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2D game developmentWelcome to our collection of the best books for learning 2D game development. We have books covering a wide range of engines, frameworks, and programming languages like Unity, Cocos2d, GameMaker, and more. Whether you're a beginner looking to get started with your first 2D game, or an experienced developer wanting to expand your skills, we have something for you. Our selection includes practical guides that walk you through building specific game genres step-by-step, as well as books that focus on mastering individual engines or frameworks. Learn to create stunning 2D graphics, fluid animations and intuitive controls. Integrate physics, sound, and robust game mechanics into your projects. And take your skills to the next level by deploying to multiple platforms like iOS, Android, and the web. Let these books guide you on your journey toward becoming an accomplished 2D game developer.

Bestsellers

A range of our top selling game development products from the last year.

(1-1 of 10) 
Game Development with Rust and WebAssembly
Game Development with Rust and WebAssemb ...
Apr 2022Ellipse476 Pages

$35.99
SFML Game Development
SFML Game Development
Jun 2013Ellipse296 Pages

$28.99
SDL Game Development
SDL Game Development
Jun 2013Ellipse256 PagesEllipseHalf Star 5

$28.99
SFML Game Development By Example
SFML Game Development By Example
Dec 2015Ellipse522 Pages

$43.99
Mastering SFML Game Development
Mastering SFML Game Development
Jan 2017Ellipse442 Pages

$39.99
Kivy - Interactive Applications and Games in Python
Kivy - Interactive Applications and Game ...
Jun 2015Ellipse206 Pages

$39.99
Mastering Unity 2D Game  Development
Mastering Unity 2D Game Development
Oct 2016Ellipse506 Pages

$39.99
SFML Blueprints
SFML Blueprints
May 2015Ellipse298 Pages

$35.99
GameMaker Cookbook
GameMaker Cookbook
Dec 2015Ellipse212 Pages

$39.99
Building Minecraft Server Modifications
Building Minecraft Server Modifications
Dec 2015Ellipse158 PagesEllipseHalf Star 4

$25.99

Rising Stars

Recently released game development books which are getting a lot of attention.

(1-1 of 6) 
The Essential Guide to Creating Multiplayer Games with Godot 4.0
The Essential Guide to Creating Multipla ...
Dec 2023Ellipse326 PagesEllipseHalf Star 1

$35.99
Creating an RTS Game in Unity 2023
Creating an RTS Game in Unity 2023
Oct 2023Ellipse548 PagesEllipseHalf Star 5

$43.99
Unity Cookbook
Unity Cookbook
Nov 2023Ellipse780 PagesEllipseHalf Star 3

$39.99
Enhancing Virtual Reality Experiences with Unity 2022
Enhancing Virtual Reality Experiences wi ...
Nov 2023Ellipse566 Pages

$43.99
Photorealistic Materials and Textures in Blender Cycles
Photorealistic Materials and Textures in ...
Oct 2023Ellipse394 Pages

$31.99
XR Development with Unity
XR Development with Unity
Nov 2023Ellipse284 Pages

$31.99

Audience Favourites

Our most rated game development products by our Customers.

(1-1 of 2) 
SDL Game Development
SDL Game Development
Jun 2013Ellipse256 Pages

$28.99
Building Minecraft Server Modifications
Building Minecraft Server Modifications
Dec 2015Ellipse158 Pages

$25.99

Quick Learns

Our game development books which are under 200 pages long.

(1-1 of 6) 
Box2D for Flash Games
Box2D for Flash Games
Nov 2012Ellipse166 Pages

$16.99
Gamemaker Essentials
Gamemaker Essentials
Mar 2015Ellipse154 Pages

$21.99
Building Minecraft Server Modifications
Building Minecraft Server Modifications
Dec 2015Ellipse158 PagesEllipseHalf Star 4

$25.99
Getting Started with Unity 5
Getting Started with Unity 5
May 2015Ellipse184 Pages

$25.99
Building Android Games with Cocos2d-x
Building Android Games with Cocos2d-x
Mar 2015Ellipse160 Pages

$21.99
Learning Cocos2d-JS Game Development
Learning Cocos2d-JS Game Development
Jan 2015Ellipse188 Pages

$19.99

Beginner's Corner

Our top picks for starting your game development journey.

(1-1 of 10) 
Flash Multiplayer Virtual Worlds
Flash Multiplayer Virtual Worlds
Aug 2010Ellipse412 Pages

$32.99
Box2D for Flash Games
Box2D for Flash Games
Nov 2012Ellipse166 Pages

$16.99
Scratch 2.0 Game Development Hotshot
Scratch 2.0 Game Development Hotshot
Feb 2014Ellipse330 Pages

$25.99
GameMaker Cookbook
GameMaker Cookbook
Dec 2015Ellipse212 Pages

$39.99
SFML Blueprints
SFML Blueprints
May 2015Ellipse298 Pages

$35.99
Gamemaker Essentials
Gamemaker Essentials
Mar 2015Ellipse154 Pages

$21.99
Microsoft XNA 4.0 Game Development Cookbook
Microsoft XNA 4.0 Game Development Cookb ...
Jun 2012Ellipse356 Pages

$32.99
Construct Game Development Beginners Guide
Construct Game Development Beginners Gui ...
May 2012Ellipse298 Pages

$28.99
XNA 4.0 Game Development by Example: Beginner's Guide - Visual Basic Edition
XNA 4.0 Game Development by Example: Beg ...
Dec 2011Ellipse424 Pages

$28.99
Learning Construct 2
Learning Construct 2
Dec 2014Ellipse234 Pages

$28.99

Career Pathways

A collection of reading lists made by our expert authors to help get you your next job.
Getting Started with Unity Game DevelopmentGetting Started with Unity Game DevelopmentGetting Started with Unity Game Development
Getting Started with Unity Game DevelopmentAn enjoyable and intuitive approach to getting started with C# programming and Unity game development. This reading list will help you build a solid foundation in Unity and discover techniques to create impressive 2D/3D games, cross-platform mobile g ...

Popular Authors (5)

(1 -1 of 5) 

Mr. Harrison Ferrone
LinkedinGithub
Harrison Ferrone is an instructional content creator for LinkedIn Learning and Pluralsight, tech editor for the Ray Wenderlich website, and used to write technical documentation on the Mixed Reality team at Microsoft. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder and Columbia College, Chicago. After a few years as an iOS developer at small start-ups, and one Fortune 500 company, he fell into a teaching career and never looked back.
Most popular book by Mr. Harrison Ferrone
Learning C# by Developing Games with Unity 2019
Sergey Kosarevsky
LinkedinGithub
Sergey Kosarevsky is a software engineer with experience in C++ and 3D graphics. He worked for mobile industry companies and was involved in mobile projects at SPB Software, Yandex, Layar and Blippar. He has more than 12 years of software development experience and more than 6 years of Android NDK experience. Sergey got his PhD in the field of mechanical engineering from St. Petersburg Institute of Machine-Building in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. In his spare time, Sergey maintains and develops an open source multiplatform gaming engine, the Linde...
Most popular book by Sergey Kosarevsky
Android NDK Game Development Cookbook
Kumsal Obuz
LinkedinGithub
Kumsal Obuz is a self taught, but veteran web developer with more than 15 years of experience in two different countries, leading teams and projects of various sizes. After several years of preparation and transition, he started his own game studio in August 2020. He launched a small puzzle strategy game at the end of 2020 and is currently working on an ambitious farming simulation game. He also likes to mentor, perhaps due to his genetic background since both of his parents are teachers, and because of his love of Godot, founded and still orga...
Most popular book by Kumsal Obuz
Game Development with Blender and Godot
Gonçalo Marques
LinkedinGithub
Gonçalo Marques has been an active gamer since the age of 6. He has been using Unreal Engine since 2016 and has done freelance and consulting work using the engine. Gonçalo also released a free and open source plugin called UI Navigation, which has garnered an extremely positive reception with over 100,000 downloads and is still receiving frequent updates and fixes. Thanks to the development of this plugin, he became an Epic MegaGrant recipient. He is now working at Funcom ZPX, a game studio in Lisbon that has contributed to games such as Conan...
Most popular book by Gonçalo Marques
Game Development Projects with Unreal Engine
Mr. Oscar Baechler
LinkedinGithub
Oscar Baechler is a CG generalist, professor, painter, photographer, open source advocate, and community organizer who teaches at Lake Washington Institute of Technology. He's published a number of mobile games with a Blender pipeline and created animation for clients both big and small. Oscar runs the Seattle Blender User Group and Ballard Life Drawing Co-op and has presented on CGI at SIGGRAPH, LinuxFest Northwest, the Blender Conference, OSCON, Usenix LISA, SeaGL, SIX, WACC, and others.
Most popular book by Mr. Oscar Baechler
Blender 3D By Example