Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design

A very good book for anyone interested in game design. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced designer, there’s something valuable here for everyone to learn. I can’t recommend it enough.

Awesome book about gaming industry and easy to read.

Great info! Would recommend to any budding game developer.

this book is a light read and offers a good overview on the entirety of the game design process. it helped me grasp the overwhelming task of creating a game, and by laying things on the table in a plain and orderly fashion made the endeavor seem a little less intimidating. It is a very practicle book and offers some very useful "hands on" tips. that being said it is built around designing a platformer and while it offers tips that are applicable for other genres, it is relatively thin on game design theory. So. great book for starters - less so for more experienced game designers and enthusiasts wanting to hone and deepen their skill as game creators, and experience fabricators.

This book is a great start for gamers looking to get into game design. Teaches you the basics, the good and bad. Even if you aren’t looking to be a game designer, still a good read with lessons to be learned.

As a game producer, this is my resource for game design. - Gives foundations for building upon great ideas. - Great illustrations to get the point across. - Entertaining read in general!

This book is very informative and a surprisingly fun read, a useful guide for professional or future game designers. It is over 500 pages covering a variety of topics of including: history, game genres, level design, story telling, controls, beat charts and pitches to name a few. There are several thorough lists breaking down all the types of: enemies, mechanisms, hazards, weapons, power ups, puzzles, themes, locations and more. Throughout the book he gives first-hand knowledge of his experiences and learnings, and references various examples of games to communicate the message. (Now I have a much longer list of games I want to play). With personal stories, humor and simple illustrations it remains fun to read to the last page.

While the author obviously had a specific mind set when writing the book, I feel they really did open their minds in their second edition. It makes the book entertaining and broadly informative. Instead of focusing on specific niches in the game dev industry they focus on broad overarching lessons that anybody could use.