Game design has always been a big mystery to me. How is it that people can so creatively design a piece of software to be fun and rewarding? How can puzzles be designed for that ah-ha moment? And how does that all tie in with the game’s art and story?
Personally I don’t think I want to become a game designer (I mean, programming games is still pretty fun for me). But I think knowing about game design can only help a game dev, artist and/or story writer. This is why I want to learn about game design.
As a long time consumer of video games, I have a feel for what I find fun, and what I think is engaging. However there has to be some heuristics, or a process to make designing a game easier. It can’t all be down to genius and intuition, can it?
In my spare time, I’d like to start reading more on game design. If only to demystify this topic and eventually learn how I can make fun games myself. I have to admit I don’t have enough resources to have these books. And I also don’t make nearly enough time to read. But I can still hope that I’ll get around to it one day.
So I’ve collated a list of my top 10 books on game design as a wishlist. The books on this list are collated from peer recommendations, reviews and articles. The ones that kept popping up are all here. So they must be good, right?
Anyway, here they are:
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- A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster
- The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell
- Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design by Scott Rogers
- The Art of Computer Game Design by Chris Crawford
- Game Feel: A Game Designer’s Guide to Virtual Sensation by Steve Swink
- A Well-Played Game: A Player’s Philosophy by Bernie De Koven
- Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton
- Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals by Katie Salen Tekinbas & Eric Zimmerman
- Challenges for Game Designers by Brenda Brathwaite & Ian Schreiber
- The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design by Flint Dille & John Zuur Platten
There it is. My 10 best game design books. Get to it. Read, read, read!