Recommend me a games design resource

[PaulH]

Hi guys

So i'm primarily a level designer and at Codemasters there are two separate teams - us and the games designers. This means I don't get to look into the actual design of the games I work on very much so I was looking to read up on it. Are there any books/online resources anyone would particularly recommend? I'm looking for something that covers the specifics of writing games design documents, game mechanics and everything else that game design entails, basically.

Cheers!

[Sentura]

most of what has been written about game design is very much from academic point of view, and as such i CANNOT recommend much. i think the closest thing you have to something like reading up on it would be the MDA framework (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDA_framework); however take into account that even this is a product of subjective value judgments and not in any way something objective.

there are also of course specific branches of game design you could be interested in, such as game balance (e.g. competitive games), where you can find some amount of articles about the balancing part itself, but also related things such as spectator values and what makes a sport a sport.

if you really want to get into the academic stuff out there (there is A LOT of bullshit), don't hesitate to use google scholar, but as a level designer i would think you'd have more experience from practicality than any "game scholar" will ever get from theory.

[e-freak]

Google for "Valve Interview"

apart from that, there's one book about game design a lot of people recommend is "The Art of Game Design" which some of the Game Designers here at Crytek referenced a few times: http://www.amazon.com/Art-Game-Design-b ... 0123694965

[insta]

most of what has been written about game design is very much from academic point of view, and as such i CANNOT recommend much. i think the closest thing you have to something like reading up on it would be the MDA framework (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDA_framework); however take into account that even this is a product of subjective value judgments and not in any way something objective.

Urrgggghhh, it's like dissecting a clown to see what makes him fun.

[Evert]

[PaulH]

Cheers guys, i've ordered the 'Art of Games Design' E-Freak (and got myself a copy of the Cryengine cookbook while i was there )

[Evert]

Get 'Design of everyday things' while your at it.

Not focusing on games, but the relationship between design and end user.

And it's a good read anyways.

[Nysuatro]

The theory of fun is great

[Sentura]

Get 'Design of everyday things' while your at it.

Not focusing on games, but the relationship between design and end user.

And it's a good read anyways.

yeah, i can recommend this. also when it comes to stuff like non game design but still tangential to these things: blink by malcolm gladwell

[Sentura]

most of what has been written about game design is very much from academic point of view, and as such i CANNOT recommend much. i think the closest thing you have to something like reading up on it would be the MDA framework (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDA_framework); however take into account that even this is a product of subjective value judgments and not in any way something objective.

Urrgggghhh, it's like dissecting a clown to see what makes him fun.

word dude.

[Skjalg]

haha insta i saw on facebook that you're a industry veteran now

[Taylor]

Unfortunately there is a lot written about diegetic narratives and post-game emotional art synergy, but it’s quite hard to nail down some hardcore design stuff.

There are two RSS feeds I have for design:

What Games Are: This is a fantastic blog and I can’t recommend it enough. He’s a consultant so you’ll also see a lot of information on start-ups and small companies but it’s all good.

#AltDevBlogADay: This has more posts about coding than design, and the design posts can be hit and miss, but it’s worth subscribing to. Claire Blackshaw is writing a relevant series on practical skills to stop people being ‘useless designers.’ And I really like her Respecting Design article as some vicarious venting.

Mike Birkhead posts his stuff on AltDevBlogADay too. It’s still about design rather than showing you how to write documents, though. I don’t 100% agree with what he writes but it’s still 90%+ and mostly semantics (my definition of Depth and Breath is the other way around, for example). When I started as a combat designer I relied more on Eric William’s awesome blog, but he no longer updates.

[syver]

post-game emotional art synergy.

what

[Taylor]

It was intentionally nonsensical.

[syver]

isn't the former (diegetic narrative) a "real" term though?

still, i get your point about both being nonsense...