This summer marks my final courses for college and my college particpates in the library loan system which means I can take books out from other colleges. I decided that I’m taking the web design course along with the action scripting course, and now I want to take advantage of the loan system to get as much knowledge on game design over the summer. I’m looking for books related to game design, making video games,getting a job in the industry, etc. Here is the list of books that I’ve read or reading now:
A theory of Fun
Chris Crawford on game design
The Indie game development Survival Guide
Game Architecture and Design.
Fundmentals of Game Design.
The Game Design Reader.
Designing Virtual Worlds.
Any more suggestions would be helpful at this point.
Don’t limit yourself to game design specific books, there are some great design books which are just as worthwhile. The Design of Everyday Things
If you are interested in the story/writing side at all, then also check out Game Story and Character Development. There are a bunch of other books in that series, but I haven’t read them, so no idea how good they are.
Computers as Theater by Brenda Laurel probably did more to shape my understanding of software and user interaction than anything I’ve read before or since.
I have no idea how it holds up a decade later, but it should stil be worth a look. I’m pretty sure you can skip the part at the end where she tells you how Virtual Reality is going to change everything.
