Last week we did a post on 5 Great Serious Games and Gamification Blogs to Follow. This week, we’re going to focus on the “old school” information resource: books. The Knowledge Guru team is always reading up on games and gamification, so we thought we’d curate some of the best books for anyone interested in learning game design.
So without further ado, below are 4 must-have books for learning game designers:
The Gamification of Learning and Instruction Fieldbook: Ideas into Practice
The first book on our list is absolutely the most relevant. We’ve been big fans of Karl Kapp here at BLP, and Sharon has been reading his books for years. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education is what Kapp is best known for, and it’s a great resource for learning game designers. But that resource was only good for informing us, and the community as a whole, on the concepts of games for learning—as well as the research supporting its efficacy. It wasn’t designed to be a how-to book.
That’s where this new book comes in. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction Fieldbook offers professionals a step-by-step guide for implementing the concepts and techniques outlined in Kapp’s previous book. There really is NOT another book out there that teaches what this fieldbook teaches.
The book will be out November 18, and you can pre-order a copy here.
Challenges for Game Designers: Non-Digital Exercises for Video Game Designers
“Finally! A book that talks about HOW to become a good game designer instead of merely addressing WHAT game design is.” — Amazon Reviewer
That’s only one of a myriad of reasons this book is a must-have for current or aspiring game designers. Beyond being one of the only books to address HOW to become a good game designer, Challenges for Game Designers stands out by offering challenges to get hands on with. None of the challenges in the book require any programming or a computer, but many of the topics in the book feature challenges that can be made into fully functioning games. So if you’re a professional game designer, an aspiring designer, or an instructors who teaches game design courses, then you should definitely get this book. You can order a copy here.
Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games
Now if you liked the idea of challenges from the previous book, then you will love Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton. This book puts you to work in prototyping, playtesting and redesigning your own games with exercises that teach essential design skills. The description even states: “Workshop exercises require no background in programming or artwork, releasing you from the intricacies of electronic game production, so you can develop a working understanding of the essentials of game design.” It’s the perfect book for taking a deep dive into game design and truly learning how to be a great game designer. You can pick up a copy of Game Design Workshop here.
The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses
“Anyone can master the fundamentals of game design—no technological expertise is necessary.” That’s the bold claim made by Jesse Schell’s hit book, The Art of Game Design. But with an author like Schell, it’s not a bold claim at all—anyone can master these fundamentals with this book. Will Wright goes so far as to say, “Easily the most comprehensive, practical book I’ve ever seen on game design.”
This book takes a unique approach to game design: the concept of lenses. Good game design happens when you view your game from many different perspectives, or what Schell calls lenses. You can expect to learn a lot about all games with this book, and about game design principles that are relevant no matter which type of game you build. You can get a copy here.
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