? |
| 94 | 2004-05 | ? |
| 95 | 2004-06 | The Perfect Web Site Makeover |
| 96 | 2004-07 | Make your site sticky |
| 97 | 2004-08 | Photoshop Secrets |
| 98 | 2004-09 | Build Amazing Sites that Work |
| 99 | 2004-10 | Power Up Dreamweaver |
| 100 | 2004-11 | 100 professional Web Design Tips |
| 101 | 2004-12 | Design on a Budget (Web Designer Man!) |
| 102 | 2005-01 | Get Your work Noticed |
| 103 | 2005-02 | Hit the Web Template Jackpot |
| 104 | 2005-03 | Dreamweaver vs Golive |
| 105 | 2005-04 | Pocket Web site Design |
| 106 | 2005-05 | RSS |
| 107 | 2005-06 | Stunning Website Construction |
| 108 | 2005-06 | Create an online community |
The magazine had plenty of interesting web programming and graphic creation content, but as the focus of this site is on games development here is a list of the Game related tutorials.
Most of these are for Flash game development but there are also a few Pixel Art tutorials for photoshop mixed in for good measure.
| Issue # | Category | Author | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 95 | Flash | Lee Groombridge | Create a cool games console interface |
| 95 | Flash | Robert Firebaugh | Learn how to animate characters in flash |
| 95 | Flash | Mark Shufflebottom | Create an intro animation with Flash MX 2004 |
| 96 | Photoshop | Andy Stewart | Create A Perfect Pixel Art House In Photoshop |
| 96 | Photoshop | Zooey Ball | Build An Animated Pixel Art Cityscape |
| 97 | Flash | Darren Richardson | Create an interactive animated flash quiz |
| 101 | Flash | Mark Shufflebottom | Create a stunning flash animation with Swift 3D |
Web Designer issue 101 also had a behind the scenes look at the website for Myst IV Revelation which was implemented in Flash MX 2004 and provided a game-like experience.
Web Techniques was a US magazine that started in February 1996 and ran until February 2002 when it rebranded as New Architect.
| Issue Date | Name | Author |
|---|---|---|
| March 1997 | An Internet Game Server In Java | Andy Wilson |
| March 1997 | Programming Web Games in C | Andrew Davison |
| March 1997 | A Java-Based High-Score Server | Neil Bartlett |
| March 1997 | Extending VRML with Realspace | Sue Wilcox |
There is a lot of overlap between game development and general programming, so many game programmers in the industry would have subscriptions to general programming magazines such as the ones we have in this section.
| Title | Notes |
|---|---|
| MSDN Journal | Windows Development Journal from Microsoft from March 2000 - November 2019 |
| Develop (The Apple Technical Journal) | Apple development journal from 1991-? |
| OS2 Developer | IBM OS/2 Programming magazine from 1989-? |
There are many magazines related to the PC both past and present, however only a few of them have interesting articles about game development, the ones we know about are listed in the table below.
| Title | Notes |
|---|---|
| PC Magazine | Occassionally had a few articles related to game development or programming |
PC magazine called itself “the independent guide to IBM-standard personal computing” and was available from April 1992 until it ceased publication in 2002.
| Issue # | Title | Author | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| VOL 13; NUMBER 21 (1994) | Power Programming: Real Games for Windows | Thielen, D | Not available online |
| VOL 15; NUMBER 14 (1996) | Power Programming: Using Microsoft’s high-speed Direct Draw API in an arcade-style action game | Grell, G. |
| Issue # | Title | Author | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISSUE 126 (1997) | Programmers World: Reviewed this month are a library of useful program source code for Delphi, a DirectX toolkit for VB game programmers, and MSDN |
