Recommendation for Game Design Book

Recommended reading for aspiring game designers. And have you watched the Extra Credits video?

There are only two books on game design that I would actually recommend: “The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses” by Jesse Schell and "Game Feel: A Game Designer’s Guide to Virtual Sensation" by Steve Swink. The former is mostly useful for its list of lenses; the commentary that accompanies this list is less insightful. The latter is only recommended because it's the only book on that specific subject, which makes it essential reading despite its major flaws.

Some specific books that I recommend avoiding are:

• “Game Design Workshop” by Tracy Fullerton: an intro-level work that offers no new insights to anyone who has already designed a game.
• "Practical Game Design" by Adam Kramarzewski, Ennio De Nucci: same criticism as above.
• “Game Design Theory; A New Philosophy for Understanding Games” by Keith Burgun so completely misses the point of games that it almost qualifies as a good book on how not to design games.
• “A Theory of Fun for Game Design” by Raph Koster: starts with an interesting idea, then spends the rest of the book trying to shoehorn all of game design into that one idea. Spoiler: the central idea is that all fun (in games) comes from learning (game systems). Add it to your list of lenses. That's all there is to the book, so I just saved you the time and effort of reading it.

I have not read many game design books but I agree the “Book of lenses” was good and I learnt a lot from it.

ankitdixit said:

Hello Everyone, I am looking for a game design book and I have 7 months of experience as a game designer and I want to learn more depth knowledge. Can anyone know the top author’s name for game design books? I have checked on amazon and google but I am confused to choose the right one.

You can refer the art of game design; which is the best game design books

Thanks Everyone for your suggestions. This is very helpful to me.

Some good suggestions in here, saving. ?

In addition to those already mentioned here, I would recommend "Spelunky" by Derek Yu. This book is interesting enough and most of the ideas are so well thought-out that it can be read as a deep dive on creation as a whole.

@gamedevartist Didn't know that book existed. Ordered and looking forward to reading it.

@PaulAR Glad you appreciated it! It really is a worthwhile book. I ordered myself a paper version here: https://www.amazon.com/Spelunky-Boss-Fight-Books-Book-ebook/dp/B01CYV​​​HUM2D​

It costs very little, but gives a lot of valuable information. I hope you didn't overpay either, in fact the book is over 5 years old.

@gamedevartist To my shame I have yet to start reading it, I have been finishing off a book on compilers. Spelunky is on the top of the “next book” pile ? Yes it is a literal pile of books I keep next to my desk! I have flicked through and it looks like a book I will enjoy.

I would strongly recommend: “The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses” by Jesse Schell