Our Favorite Resources for Game Developers

Recently, we showed you our favorite resources recommended by our artists, and now it’s time to dive into the next profession: development. Developers are the backbone of a gaming company and at Kolibri Games, we have developers working in each game team, as well as on the backend and our data and LiveOps platforms. That means there is a ton of knowledge present that we want to share with you. Our Devs even have a book club (currently socially distanced on Slack), where they discuss different books and hold meetings to review resources they find inspiring. 

Whether you are at the beginning of your developer’s journey or are already in the middle of your career – there is always something new to learn! Read on for our recommendations for beginners up to senior-level development and become a coding master in no time. 

Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship

By Robert C. Martin 

Dominique, Unity Developer

“You might say this is the developer bible! I like “Clean Code” because it gives a good and comprehensive insight into the principles of clean coding and how to keep your code structure nice and clean. It’s the best handbook to learn the agile practice of cleaning code. Challenging at some points, with complex case studies, but you will be a better developer afterward.”

Read more about our code architecture here 

Unity3DCollege

YouTube Channel by Jason Weimann

Flavio, Senior Unity Developer

“I can recommend watching the tutorials by Jason Weimann on his YouTube channel “Unity3DCollege”. I appreciate that he has a very nice and calm way of explaining things. The topics range from introductions for newcomers to videos for more experienced developers. So there is something for every level available. It’s especially helpful if you are more of a visual learner. Check it out!”

Clean Coder: A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers

By Robert C. Martin

Unity Developer

“Don’t get this one confused with “Clean Code” as it’s completely different from the above-mentioned book by the same author. I would recommend this book as this gives a solid foundation on the non-technical skills required to becoming a true professional in the industry, not just a coder.

In this book you learn much more than just coding, it gives a more general approach to software development and offers a lot of practical advice on structuring your work, time management, and dealing with the work environment. As developers, we sometimes don’t emphasize the importance of non-technical skills. Although technical skills is one of the main foundations of our profession, we still need to work with people.”

W3schools.com / Hackerrank.com / leetcode.com

Valerio, Junior Unity Developer

“As I was never a big-time reader, I have honestly learned the most by just playing around with code in any editor. Curiosity is your most valuable asset – once you have an idea, you have to find out how to implement it. For beginners, I can also recommend w3schools.com, which I used a lot while studying web development at university. You can find introductions and quick guides on all kinds of topics. To practice coding, I can’t recommend hackerrank.com (hint: we also use this one for our interview process) and leetcode.com enough! Both websites present you with a coding problem to solve, from beginner to expert level. You can also learn a lot about optimization and time management while solving the problems.”

Unity in Action: Multiplatform game development in C#

By Josep Hocking

Braden, Unity Developer

“Coming from a software background outside of game development, Joseph Hocking’s “Unity in Action” was a great introduction to Unity that included both beginner and intermediate topics. It gave me a good understanding of how to create 2D and 3D game projects and taught me about the essential parts of Unity that are needed to start making games. When I started reading, it was hard to stop.”

To stock up your library, here are some other books our Devs can recommend from their own weekly book club:

1. The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick P- Brooks Jr.
2. The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford
3. The Pragmatic Programmer by David Thomas and Andrew Hunt
4. Head First Design Patterns by Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Robson, Bert Bates, Kathy Sierra

Are you feeling inspired and ready to get into action? Here’s our guide on how to get a job as a developer at Kolibri Games with some tips and tricks from our developers.

Have a look at our open positions below and apply to bring our games to the next level: