Game Design Books

There are many game design books in the market. There is also a huge number of books in all of the different areas that involve game development, such as: art, programming, audio and marketing. Sometimes when you’re unsure on where to start with a specific subject (learning a new programming language, how to draw, how to model in 3D, etc.), you can get a beginners book in the subject. You can also use books as a reference to keep going back to whenever you have problems in your learning.

When you want to study a subject in depth, books are a better choice than articles. When reading a book you’ll be almost certain that the information which you’re reading is trustworthy because usually the author works in the field and makes sure to prepare a good book with understandable content and illustrations (either examples or visual aids).

Reading books usually help you focus on it’s content. This is because when you’re reading something on your computer or mobile device there are many more opportunities for you to multitask, such as: keeping many tabs opened, reading e-mail and looking at all sorts of social media. Focusing only on reading will help you retain more information and consequently help you become more productive.

photo credit: quinn.anya

Below are lists of many books you can find, divided by some of the different areas in game development:

Game Design:

• Fundamentals of Game Design by Ernest Adams teaches a lot of game design concepts which anyone who wants to enter the game industry can learn from. One reviewer said “Adams lays out the “player centric” design approach fairly well, with an eye squarely on creating commercial games.”
• Sirlin’s Playing to Win was written more towards game players but any game designer can learn the game concepts which he describe in the book. You can also buy a printed version or the e-book of Playing To Win in here.
• The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses by Jesse Schell has a ton of great information about designing games. It also has some examples of decisions he made as game designer which can be very helpful any designer.

Art:

• The go to book for animators is The Animator’s Survival Kit.

Programming:

• Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days is a book which is recommended for begging programmers who want to learn C++.
• Bjarne Stroustrup (designer of C++) has a list on his website with the books which he wrote. His website also has a ton of useful information about programming and C++.
• Unity Game Development Essentials by Will Goldstone is a very well recommended book to people who want to start learning how to use unity and it uses JavaScript for the examples. Will Goldstone also has a website which he has some videos tutorials that I personally enjoyed and think that his style of teaching is really good.

Know any good game design books? Please send us a message!