I recently saw the Videogames exhibition at the V&A, and I saw this in the shop, and... eventually decided to get it. Caroline bought Death by Video Game by Simon Parkin, which despite the title appears to be pretty good and is referenced by this book.
This is a pretty lightweight book - it's all of 120 pages long, with lots of pictures. However, it's just the right level for me - it names a few really big-name indie games that I readily recognise, talks about a bunch of others I've heard of, and told me about some more I didn't know about. It's fun and pretty and hardback, but not really worth its price.
I think one of the best things from reading this was finding a reference to Indie Game: The Movie, which I then watched. Writing indie games had kinda looked fun. The film very much dispelled this illusion - the multi-year soul-crushing slogs were eye-opening. So, that film at least is recommended!
Posted 2018-12-28.