Table of Contents
The Books
This page is here to help you find books which will help you on your MonoGame Journey.
They are in groups to show their core focus.
Unfortunately, some books were removed from Kindle, so, I have not included them here.
I only list books I have personally purchased a copy of.
A quick reminder, MonoGame is built on top of XNA 4.0, hence you should seek out XNA 4.0 related tutorials and books and they should work just fine.
I have added a list of third party [other community members] book recommendations below.
These are not affiliate links.
MonoGame [4]
Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 Game Development 1st ed. Edition, Kindle Edition by Adam Dawes (Author)
Beginning C# Programming with MonoGame Kindle Edition by A.T. Chamillard (Author)
MonoGame Mastery: Build a Multi-Platform 2D Game and Reusable Game Engine 1st ed. Edition, Kindle Edition by Jarred Capellman (Author), Louis Salin (Author, Contributor)
Game Development with MonoGame: Build a 2D Game Using Your Own Reusable and Performant Game Engine Kindle Edition by Louis Salin (Author), Rami Morrar (Author)
XNA [6]
Microsoft XNA Game Studio Creator's Guide, Second Edition 2nd Edition, Kindle Edition by Pat McGee (Author), Stephen Cawood (Author)
- WARNING: THIS BOOK IS OBSOLETE as it covers XNA 3.0 not 4.0 code, though it has other incredibly useful code.
USE https://web.archive.org/web/20240612111220/https://nelsonhurst.com/xna-cheatsheet/
AND https://docs.monogame.net/articles/migration/migrate_xna.html
AS WELL AS https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/direct3dhlsl/dx-graphics-hlsl-models
To step through it all.
Special thanks to Squarebananas for pointing this out.
XNA 4.0 Game Development by Example: Beginner's Guide Kindle Edition by Kurt Jaegers (Author)
XNA 4 3D Game Development by Example: Beginner's Guide Kindle Edition by Kurt Jaegers (Author)
XNA Game Studio 4.0 Programming: Developing for Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360 (Developer's Library) Kindle Edition by Tom Miller (Author), Dean Johnson (Author, Contributor)
Learning XNA 4.0: Game Development for the PC, Xbox 360, and Windows Phone 7 1st Edition, Kindle Edition by Aaron Reed (Author)
Microsoft XNA 4.0 Game Development Cookbook Kindle Edition by Luke Drumm (Author)
C# [4]
The C# Player’s Guide is a different kind of programming book.
https://csharpplayersguide.com/
C# Programming in easy steps, 3rd edition: Modern coding with C# 10 and .NET 6. Updated for Visual Studio 2022 Kindle Edition by Mike McGrath (Author)
Learning C# by Programming Games 2013th Edition, Kindle Edition by Arjan Egges (Author), Jeroen D. Fokker (Author), Mark H. Overmars (Author)
Learning C# by Programming Games 2nd Edition, Kindle Edition by Wouter van Toll (Author), Arjan Egges (Author), Jeroen D. Fokker (Author)
Game Development [9]
The Book that started it all for me:
The Computer Game Design Course: Principles, Practices and Techniques for the Aspiring Game Designer Paperback – 23 April 2007 by Jim Thompson (Author), Barnaby Berbank-Green (Author)
This is also, though not the edition, the other book which started my game development journey.
Game Engine Architecture Hardcover – 29 Sept. 2014 by Jason Gregory (Author)
Multiplayer Game Programming: Architecting Networked Games (Game Design) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition by Josh Glazer (Author), Sanjay Madhav (Author)
Game Programming Algorithms and Techniques: A Platform-Agnostic Approach (Game Design) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition by Sanjay Madhav (Author)
Game Programming Patterns Paperback – 2 Nov. 2014 by Robert Nystrom (Author)
Fundamentals of Shooter Game Design: Advanced Game Design (Voices That Matter) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition by Ernest Adams (Author), Joris Dormans (Author)
Fundamentals of Game Design 3rd Edition, Kindle Edition by Ernest Adams (Author)
Game Engine Design and Implementation: Foundations of Game Development Paperback – Illustrated, 25 Aug. 2010 by Thorn (Author)
The Game Production Handbook 3rd Edition Paperback – Illustrated, 23 April 2013 by Chandler (Author)
Third Party Books
Here you will find a list of books recommended by other community members.
Recommended by black_mage
Functional Programming in C#, Second Edition Kindle Edition by Enrico Buonanno (Author)
Recommended by Aristurtle
The Book of Shaders by Patricio Gonzalez Vivo and Jen Lowe