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Reposted by Stu Maine

Bitmap Books @bitmapbooks.com · 04/07/2025

Whether you prefer old or new school FPS games, I’m Too Young To Die and Hurt Me Plenty have you covered. Use the code FPS5 and get £5.00 off when you buy both books together. www.bitmapbooks.com #bitmapbooks #books #retrogaming #fps #bundle #booksky @ianpestyart.com

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Reposted by Stu Maine

Bitmap Books @bitmapbooks.com · 24/06/2025

Hurt Me Plenty: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 2003–2010 The follow-up to I’m Too Young To Die, celebrates 200+ PC, console, handheld and arcade games from 2003–2010. Buy now: www.bitmapbooks.com/collections/... #bitmapbooks #books #fps #BioShock #booksky @stuartmaine.bsky.social

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Reposted by Stu Maine

Bitmap Books @bitmapbooks.com · 20/06/2025

Shout out to the guys at Retronauts for their review of our book - Hurt Me Plenty: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 2003-2010 Read the full review: retronauts.com/article/2396... Buy the book: www.bitmapbooks.com/collections/... #bitmapbooks #books #fps @retronauts.bsky.social

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

I’ve really enjoyed each of the podcasts I’ve been on recently, but Josh had some particularly interesting questions for FPS fans. Thanks for having me on!

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Reposted by Stu Maine

Bitmap Books @bitmapbooks.com · 31/05/2025

🔫 Grab both books in our FPS collection and save £5.00 💷 Use the code FPS5 and get £5 off when you buy I’m Too Young To Die and Hurt Me Plenty together. Out now: www.bitmapbooks.com #bitmapbooks #books #fps #retrogaming #bundle #save #booksky @stuartmaine.bsky.social @ianpestyart.com

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The Video Game Library 📚 @thevideogamelibrary.org · 28/05/2025

So exciting to see HURT ME PLENTY from @stuartmaine.bsky.social‬ @bitmapbooks.com‬ starting to hit fan shelves this week! A celebration of nearly 220 PC, console, handheld and arcade games that were released between 2003-2010. Just one news item amongst DOZENS of video game literature highlights

buff.ly

The Video Game Library Newsletter - Vol. #009

Amiibo, Atari and Art Books, OH MY! An INSANE week of literary announcements and releases, plus a great interview with gaming historian, Kevin Bunch!

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Ian Pesty @ianpestyart.com · 27/05/2025

ANTI-HERO 💀 One of the four panels I created for the cover art of ‘Hurt Me Plenty: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 2003 - 2010’ @bitmapbooks.com #bitmapbooks #fps #hurtmeplenty #skullart #skullartwork #riddick #pitchblack #chroniclesofriddick #escapefrombutcherbay

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: Z is for Zeno Clash (2009). This isn’t as obscure as some games we’ve covered, but is stranger than all of them put together. Manages to make mutant-punching melee combat work from first-person, with guns often a liability when you're being rushed by 'things'.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: Y is for You Are Empty (2006). Despite being limited (a lot of proposed features were cut), linear, and featuring no dynamic lighting (but it does have truck-sized chickens), the game's strange, cloying atmosphere makes this alternate-reality apocalypse worth exploring.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: X is for Xenus II: White Gold (2008). Imagine Fallout 3 took on the war on drugs, but with way less polish and, if anything, more ambition. Full of game-breaking bugs and ‘wait, what?’ moments that require patience, but make Xenus II worth sticking with.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Thanks for picking up the books. Quantum of Solace is in Hurt Me Plenty, so hopefully the text lines up with your experience!

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: W is for WWII Online. Running since 2001, this ‘the opposite of Battlefield 1942’ FPS allows you to travel in realtime from England to Germany, with its map encompassing 135,136 square miles. Deep and obtuse, but clever design leads to concentrated fights.

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Reposted by Stu Maine

Josh | Still Loading Podcast @stillloadingpodcast.com · 22/05/2025

Recorded an episode with @stuartmaine.bsky.social today about his recently released book Hurt Me Plenty from @bitmapbooks.com! Can't wait for y'all to hear this one. Episode should be out in a little over a week. A huge shout-out to Bitmap Books for sending me a review copy!

Front cover of the book Hurt Me Plenty from Bitmap Books.

The spine and front cover of the book Hurt Me Plenty from Bitmap Books.

Back cover of the book Hurt Me Plenty from Bitmap Books.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: V is for Valiant Comics. Purchased by Acclaim but still running after the publisher's demise (and recent rebirth), Valiant’s FPS links include 1997's Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and the almost entirely forgotten N64 FPS, 1999's Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

I had a fun chat with Max as we discussed all sorts of game design and development team leadership topics (and the difficulties of blending the two), and chatted about my upcoming Designing Video Games book with @penandswordbooks.bsky.social

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Reposted by Stu Maine

Ian Pesty @ianpestyart.com · 21/05/2025

Psyched to announce that I’ve again collaborated with the guys at @bitmapbooks.com on the cover art for the 2nd in their series of books HURT ME PLENTY: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 2003 - 2010’ 🤘🏻💀🤘🏻 It’s so cool seeing my artwork realised as cover art … #fps #fpsgames #bitmapbooks

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Thanks for the super cool artwork. Hope we get to do more!

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Reposted by Stu Maine

Bitmap Books @bitmapbooks.com · 21/05/2025

Grab both books in our FPS collection and save £5.00 💷 Just add both books to your cart, then use the code FPS5 at checkout 🛒 Available from May 21st 🕔 17:00 BST 🕕 18:00 CEST 🕛 12:00 EDT 🕘 09:00 PDT www.bitmapbooks.com #bitmapbooks #books #retrogaming #fps #booksky @stuartmaine.bsky.social

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: U is for Utopia City (2005). Despite attempting a choice of combat or stealth, energy management and superpowers, this somehow manages to waste the imaginative potential of its ‘enter virtual reality to ‘rescue’ people from utopia’ premise.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: T is for The DinoHunters (2006). Paid for and prominently featuring various sponsors, DinoHunters revolves around a bunch of hillbilly stereotypes travelling back in time to shoot dinosaurs. Runs on Valve’s Source technology and features a karate-kicking T-Rex.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: S is for Shattered Horizon (2009). One of a string of multiplayer shooters that failed to gain an audience, Shattered Horizon was doomed by a steep learning curve and a reliance on DirectX 10, with no support for the then infinitely more widespread DirectX 9.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: R is for RoboCop. Unexpectedly, having starred in FPSs in 1992 (technically clever, and good fun), 2003 (utterly random) and 2023 (a modern classic), RoboCop - along with Aliens - is one of the longest serving IP’s to appear in the FPS genre.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: Q is for Quiver (1997). Filling a ‘more FPSs, please’ gap, Quiver is one of a number of ‘DOOM clones’ that delivered exactly what fans of id's shooter wanted. Other examples include 1994’s Depth Dwellers, 1995’s H.U.R.L., and 1997’s Alien Cabal.

Quiver (1997). Screenshot courtesy of Niccolo Mineo.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: P is for Phantom Slayer (the) (1982). One of the ‘maze game’ precursors to the FPS, Phantom Slayer stands out by allowing you to freely turn, and for giving you a gun. Creator, Ken Kalish, said he wanted the game to mix “fear and aggression followed by unrestrained fleeing”.

Phantom Slayer (1982). Screenshot courtesy of Mobygames.com.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: O is for Operation Matriarchy (2005). Wake to discover a virus has converted all the women into monsters. Simultaneously manages to be both more and less schlocky than it sounds, and has a reverse-difficulty curve where it throws less stuff at you over time.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: N is for Nick ‘Havoc’ Parker. Captain Parker is the ‘ridiculous lump of beef’ star of 2002 FPS, Command & Conquer: Renegade, which brought C&C to life from the ground. Good, cheesy, fun, and the multiplayer was reborn as the still entertaining Renegade X.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

I had a great chat with the Retro Hour guys, though it’s surreal to be on the same show that’s featured so many of your game development heroes over the years.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: M is for Melvin the Monkey. Having licensed the Wolfenstein engine for 1994’s Super 3D Noah’s Ark, its developers replaced the bosses with equally hard-hitting camels, elephants and bears, (which, if anything, makes them more disturbing than the originals).

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Reposted by Stu Maine

Bitmap Books @bitmapbooks.com · 10/05/2025

🚨 New book alert 🚨 Hurt Me Plenty: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 2003–2010 Packed with profiles of almost 220 games, and interviews with numerous FPS design icons. Available 21st May 25 - www.bitmapbooks.com/collections/... #bitmapbooks #books #booksky @stuartmaine.bsky.social

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: L is for Lovecraft. His mythos features in Quake, Dark Corners of the Earth and others, but is best evoked by 2007’s deeply surreal, Robert D. Anderson & The Legacy of Cthulhu. Fittingly, you'll never be quite sure if you've found a bug or it's messing with your head.

Robert D. Anderson & The Legacy of Cthulhu (2007).

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: K is for Kkrieger. Short and limited it may be, the ‘generate the game's textures, models and audio on the fly’ tricks used by demo group .theprodukt to get the entirety of 2004’s .Kkrieger to fit into just 96kb make it a remarkable technical showcase.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: J is for Jurassic Park. While everyone remembers Trespasser’s floppy-wristed-dino-slapping action, this 1993 SNES game featured impressively atmospherically FPS sections (which even support the SNES mouse). Amazing work considering their hardware's limitations.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: I is for Iza Czarnecka. This Polish model portrays the eponymous Nina in 2003’s Codename: Nina - Global Terrorism Strike Force - an odd, puzzle and instant death-heavy FPS with inexplicable psychic powers and some of the strangest voice acting in videogame history.

Codename: Nina - Global Terrorism Strike Force (2003).

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: H is for Half-Life 2: Survivor (2006). Taito converted Half-Life 2 into a fancy, joystick + foot pedal arcade game, ending up with a surreal, mirror-universe version of the game (no Gravity Gun in Ravenholm, for example). It was followed by Left 4 Dead: Survivors in 2014.

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Reposted by Stu Maine

John JP Podlasek @jpodlasek.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

If into game dev interviews I have a new one with veteran game designer & author Stuart Maine (also on all the pod platforms) #gamedev #gamedesign youtu.be/RLGjgiguAgQ?...

youtu.be

Game Designer Stories: Stuart Maine on 28 Years in Game Dev, Career Advice, Teamwork and New Books

YouTube video by GameDevAdvice

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: G is for GunCon. Namco’s lightgun works with Japanese and European versions of 2000’s PlayStation FPS, Resident Evil: Survivor, but not the North American release. With the sort of bonkers plot that's synonymous with PS1 titles, Survivor is worth checking out.

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Reposted by Stu Maine

The Video Game Library 📚 @thevideogamelibrary.org · 02/05/2025

743. DESIGNING VIDEO GAMES: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT GAMES 👉 www.thevideogamelibrary.org/book/designi... @stuartmaine.bsky.social @penandswordbooks.bsky.social #GameDev #IndieDev #Gaming #Booksky #GameDevelopment #GameDesign #IndieDevelopment #IndieGame #VideoGames

Cover of Designing Video Games: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Great Games by Stuart Maine, featuring a complex wireframe design in the background, a fierce multi-armed green monster at center, and stylized cartoon characters with weapons in the foreground. The visual blend highlights both the technical and creative aspects of game development.

Have you ever played a video game and wondered how it was made? Do you have an idea for a game but don’t know where to start?

Maybe you’re curious about the skills needed to land a job as a video game developer?

Designing Video Games breaks down the tools and techniques behind game development, offering practical advice to help you create experiences that captivate players and transport them to worlds of mystery and adventure.

Packed with real-world examples and insider tips, this guide walks you through every step of the process:

Thinking up and evaluating ideas

Turning ideas into solid designs

Understanding your audience

Creating engaging game content

Using psychology to enhance gameplay

Fixing common development problems

Polishing, marketing, and releasing your game

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to level up your skills, this book shows you that yes—you absolutely have what it takes to make great video games.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Thanks for including my upcoming book - it's surreal to see it in the same list as some classic titles! Now it's just fingers crossed that it lands with its intended audience of those just getting into or wanting to get into the games industry.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: F is for Forbes Corporate Warrior (1997). This deeply abstract FPS attempted to blend stocks and shares with combat. Surprising no-one (just who was the market for this game?) it failed, but you have to respect a game with a key to ‘increase thrifty orientation’.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Obscure FPS facts: E is for Extreme Paintbrawl (1998). One of a string of paintball games that straddled different developers and technology, this Build Engine-powered game’s appalling quality makes more sense when you know it was apparently developed in just 2 weeks.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Obscure FPS facts: D is for Devastation: Resistance Breeds Revolution. Featuring a large cast of characters (including an Eminem lookalike and surprise sharks), this 2003 FPS shows what would happen if soldiers could respawn like a videogame.

Devastation: Resistance Breeds Revolution (2003).

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Obscure FPS facts: C is for (The) Colony. This 1988 FPS featured puzzles challenging enough to cause author Orson Scott Card (and his son) to quit in disgust. Tom Clancy loved it though, leading to the formation of Red Storm and the Rainbow Six games.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Obscure FPS facts: B is for Breed (2004). The ‘whose fault is it’ public arguments between Breed’s developer and publisher are just as interesting as this spectacularly ambitious but unfinished FPS that occasionally manages to top Halo.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Obscure FPS facts: A is for Azrael’s Tear (1996). Released just before 3D acceleration took off, this is a clunky but deeply atmospheric game of exploration, chatty ghosts, Knights Templar, and random dinosaurs.

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Stu Maine @stuartmaine.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Hi all! Having researched and written up over 400 First-Person Shooters released between 1992 to 2000, I thought it would be fun to celebrate the upcoming release of @bitmapbooks.com ' Hurt Me Plenty (and the reprint of I’m Too Young To Die) by running through an A-Z of obscure FPS facts.

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