Videogame Architecture: Building Virtual Spaces treats the worlds of videogames as serious architecture, documenting 12 celebrated game environments with the plans, maps, renderings and diagrams of an architectural monograph.
About This Book
A follow-up to the authors' Videogame Atlas, this large-format book goes deeper into fewer worlds, analysing each with the tools of architectural theory and practice. The selection ranges across genres and decades—Disco Elysium, Elden Ring, Yakuza Kiwami, Grim Fandango and The Sims 4 among them—and every world is drawn and annotated in detail. The design borrows from experimental architectural monographs and from the strategy guides of 1990s gaming, so the book works both as a reference on how virtual space is constructed and as a source of ideas for designers working on either side of the screen.
Key Features
- In-depth architectural analysis of 12 iconic videogame worlds
- Original plans, maps, renderings and diagrams for each game
- Featured games include Elden Ring, Disco Elysium, Grim Fandango, Yakuza Kiwami and The Sims 4
- Design inspired by experimental architecture books and classic game guides
- A companion volume to Videogame Atlas
What You'll Discover
- How game designers compose space, movement and atmosphere in virtual worlds
- What architectural drawing reveals about places normally experienced only in play
- Parallels between videogame environments and real-world urban and architectural design
- New ways of seeing familiar games through the eyes of architects
About the Author
Luke Caspar Pearson and Sandra Youkhana are architectural designers who work together as the studio You + Pea. They founded the Videogame Urbanism studio at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, where they bring game technologies into architectural teaching, and their research looks at how games can open up urban design to wider public participation.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Dimensions: 248 × 347 mm
- Pages: 288
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780500029701
- Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Perfect For: Architects, game designers, students of architecture and digital design, and players curious about how their favourite virtual worlds are built.