These are some of the most important books that can be found in my library. I recommend them all and encourage anyone to pick them up. This collection will grow and potentially reshape itself as I find new titles that help or influence me. Hopefully something here will interest you and you’ll add it to your own collection as well.
Game Design
The Art of Game Design - Jesse Schell
Featuring 113 different tips, or “lenses”, Schell constructs a definitive guide on how to develop game worlds, characters, game mechanics, and everything else needed for well made games. Through the use of real world examples the book helps to teach the reader how to analyze games and think critically about their own design choices. I highly recommend this for anyone looking to improve their eye for good design and for anyone curious how AAA game designers create products that stand above the crowd.
A Theory of Fun - Raph Koster
An incredibly entertaining and insightful book that attempts to answer some really ambitious questions. Throughout A Theory of Fun’s pages, and there aren’t many of them*, Raph attempts to answer why games are fun, why they are important, their historical value, and what is keeping them from being able to be more widely classified as art. Raph also makes a compelling attempt at defining exactly what a game is at a fundamental level, a teaching tool that is not only encouraging but entertaining.
* There are 226 pages to the book which are cut in half due to only the left pages containing the written text and the right pages being relevant illustrations.
Game Feel - Steve Swink
An absolutely amazing book which defines the idea of Game Feel. By breaking down what Polish is (aka Juice), how to analytically monitor game metrics, and how a game can be shaped to influence players feelings, Swink develops a clear set of definitions and approaches that can help anyone create games which feel great to play. This is an amazing book for anyone who wants to know what makes a game engaging to play and why.
Design
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art - Scott McCloud
Read this book…seriously. A comic book about comics, McCloud masterfully explains his craft all the while making a strong argument for the needed respect of comics as a form of art just a respectable as classical paintings. While not a book about game design, the art and design philosophies expressed here have far reaching implications for many fields of entertainment. With many analogies to high art, writing, and film, after reading this book it should not be difficult to see how its ideas bleed into video games.
For a deeper dive into McCloud’s world here are his two other books Reinventing Comics and Making Comics, as well as a TED talk he gave.
The Design of Everyday Things - Don Norman
Don Norman’s timeless masterwork was originally published in 1988, the version I have read is the 2013 Revised & Expanded Edition. This exploration of product and interface design stretches from explaining why management sucks to the shuttle physiological differences of how a simple door handle presents its affordance. Some of the topics this book covers are a deep dive into Human Centered Design, how and why errors/slips occur and how to diagnose the underlying issue, a breakdown of user interactivity with products (Affordances, Signifiers, Gulf of Execution and Evaluation, …), and many many more.
I strongly recommend this book for anyone looking to pursue or improve their product, software, interface, &c. design skills. However, due to the weight and depth of this title I do not recommend it for people simply looking to learn how and why designers do what they do unless they know exactly what they want from the book. This is not a casual read on the couch, this is a pen and paper note taking masterclass.
A timeless way of building - Christopher Alexander
A Timeless Way of Building is a masterfully crafted exploration into what Alexander calls The Quality. Throughout this book Alexander essential tries to define The Quality, a timeless abstract idea that shapes our emotions of anything that people can craft, and explains how a language, what he calls "A Pattern Language", can be formed to construct things with The Quality.
This is only book 1 of a 3 part series exploring The Quality and how to develop timeless pieces of design. While the focused application is Architecture, the ideas and lessons within this book can apply to practices such as Game Design, Level Design, and Software Architecture.
101 Thing I learned in Architecture School - Matthew Frederick
While this book’s focus is definitely geared towards architecture, it includes many overarching applications to general design and even more applicably to Level Design. Broken down into quick single page lessons, Frederick tries to boil down years of school and experience into a condensed desk book which can be used for reference whenever some inspiration is needed.
For a similar format with a greater focus on Video Games and Level Design check out Tommy Norberg’s twitter lessons.
Game Development
Game Engine Black Book: Wolfenstein 3D - Fabien Sanglard
An intense deep dive into the inner workings of the genre creating and industry shifting Wolfenstein 3D, created by iD Software. This title goes into the minute details of how a simple office computer was cleverly utilized to run a FPS video game, and how iD software overcame the many hurdles this brought with it.
Masters of Doom - David Kushner
An amazing telling of the founding and falling out of one of the most powerful teams to ever take on the gaming industry. Through it’s details of crunch time, toxic work environments, and failing friendships the story of id software is one that shows the rewards and repercussions of dedication to a craft, and the importance of finding what makes you happy. A must read for any interested in the games industry and its history.
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels - Jason Schreier
The video game industry can be a heartless, cruel, and unpredictable beast, and there is no single book that more clearly highlights this than Jason Schreier’s first foray into full books and the national bestseller Blood, Sweat, and Pixels. By investigating some of the most high profile video game studios and interviewing its employees, Schreir paints a vivid picture of the type of person it takes to be to survive in an industry where you never know when your last day of employment may be, or if what you’ve work on for years will still be on your computer the next day. This book explores dev cycles such as the extremely impassioned development of Stardew Valley to the heart breaking tale of Star Wars 1313. I highly recommend this book to any thinking of getting into the video game industry or anyone curious about what it really takes to make monumental titles such as Uncharted 4.
Boss Fight Books
Boss Fight Books is a series that focuses on creating documentary-style nonfiction books on classic videos games. Each release covers a unique topic written by a unique author who is commonly either a games journalist or an industry professional. Each book is a love letter to their respective game topic, and grants amazing insight into the magic of video games and the way they affect people.
The four books I’ve read so far are Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Shadow of the Colossus, Metal Gear Solid, and Super Mario Brothers 2. However, there are many more books released, and even more on the way. Currently the series sits at a length of 23 with other topics including Kingdom Hearts 2, Galaga, World of Warcraft, and Shovel Knight. I highly recommend this series, and you can find the full list of releases on their website.
The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985 - 1993
Less of a book and more of a deep dive into another person’s mind, The Making of Prince of Persia is an annotated collection of journals written by Jordan Mecher during his time developing the early Prince of Persia games. This book is an excellent exploration and history lesson of what game development meant in the 80s and early 90s. The book paints a vivid picture of the stress involved in early game development from a first hand account, and is extremely enlightening to show how far the games industry has progressed, and what has stayed the same.
Computer science
Code - Charles Petzold
An exploration into the history of computer architecture and the bits and bobs that make it all work. From rudimentary relay circuits to analyzing still relevant CPUs, Petzold elegantly lays out a foundation of knowledge that will inspire anyone interested in computer science / engineering. Full Review
The Pragmatic Programmer - Andrew Hunt & David Thomas
A book in the same vein as The Clean Code Trilogy, Andrew Hunt and David Thomas provide tips and procedures to help beginning programmers develop good habits and to get seasoned professionals back on track. The book touches topics such as design patterns like MVC, how to practice with katas, the DRY principle, and even a simple guide to algorithm complexity.
Clean Code - Bob Martin
A self help book to teach software engineers how to write clean, bug free, and most importantly maintainable code. Bob Martin (a.k.a. Uncle Bob) presents helpful ways to enter flow, practice your skills, how to meet with people, settings deadlines, debugging work flows, and everything else important to the day to day of a successful software engineering. I also highly recommend Clean Architecture and The Clean Coder.
9 Algorithms That Changed The Future - John MacCormick
An introductory explanation of some of the most important achievements in the field of computer science. Without needing any background in computer science, MacCormick explains some the most influential and complex algorithms that have shaped our world into what it is today; including the basics of cryptography, Huffman coding, and PageRank. A recommended read for anyone curious about the field of computer science, and for anyone already in the field looking for an easy to read history lesson. The book also features many recommendations for further reading into all of the topics covered.