Foreword by Rob Zacny

The turn-based tactical role playing series Jagged Alliance has been sequeled, expanded, modded, optioned, multiplayered, and kickstarted, but the series’ many fans usually point to Jagged Alliance 2 as the high water mark, and one of the finest turn-based video games of all time.

Jagged Alliance 2 brings to the table a wicked sense of humor, simulation-driven character design, a combination of strategic overworld and tactical battles reminiscent of the X-COM series, and a surprisingly deep open-world RPG experience reminiscent of the Ultima or Elder Scrolls games.

Focusing on JA2′s development history and basing his book largely on new personal interviews with the game’s developers, game designer and web technology developer Darius Kazemi delves deep into the legacy of a game that still has much to teach gamers and game-makers 14 years after its release.

Kindle Store * Google Play

Darius Kazemi makes weird internet stuff. His best known work is the Random Shopper, a program that bought him random books, DVDs, and CDs from Amazon each month. He also has a small army of Twitter bots that he builds because they make him laugh. He works as an API Evangelist at Akamai in Boston. Before he moved into internet technology, he was a game developer for ten years.

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"[Kazemi's book] weaves together industrial history, design analysis and Robert Yang-style code diving. The result is not just a good read, but also a blueprint for holistic critique." 8.0/10 - Paste

"An essential read about an overlooked game." - Marshall Sandoval

“Jagged Alliance 2 has the perfect guide in Darius Kazemi.” - Rob Zacny

“I can confirm that this book is dope.” - Keith Calder

More reviews: Goodread

Excerpt: VICE

Why I Wrote a Book About an Obscure '90s Computer Game - Kazemi on JA2 in The Atlantic

Finding Treasures in the Code - Polygon

Looking at Source Code - Kazemi's Presentation in Critical Proximity