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As others have said, Tracy Fullerton's book and Jesse Schell's are also very good. I don't know if either is going to give you the structure you might need though. Oh, I'll definitely recommend Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development by Jeremy Gibson Bond.
- Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design
- The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses
- The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design
- Fundamentals of Game Design
- How Games Move Us: Emotion by Design
- Characteristics of Games
- Drawing Basics and Video Game Art
- Slay The Dragon: Writing Great Video Games
- An Introduction to Game Studies
- Game Design: How to Create Video and Tabletop Games, Start to Finish
Building an indie game is tough work and there’s no shortcut. You need to put in the hours and craft ideas that resonate with players. But where do you even get started? Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Designby Scott Rogers is the perfect guide for anyone interested in video game design. Scott opens the early chapters talking about idea gen...
Jesse Schell is the author of this incredible book featuring the best attitudes and questions to ask before building a video game. The Art of Game Designpresents over 100 questions to help designers think about the psychology, gameplay, usability, storyline, and what makes a game fun. You’ll learn how to plan out game ideas and how to consider whic...
The challenge of creating a video game comes from wearing many hats. Most people excel in one area like graphics/art, programming, or writing gameplay mechanics. But most indie game developers learn all these topics and that’s the goal with The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design. In this book you’ll go far beyond the simple game mechan...
If you’re looking for a compendium of video game design then this is the book you need. Fundamentals of Game Design by Ernest Adams totals a whopping 576 pagesfull of tips and tricks for the game design process. You’ll learn about idea generation and initial development along with interface design, storytelling, usability, and the technical aspects...
Here’s one of the more recent publications written by games designer & researcher Katherine Isbister. This book helps readers understand the emotional side of game design with information about the most popular games and how they evoke empathy from the players. How Games Move Us: Emotion by Designis really a primer on great storytelling within game...
I’m surprised how many MIT Press books cover the art of game design. Most actually aren’t too impressive but Characteristics of Gamesis one of the best you can get. This book covers the entire history of gaming which goes far beyond simple video games. Topics include sports, tabletop games, and recreational activities like billiards and darts. The ...
I wasn’t going to include this book in the list until I recognized that it goes far beyond simple artistic techniques. This book is obviously targeted at game artists who want to improve at concept art or 3D modeling. But Drawing Basics and Video Game Artcovers more than just art techniques. This book looks into the future of gaming and draws conne...
A huge part of game design is the actual writing and character development. If you’ve never written fiction stories before then you may struggle with this task. Thankfully Slay the Dragon: Writing Great Video Gamescan guide you from a complete novice to a competent story writer in just 230 pages. The authors both have experience writing for games a...
Many designers learn by studying the past and emulating the greatest successes. This seems to be the goal with Frans Mayra’s book An Introduction to Game Studies. It’s fairly brief with only 208 pages but it covers a lot of ground. You learn the history of gaming from the 70s through each decade into modern times. You’ll also learn the fundamentals...
I don’t always look into tabletop games for inspiration but they are a great place to start. Video games follow many of the same rules as traditional games and the objectives are often similar(multiple players, competition, score keeping and rules for who wins). Game Design: How to Create Video and Tabletop Games, Start to Finishattempts to bring y...
Sep 22, 2023 · Learn game design by reading the 10 best video game design books available. We list the most helpful books for all levels of aspiring game designers to get where they want to be.
The world’s best game design books of all time. Recommended by leading experts like Mark Zuckerberg, Nir Eyal, and Timothy Ferriss.
Sep 27, 2024 · We covered a range of topics, from fundamental principles to advanced techniques in game design. Books like The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell and Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman offer invaluable insights.
Whether you’re an experienced gamer or new to video games entirely, reading up on some books about video game design is a great place to start exploring this exciting world. With insights from industry experts and fascinating case studies from video game classics throughout history, these books are sure to inspire fans at every level.
Aug 4, 2008 · Best Books on Game Design. Level up your understanding of game mechanics and design with this compilation of groundbreaking books, acclaimed by gaming experts and featured in top-tier publications on game development. Recommendations from 30 articles, Neil Gaiman, Ev Williams, Tim Ferriss and 62 others. Technology Art.
