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Best Books on Game Design

Recommendations from 18 articles, Pavel Durov, Dan, Raoul Pal and 7 others.
Best Books on Game Design
35 books on the list
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The Art of Game Design book cover
The Art of Game Design
A Book of Lenses, Third Edition
Jesse Schell - 2019-08-26 (first published in 2008)
Goodreads Rating
Jesse Schell takes an unusual approach to game design, an approach that focuses neither on the technological details of game development nor on the analysis of popular games. Instead, the book will propose that the most important skill for a game designer is not creativity as most suppose, but that of listening. The five kinds of listening (team, c...
Recommended by
Ryan Hoover
Game Design Workshop book cover
Game Design Workshop
A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, Fourth Edition
Tracy Fullerton - 2018-08-27 (first published in 2008)
Goodreads Rating
Game Design Workshop is a truly great book, and has become, in my opinion, the de facto standard text for beginner- to intermediate-level game design education. This updated new edition is extremely relevant, useful and inspiring to all kinds of game designers. -- Richard Lemarchand, Interactive Media & Games Division, School of Cinematic Arts, Uni...
Game Feel book cover
Game Feel
Steve Swink - 2008-11-19
Goodreads Rating
Game Feel exposes feel as a hidden language in game design that no one has fully articulated yet. The language could be compared to the building blocks of music (time signatures, chord progressions, verse)—no matter the instruments, style or time period—these building blocks come into play. Feel and sensation are similar building blocks where game ...
Theory of Fun for Game Design book cover
Theory of Fun for Game Design
Raph Koster - 2013-12-10 (first published in 2004)
Goodreads Rating
Now in full color, the 10th anniversary edition of this classic book packs more insight into what it means to design games for fun. Theory of Fun for Game Design challenges and inspires game designers as well as game enthusiasts looking for products and experiences that are truly fun and entertaining.The book discusses the impact of designing in a ...
Recommended by
Andrew Chen
Level Up! book cover
Level Up!
The Guide to Great Video Game Design
Scott Rogers - 2010-07-06
Goodreads Rating
Design and build cutting-edge video games with help from video game expert Scott Rogers! If you want to design and build cutting-edge video games but aren't sure where to start, then this is the book for you. Written by leading video game expert Scott Rogers, who has designed the hits Pac Man World, Maxim vs. Army of Zin, and SpongeBob Squarepants,...
Rules of Play book cover
Rules of Play
Game Design Fundamentals (The MIT Press)
Katie Salen Tekinbas - 2003-09-25
Goodreads Rating
Building an æsthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts such as play, design and interactivity. They look at games through a series of eighteen game design schemata or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of information, emergent complexity, as contexts for social, cultural and educational storytelling, a...
Fundamentals of Game Design 3/e book cover
Fundamentals of Game Design 3/e
Ernest Adams - 2014-01-01 (first published in 2006)
Goodreads Rating
Printed in Asia - Carries Same Contents as of US edition - Opt Expedited Shipping for 3 to 4 day delivery -...
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels book cover
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
Jason Schreier - 2017-09-05
Goodreads Rating
Developing video gameshero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes readers on a fascinating odyssey behind the s...
Recommended by
Aaron Greenberg
Think Like a Game Designer book cover
Think Like a Game Designer
The Step-by-Step Guide to Unlocking Your Creative Potential
Justin Gary - 2018-09-09
Goodreads Rating
Do you love gaming? Do you have ideas for gamesof your own and want to learn how to produce themprofessionally?Longtime game designer Justin Gary has the answersyou seek. After twenty years in the gaming industry,creating such games as Solforge, Ascension, and theWorld of Warcraft Miniatures Game, Justin is nowsharing all his secrets in Think Like ...
Game Mechanics book cover
Game Mechanics
Advanced Game Design (Voices That Matter)
Ernest Adams - 2012-06-15
Goodreads Rating
This in-depth resource teaches you to craft mechanics that generate challenging, enjoyable, and well-balanced gameplay. You'll discover at what stages to prototype, test, and implement mechanics in games and learn how to visualize and simulate game mechanics in order to design better games. Along the way, you'll practice what you've learned with ha...
Characteristics of Games by
Game Engine Architecture by Jason Gregory
Video Game Storytelling by Evan Skolnick
The Gamification of Learning and Instruction by Karl M. Kapp
How Games Move Us by Katherine Isbister
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Game Programming Patterns by Robert Nystrom
The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent
Designing Games by Tynan Sylvester
Real-Time Rendering by Tomas Akenine-Möller
Programming Game AI by Example by Mat Buckland
Kobold Guide to Board Game Design by Mike Selinker
Challenges for Games Designers by Brenda L Brathwaite
Game Over by David Sheff
Game Design Vocabulary, A by Anna Anthropy
Agile Game Development with SCRUM by Clinton Keith Keith
Foundations of Game Engine Development, Volume 1 by Eric Lengyel
Reality Is Broken by Jane Mcgonigal
Eurogames by Stewart Woods
100 Principles of Game Design by Despain
The Game Inventor's Guidebook by Brian Tinsman
An Introduction to Game Studies by Frans Mayra
Game Design by Lewis Pulsipher
Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development by Jeremy Gibson Bond