Game Design Library
Most recent review: Situational Game Design by Brian Upton
You can check out my current queue of books (which I don’t try to keep up to date, but people like to see what other books are out there).
All of my completed reviews are listed below. A ★ indicates a personal favorite.
GENERAL GAME DESIGN
- A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster ★
- The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell (includes review of A Deck of Lenses)
- A Game Design Vocabulary by Anna Anthropy and Naomi Clark
- Challenges for Game Designers by Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber
- Situational Game Design by Brian Upton ★
GAME DESIGN DEEP DIVES
MULTIPLAYER, SPORTS, & ESPORTS
SERIOUS & AUGMENTED REALITY GAMES
VIDEO GAME HISTORY & INDUSTRY
- Videogames: In the Beginning by Ralph Baer
- Generation Xbox: How Videogames Invaded Hollywood by Jamie Russell
GAMES CRITICISM & CRITICAL STUDIES
- Shooter ed. by Reid McCarter and Patrick Lindsey ★
- The Art of Failure by Jesper Juul ★
- The State of Play: Creators and Critics on Videogame Culture, ed. by Linus Larsson and Daniel Goldberg
HISTORY & ANTHROPOLOGY
ARCHITECTURE & LEVEL DESIGN
STORY, NARRATIVE, & ROLE-PLAY
- Fundamentals of Role-Playing Game Design by Ernest Adams
- Quests: Design, Theory, and History in Games and Narratives by Jeff Howard
- Morphology of the Folktale by Vladimir Propp
PSYCHOLOGY & UX
- Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butcher
- The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman ★