Get Inspired! Essential Reading for Your Game – Sci-Fi Books
August 13, 2015 by dracs
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oh so many sci fi books that I think would be great back ground material, The Forever War, The Puppet Masters, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, and so on and so on, the ones you mentioned Sam are a good read.
Neuromancer! No, wait, R. Talsorian Games already did that and published it to boot!
A game that could ape the space combat in the nights dawn trilogy wothout being horrifically boring would be ace.
Dune is my fave book, comparable to a medieval or GoT political environment in space.
A must read.
There was also talk of director Peter Berg doing a reboot of it as hes a huge fan.
Given the quality of the source material and present day film making it could be just short of mind blowing to watch if done right.
Would love to see mass battles with soldiers using the Holtzman shields among other futuristic weapons described in the books.
I guess there is no such thing as a bad book. All bring good and bad but more importantly shape your concepts and ideas of what does and doesn’t work for you. Two contrasting novels I enjoyed are Harry Harrison’s Death world series, Ben Bova’s The Winds of Altair from many years ago which were ahead of their times and more recently Harry Turtledoves Colonization. The first two are of man fighting against and working in harmony with nature. The final one an alternate reality of invasion during the WW2 conflict. I look forward to readings others comments to add… Read more »
Everything and anything by Peter Hamilton. Especially the Commonwealth Saga twin volumes and Void Trilogy. Happy reading
Funnily enough, I’m 140 pages into The Reality Dysfunction (my first Hamilton) at the moment. It feels a little all over the place at the minute but I’m sure it will all come together!
Yeah there’s a lot going on in his books. They’re a nightmare if you can’t read them all in one go. Having to wait a year or more for the next book in a series meant a bit of a refresher was required.
Over halfway through now and I’m loving it. Totally not what I was expecting but that’s a good thing.
looks like a reading list from my fiction module when i did my degree:-)
been looking forward to seeing the series of Man in the high castle when it hits amazon prime:-)
Polish mastermind Stanislav Lem is probably the most overlooked author within the genre. The man has quite something to show for a lives work. Its wise and entertaining. Not a Prachett of Sci-Fi, but I love em both.
The Crystal Singer by Ann McCaffrey.
The Forge of God by Greg Bear.
I read most of Asimov when I was a kid, but no idea how I’d feel about them as an adult.
Fantastic timing! I’m a bit of a fantasy devotee by nature but having read a few good contemporary Sci-fi authors recently my thoughts have been turning to the stars. Will definitely take a look at some of those suggestions – have read Dune and know the others by reputation but never gone any further. I’ll look forward to seeing any forthcoming suggestions in the comments too.
Looking forward to the fantast list already too – might be a bit more useful there 🙂
I’ve always liked the hard sci-fi take on a long-term interstellar war presented by Larry Niven’s Multi-author Man-Kzin wars anthologies.
Oh, and Alan Dean Foster’s Icerigger (heck, the whole Humanx Commonwealth series, really)
Yes, I’m an Old Grognard. Get off my Lawn.
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher would make a good skirmish game
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison is possibly the hardest story I ever read but its very post apocalyptic giant computer takes over the world stuff… But not for the casual reader
Great story! Makes Skynet look like Frank Spencer.
I thought that was Paranoia…
I thought it was Google.
Another shout for Neuromancer! The main reason I opted for Nomads in Infinity.
Iain M Banks did some awesome stuff – The Player of Games and Excession are awesome. I’d also mention Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds. Dark, nasty, bleak and incredible.
props for recomending Revelation Space, now thats good stuff!
Iain M Banks has some great books. I too recommend Player of Games. Not only is it a really good book in its own right, for anyone with an interest in games i.e. virtually anyone reading this, it just has a whole extra level of awesome!
In 2012 I tried designing a tactical space combat game that really took a hard look at actual astrophysics and the true scale of space (forget radar, forget radio communication, no Star Wars, Star Trek, or even David Weber “Honor” series stuff, etc). The game was a success at the gaming club, and one guy mentioned that it reminded him a lot of a series canned “LOST FLEET,” which Warren has mentioned a few times. I checked out the first novel, and while I’m not really a fan of the universe they set up, I definitely have to give the… Read more »
What I love in Star Trek is that their engines fail, and instead of just barreling on forever they grind to a halt. I suppose that’s due to what, road friction…? Oncoming wind?
So how did your game designing go? I’m working on some little indie projects. A lot of fun, but a logistical nightmare at the same time… finding artwork is the main problem! Nobody looks at a game these days unless it looks like it cost $300,000 to decorate.
The game I built was strictly “made to order” for the gaming group we had at the time. In that sense, it was a great success, it hit all the right buttons for tactical starship combat . . for my “demographic” of four people. No aliens, no FTL communication, no wormholes or jump gates or anything like that. We did have FTL travel, but at relatively modest speeds (no pun intended). We had scouts, couriers, corvettes and gunboats that could push x1,000 c, but the actual combat warships usually used were limited to about x300 c. So a trip to… Read more »
…how do phasers fire while at warp?
I’d have to add enders game and the first 2 or 3 books of the shadow series, all written by Orson scott Card, to this list, Hell part of the stories is wargames, some of it being fleet based wargames.
When asked how fast the Enterprise can actually travel Gene Roddenbery responded with “it travels at the speed of plot”.
“It just kills me in Star Trek when the warp drive fails. Instead of getting to their destination in “5 hours,” it’s now something like “four and a half days” . . . as opposed to 450,000 years. Do you people know what SPACE actually IS??”
@oriskany Shhhhh… 😉
Foundation still rules for me. I’d chuck Peter F. hamilton and Larry Niven into the ring as names for consideration.
The first two Foundation books, for me, were awesome. The third – I could tell the series was turning south. The Fourth – started it and gave up. I will let Foundation remain an unfinished masterpiece for me.
Love The Mote in God’s Eye and Ringworld by Larry Niven.
You beat me to it recommending The Mote in God’s Eye! Though it was slightly ruined for me when a friend spotted the book and asked why I was reading a book on God’s cataracts 😉
The Mote In God’s Eye was a terrific read. I’m not sure why that stood out for me so much but I just loved the idea of stumbling onto a threat you suddenly realise you can’t contain.
Foundation had an awesome scale. Something that couldn’t be contained by one or two characters. It just pips Olaf Stapledon for me for having a little more direction.
Dresden Files, the Vatta’s War series by Elizabeth Moon and of course the Republic Commando books by Karen Traviss which I hope that @warzan will one day take off the BoW shelf and read 😉
Not htat anyone ever listens to my suggestions but here are my favourites if you want stuff that will blow your mind : “Star Maker” – Olaf Stapledon (By far the BEST and most ambitious SF book EVER. Period) – A history of the entire universe from beginnng to end with mind blowing concepts, ideas and civilizations and cultures that are truely alien. “Last and first men” – Olaf Stapledon – practically all of transhumanism can be traced back to this one. “Mission of Gravity” – Hal Clement Hard SF set on an oblate planet. The main character happens to… Read more »
Still waiting for that “Primeval Abyssal” to come out, @abstractalien . . . 😉
Yeah, I need to get back to sculpting – health problems have held me back a bit the past few months so haven’t had much energy for it sadly.
Oh I really want to read XeeLee – found an omnibus in my local bookshop, but it was all dog-eared and yet strangely full price. I should have bitten the bullet and just gone for it,
was it orange with a black ship on the front? That’s the one I got and I loved it. The XeeLee really kick ass. Along with Stapledon, Baxter is my SF god.
Ian M Banks (the same Ian Banks in Sci-Fi mode) and his Culture series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture
The Hyperion books by Dan Simmons are really good.
Hell yes. Can you imagine fielding the Shrike?
“Hits on a 1. Wounds on a 1. Oh, I rolled a 6. You’re now pinned to a tree of spikes. Sorry.”
I’m surprised noone mentioned Ender’s Game.
I did, 🙂
I should read more. 🙁