The Game Designer’s
Bookshelf
Maintained by Steve Meretzky -- Last updated 5/24/2021
[11/4/04] This list was begun as the result
of a session at the Game Designers Workshop in
[11/3/05] As the list was getting unwieldy, I have divided it into sections
by topic. Within each topic, books are arranged alphabetically by title:
Art and Architecture
Business Strategy
Communities, Networks, and
Cyberspace
Fiction
Filmmaking
Game Development and Industry History
History and Sociology
Marketing and
Positioning
Miscellaneous
Psychology
Reference
Software Management and Team
Leadership
User Interface
and Usability
Writing, Storytelling, and Characters
Art and
Architecture
Title: The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of
Methods, Principles, and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion,
and Internet Animators
Author: Richard Williams
Publisher:
Faber & Faber
Publication Date: January 7, 2002
ISBN:
0571202284
Suggested by: Hal Barwood
Comments: Beyond The Illusion of Life in detail and
practicality by the master of Roger Rabbit.
Title: Architecture: Form, Space, and Order
Author: Frank
D. K. Ching, Francis D. Ching
Publisher: Wiley
Publication
Date: December 18, 1995 (second edition)
ISBN: 0471286168
Suggested by: Paul Schuytema
Comments: “Simple overview of architecture. Good for level builders.”
Title: A Bug's Life: The Art and
Making of an Epic of Miniature Proportions
Author: Jeff Kurtti
Publisher: Disney Editions
Publication Date: December 23, 1998
ISBN: 0786864419
Suggested by: Mike Pondsmith
Comments: “Or any of the ‘making of’ Disney and Pixar stuff. Talk about how teams function. Create docs.
Team dynamics. The ‘Bug’s Life’ one is particularly good.”
Title: Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The
Architecture of Reassurance
Author: Karal
Ann Marling (editor)
Publisher: Flammarion
Publication Date: February 15, 1998
ISBN: 2080136399
Suggested by: Patricia Pizer
Comments: A fascinating volume which unites the writing of Marty
Sklar, Frank Gehry &
others in the analysis of the intentions and strategies behind the design of
Title: Design of Cities
Author: Edmund N. Bacon
Publisher: Penguin Books
Publication Date: May 1, 1976
(revised edition)
ISBN: 0140042369
Suggested by: Patricia
Pizer
Comments: “How cities are designed
and function over history.”
Title: The
Illusion of Life: Disney Animation
Author: Ollie Johnston, Frank
Thomas
Publisher: Disney Editions
Publication Date:
October 19, 1995 (revised edition)
ISBN: 0786860707
Suggested
by: Hal Barwood
Comments: A great
coffee table book by two famous pros and a standard teaching text.
Title: A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings,
Construction
Author: Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray
Silverstein
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication
Date: 1977
ISBN: 0195019199
Suggested by: Mark Terrano
Comments: Warren Spector recommends everything by Christopher Alexander:
“Alexander’s
Title: A Visual Dictionary of Architecture (Second Edition)
Author: Francis D.K. Ching
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Publication
Date: 2012
ISBN: 0470648856
Suggested by: Raph Koster
Title: Blockbusters: The Five Keys to Developing
GREAT New Products
Author: Gary S. Lynn, Richard R. Reilly
Publisher: HarperBusiness
Publication Date: October 1, 2002
ISBN: 0060084731
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Comments: “Statistical
analysis across industries analyzing teams that built blockbuster products.”
Title: The Change Monster: The Human Forces that Fuel or Foil
Corporate Transformation and Change
Author: Jeanie Daniel
Duck
Publisher: Three
Rivers Press
Publication
Date: August 13, 2002 (first paperback
edition)
ISBN:
0609808818
Suggested
by: Gordon Walton
Title:
Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It
Author: Al Ries
Publisher: HarperBusiness
Publication Date: June 18, 1997
ISBN: 0887308635
Suggested by: Scott Miller
Comments: “For anyone running a business.”
Title: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others
Don't
Author: Jim Collins
Publisher: HarperBusiness
Publication Date: October 16, 2001
ISBN: 0066620996
Suggested by: Scott Miller
Title: Hardball: Are You Playing to
Play or Playing to Win
Author: George Stalk, Rob Lachenauer, John Butman
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Publication Date:
September 2004
ISBN: 1591391679
Suggested by: Gordon
Walton
Comments: “The title says it all; pretty interesting
analysis.”
Title: The Medici Effect:
Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures
Author: Frans Johansson
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Publication Date: Sept 2004
ISBN: 1591391865
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Comments: “Some nice prescriptions for innovation and how to
innovate.”
Title: The Only Sustainable Edge:
Why Business Strategy Depends on Productive Friction and Dynamic Specialization
Author: John Hagel III, John Seely Brown
Publisher: Harvard Business School
Press
Publication Date: May 2005
ISBN: 1591397200
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Comments: “Want to know how to
use the power of outsourcing/overseeing stuff while focusing on your real
differentiation? Read this book.”
Title: The
Power of Unfair Advantage: How to Create It, Build it, and Use It to Maximum
Effect
Author: John L. Nesheim
Publisher: Free Press
Publication Date: May 2005
ISBN: 0743256050
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Comments: “A must read for anyone starting a company, but just as
important for people making a game.”
Title:
Visionary's Handbook: Nine Paradoxes That Will Shape the Future of Your Business
Author: Watts Wacker, Jim Taylor
Publisher: HarperBusiness
Publication Date: August 1, 2001
ISBN: 0066619882
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Comments: “Kinda out there. Megatrends of the
coming decades.”
Title: The World Is Flat: A
Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
Author: Thomas L. Friedman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication Date:
2005
ISBN: 0374292884
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Comments: “I think this is an important book, as it is a great
illustration of where we are, how we got here and where we might be going as
people and nations.
Fascinating.”
Communities,
Networks and Cyberspace
Title:
Author: Amy Jo Kim
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Publication Date: April 6, 2000
ISBN: 0201874849
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Title: Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace
Author: Janet H. Murray
Publisher: The MIT Press
Publication Date: August 27, 1998
ISBN: 0262631873
Suggested by: Susan O’Connor
Comments: “Invention of vocabularies for new technologies. Each art form has its incunabula period, where they don’t know what they’re dealing with.” “Just read the first five chapters.” – Lee Sheldon
Title: Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet
Author: Sherry Turkle
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: September 4, 1997 (reprint edition)
ISBN: 0684833484
Suggested by: Sheri Ray
Title: My Tiny Life: Crime and Passion in a Virtual World
Author: Julian Dibbell
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Publication Date: January 1, 1999
ISBN: 0805036261
Suggested by: Lee Sheldon
Comments: “Introduction to how people behave when there is an anonymous shroud over them.”
Title: Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks
Author: Mark Buchanan
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication Date: May 1, 2002
ISBN: 0393041530
Suggested by: Patricia Pizer
Comments: “Helps you understand your player.”
Title: Remediation:
Understanding New Media
Author: Jay David
Bolter, Richard Grusin
Publisher: The MIT
Press
Publication Date:
February 28, 2000
ISBN:
0262522799
Suggested by: Mark
Terrano
Title: The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit
Author: Sherry Turkle
Publisher: Touchstone Books
Publication Date: September 1, 1985 (reprint edition)
ISBN: 0671606026
Suggested by: Sheri Ray
Comments: “How people relate to technology.”
Title: Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age
Author: Duncan J. Watts
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication Date: February 2003
ISBN: 0393041425
Suggested by: Patricia Pizer
Comments: “Research based on six degrees of separation. Then goes way beyond existing research.”
Title: Don Quixote
Author: Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Tobias Smollett
Publisher: Modern Library
Publication Date: April 10, 2001
ISBN: 037575699X
Suggested by: Lee Sheldon
Comments: “The first true novel. Picaresque format. Surprisingly non-linear; things happen in modular scenes that can be shifted around. You still get to the end with the death scene where he thinks he hasn’t proved chivalry.”
Title:
Author: Larry Niven, Steven Barnes
Publisher: Ace Books
Publication Date: March 25, 2003 (reissue edition)
ISBN: 0441167306
Suggested by: Corey Cole
Comments: “Fiction about a virtual world.”
Title: Ender’s Game
Author: Orson Scott Card
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date: July 1, 1994 (reprint edition)
ISBN: 0812550706
Suggested by: David Fox
Comments: “Especially the giant’s game within the novel.”
Title: The Glass Bead Game (Magister
Ludi)
Author: Herman Hesse
Publisher:
Picador
Publication Date: 1943
ISBN:
0312278496
Suggested by: Brian Moriarty
Comments: “A
magnificent novel, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946, featuring a
delightful game-religion that oddly prefigures the Web, sort of. Many people
have attempted to implement Hesse's Glass Bead Game themselves, a goal about as
likely to succeed as reverse-engineering Wells' Time Machine."
Title: Goodbye Mickey
Mouse
Author: Len Deighton
Publisher:
HarperCollins
Publication Date:
1983
ISBN:
0586054480
Suggested by: Hal
Barwood
Title: Snow Crash
Author: Neal Stephenson
Publisher: Spectra
Publication Date: May 2, 2000 (Spectra edition)
ISBN: 0553380958
Suggested by: Patricia Pizer
Comments: “Cyberpunk fiction. You have to read it.”
Title: Tigana
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Publisher:
Roc
Publication Date:
1990
ISBN:
0451457765
Suggested by: Ken
Rolston
Title: Trouble and Her Friends
Author: Melissa Scott
Publisher: Tor Books;
Publication Date: November 1, 1998 (reprint edition)
ISBN: 0812522133
Suggested by: Patricia Pizer
Comments: “Interesting look at cyberspace. Interface issues that are interesting. Towns with bulletin board.”
Title: True Names: And the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier
Author: Vernor Vinge, James Frenkel
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date: 1981 (original publication); December 2001 (reprint edition)
ISBN: 0312862075
Suggested by: Patricia Pizer
Comments: “Fiction about pseudonymity.”
Title: The Worlock of
Author: Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone
Publisher: I Books
Publication Date: October 1, 2003
ISBN: 0743475119
Suggested by: Noah Falstein
Comments: “Any of the books in Steve Jackson’s Fighting Fantasy Gamebook series. Like a choose-your-own-adventure book.”
Title: Adventures in the Screen Trade
Author: William Goldman
Publisher: Warner Books
Publication Date: 1983; March 10, 1989 (reissue edition)
ISBN: 0446391174
Suggested by:
Comments:
Excellent lore about the experience of writing movies by one who knows. “The
sequel (so to speak), Which Lie Did I
Tell?, is also great.” –
Title: Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen
Author: Steven Katz
Publisher: Michael Wiese
Publication Date: July 31, 1991
ISBN: 0941188108
Suggested by:
Comments: Standard tome on basic directorial technique; having this kind of knowledge about movies is like knowing the theory of chord progression in music – it’s important.
Title: Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, the Film That Sank United Artists
Author: Steven Bach
Publisher:
Publication Date: September 1, 1999 (revised edition)
ISBN: 1557043744
Suggested by:
Comments: What
it’s like to watch a studio collapse; excellent account of life in
Title: The Five C's of Cinematography: Motion Picture Filming Techniques
Author: Joseph V. Mascelli
Publisher: Silman-James Press
Publication Date: June 1, 1998
ISBN: 187950541X
Suggested by:
Comments: How to make movies dynamically expressive.
Title: Grammar of Film Language
Author: Daniel Arijon
Publisher: Silman-James Press
Publication Date: September 1, 1991 (reprint edition)
ISBN: 187950507X
Suggested by:
Comments: Alternate standard tome on directorial technique for movies; deeper than Katz.
Title: Making Movies Work: Thinking Like a Filmmaker
Author: Jon Boorstin
Publisher: Silman-James Press
Publication Date: December 1, 1995
ISBN: 1879505274
Suggested by:
Comments:
Psychology (overlaps with
Title: Story Sense: A Screenwriter's Guide for Film and Television
Author: Paul Lucey
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
Publication Date: January 1, 1996
ISBN: 0070389969
Suggested by: Scott Miller
Comments: “Same
problem as with McKee; useful to a point.” –
Title: Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting
Author: Robert McKee
Publisher: Regan Books
Publication Date: December 17, 1997
ISBN: 0060391685
Suggested by:
Comments:
“Although a screenwriting text, a lot of the lessons about storytelling are
adaptable to games.” –
Game Development and Industry
History
Author: Steve Swink
Publisher: CRC Press
Publication Date: October 13, 2008
ASIN: B012YSD01G
Suggested by: Ray Holmes
Comments:
Author: Brian Upton
Publisher: The MIT Press
Publication Date: March 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-0262028516
Suggested by: Chris Foster
Comments: "I put it along side Uncertainty in Games as a book that provides thoughtful analysis of a fundamental issue of gamemaking in a highly practical and usable form."
Author: Jesse Schell
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
Publication Date: August 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0123694966
Suggested by: many
Comments: "Brilliant, and I
particularly love the way he focuses on teaching how a designer thinks instead
of dwelling on the more prosaic aspects of the job. There are other good books
for those but Jesse does more to describe the internal process than anything
I've seen by a long shot. I've been hearing people praise his designer
graduates for years now, and I have a much better understanding of why after
reading his book."
Title: Central Casting: Heroes
Now!
Author: Paul Jaquays, Randall G. Kuipers, John
Terra
Publisher: Task Force
Games
Publication Date:
1991
ISBN:
0922335117
Suggested by: Jurie Horneman
Comments: “It contains a cool system for generating heroes, with backstories.”
Title: Character
Development and Storytelling for Games
Author: Lee
Sheldon
Publisher: Course
Technology PTR
Publication Date:
June 2004
ISBN:
1592003532
Suggested by: Steve
Meretzky
Title: Creating Emotion in Games: The Craft and Art
of Emotioneering
Author: David
Freeman
Publisher: New
Riders
Publication Date:
September 15, 2003
ISBN:
1592730078
Suggested by: Gordon
Walton
Comments: “People who
are on the gdworkshop mailing list will know that
there’s been a lot of heated discussion about this book, by both proponents and
opponents.”
Title: Designing Virtual Worlds
Author: Richard Bartle
Publisher: New Riders Games
Publication Date: July 15, 2003
ISBN: 0131018167
Suggested by: Lee Sheldon
Comments: “Bartle designed the first MUD.”
Title: Developing Online Games: An Insider's Guide
Author: Jessica Mulligan
Publisher: New Riders Games
Publication Date: March 7, 2003
ISBN: 1592730000
Suggested by: Susan O’Connor
Comments: “I
disagree with the early chapters, but the post-launch stuff is great.” –
Title: Game Architecture and Design: A New Edition
Author: Andrew Rollings, Dave Morris
Publisher: New Riders
Publication Date: October 24, 2003
ISBN: 0735713634
Suggested by: Mike Pondsmith
Comments: “I took away a lot of useful ideas.” – Corey Cole
Title: Game Design:
The Art and Business of Creating Games
Author:
Publisher: Course
Technology PTR
Publication Date:
April 2002
ISBN:
0761531653
Suggested by: Lee
Sheldon
Title: Game Developer’s Market Guide
Author:
Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade
Publication Date: September 1, 2003
ISBN: 1592001041
Suggested by: Steve Meretzky
Title: Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and EnslavedYour Children
Author: David Sheff
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: April 27, 1993
ISBN: 0679404694
Suggested by:
Comments: In spite of the stupid title, excellent history of Nintendo that resembles a Kurosawa movie.
Title: Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
Author: Steven Levy
Publisher: Penguin Putnam
Publication Date: January 2, 2001 (updated edition)
ISBN: 0141000511
Suggested by:
Comments: Especially part three, a look at the early days of Sierra Online
Title: Massively Multiplayer Game
Author: Thor Alexander (editor)
Publisher:
Publication Date: February 14, 2003
ISBN: 1584502436
Suggested by: Patricia Pizer
Comments: “A
compilation of articles by many authors. Good for browsing. The
Author: Zack Hiwiller
Publisher: New Riders
Publication Date: December 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-0134396750
Suggested by: Chris Foster, Brian Moriarty
Comments: "I use this book in my game design course, along side Jesse Schell's. It delves
deeper into some topics, and provides practical advice that nicely
complements the somewhat philosophical take of The Art of Game Design." "I've adopted Hiwiller for some of my courses as well. It's a compendium of many essential concepts from previous
literature (MDA, Rules of Play, etc), peppered with useful and
refreshingly frank insights from Zack's own professional and
academic experience. Though I have quibbles with a few of his claims ("Flow" is the
Fundamental Game Design Directive (the initial caps are his)?
Seriously? Let's talk about Train ...), it's the best
single volume on the topic I've come across."
Title: A Theory of
Fun for Game Design
Author: Raph Koster
Publisher: Paraglyph
Publication Date:
November 2004
ISBN:
1932111972
Suggested by: Lee
Sheldon
Title: The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon--The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World
Author: Steven L. Kent
Publisher: Prima Lifestyles
Publication Date: October 2, 2001
ISBN: 0761536434
Suggested by:
Comments: Actually more of a history of companies than games, but with excellent personal anecdotes in abundance.
Title: Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games (Fourth Edition)
Author: Tracy Fullerton
Publisher: A K Peters/CRC Press
Publication Date: 2018
ISBN: 9781138098770
Suggested by:
Comments: The best introductory text for the design process.
Title: A Game Design Vocabulary: Exploring the Foundational Principles Behind Good Game Design
Author: Anna Anthropy and Naomi Clark
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Publication Date: 2014
ASIN: B00IJYFDPG
Suggested by:
Comments: Very accessible yet solid on fundmentals.
Title: Challenges for Game Designers: Non-Digital Exercises for Video Game Designers
Author: Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Publication Date: 2008
ISBN: 1542453313
Suggested by:
Comments: A great book for "stretching" your skills.
Title: Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals
Author: Katie Salen Tekinbas and Eric Zimmerman
Publisher: MIT Press
Publication Date: 2003
ISBN: 0262240459
Suggested by:
Comments: The foundational book for modern formal study of games.
Title: Characteristics of Games
Author: George Elias, Richard Garfield, and K. Robert Gutschera
Publisher: MIT Press
Publication Date: 2020
ISBN: 0262542692
Suggested by:
Comments: Solid overview of the larger scale patterns of game design.
Title: Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design (Voices That Matter)
Author: Ernest Adams and Joris Dormans
Publisher: New Riders
Publication Date: 2012
ASIN: B008CG8E8Y
Suggested by:
Comments: For those digging deep into formal structure of economic-style systems.
Title: Advanced Game Design: A Systems Approach
Author: Mike Sellers
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Publication Date: 2017
ISBN: 0134667603
Suggested by:
Comments: A systems dynamics approach.
Title: Uncertainty in Games (Playful Thinking)
Author: Greg Costikyan
Publisher: MIT Press
Publication Date: 2015
ISBN: 0262527537
Suggested by:
Comments: The best book about randomness.
Title: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse
in the Age of Show Business
Author: Neil
Postman
Publisher: Penguin
Books
Publication Date:
November 1, 1986
ISBN:
0140094385
Suggested by:
Title: The Art of War
Author: Sun Tzu, translated by Thomas Cleary
Publisher: Shambhala
Publication Date: May 7, 1991 (reprint edition)
ISBN: 0877735379
Suggested by:
Comments: Deep thoughts on armed conflict set forth in very simple terms.
Title: Collapse: How
Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Author: Jared
Diamond
Publisher: Viking
Adult
Publication Date: December 2004
ISBN:
0670033375
Suggested by:
Comments: “A great
overview of the record of societies that have suffered collapse, and the factors
that contribute. Like his earlier book Gun, Germs, and Steel, this is a
must-read for game designers.”
Title: Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's
Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter
Author: Steven
Johnson
Publisher:
Riverhead
Publication Date: May
2005
ISBN:
1573223077
Suggested by:
Comments: “Fascinating look at the evolution of entertainment overall, with good coverage of electronic gaming. Must-read for game developers.”
Title: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of
Everything
Author: Steven D.
Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
Publisher: William
Morrow
Publication Date: May
1, 2005
ISBN:
006073132X
Suggested by:
Comments: “I
have added this to my list of books that all of my MMP designers should read.
Using economic / incentive models to tear down a problem to its purest core is
exactly what designers should be thinking of when they design systems for large
groups of people. Agree with the book or not, it is a great mindset to get
into.”
Title: The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why
Author: Richard Nisbett
Publisher: Free Press
Publication Date: March 2003
ISBN: 0743216466
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Comments: “Pretty important if you want to understand other cultures; particularly good on the West and East differences.”
Title: Guns, Germs,
and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Author: Jared
Diamond
Publisher: W. W.
Norton & Company
Publication Date:
April 1999
ISBN:
0393317552
Suggested by: Warren
Spector
Comments: “I
preferred this to [Diamond’s book] Collapse, although both are useful for
game designers.”
Title: A History of Warfare
Author: John Keegan
Publisher: Vintage
Publication Date: November 1, 1994
ISBN: 0679730826
Suggested by: Mark Terrano
Title: The Prince
Author: Niccolo Machiavelli, translated by Daniel Donno
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: August 1, 1984 (reissue edition)
ISBN: 0553212788
Suggested by: Mark Terrano
Title: The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are
Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies,
Societies and Nations
Author: James Surowiecki
Publisher:
Doubleday
Publication Date: May
2004
ISBN:
0385503865
Suggested by:
Comments: “The
subtitle sums it up.”
Title: The Anatomy of Buzz: How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing
Author: Emanuel Rosen
Publisher: Currency
Publication Date: April 16, 2002
ISBN: 0385496680
Suggested by: Scott Miller
Title: Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
Author: W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Publication Date: February 3, 2005
ISBN: 978-1591396192
Suggested by: Steve
Meretzky
Comments: “A great way to think about new ways of
positioning games in the marketplace. Possibly, a way to get away from the
me-too-timidity of most of the game industry. I’ve already based one lecture on
the principles of this book, and we are also making Red Ocean/Blue Ocean the
theme of the 2009 Casual Game Summit.”
Title: Buzzmarketing: Get People to Talk About Your Stuff
Author: Mark Hughes
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
Publication Date: July 2005
ISBN: 1591840929
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Comments: “My new second favorite viral marketing book (after Secrets of Word of Mouth Marketing), gives you some easy to understand tools to use in incorporating viral marketing into your products.”
Title: The
Clustering of
Author: Michael J. Weiss
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: October 1, 1989 (reprint edition)
ISBN: 0060915994
Suggested by: Mike Pondsmith
Comments: “Good idea of marketing structure. A little outdated.”
Title: The Deviant's Advantage: How to Use Fringe Ideas to Create Mass Markets
Author: Ryan
Matthews,
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Publication Date: March 23, 2004
ISBN: 1400050006
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Comments: “How fringe ideas get to mass markets. How products and ideas start way out on the edge and how they move into the mainstream.”
Title: Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values
and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for
Progressives
Author: George Lakoff, Howard Dean
Publisher: Chelsea
Green Publishing Company
Publication Date:
September 2004
ISBN:
1931498717
Suggested by: Gordon
Walton
Comments: “Pertinent to how we should be framing our message about gaming.” “I just read this. An important book for learning about how Republicans manage to keep cobbling together a slight majority despite being wrong on virtually every issue. But I don’t see a lot of applicability to game design, unless you want to try – as a few of us have – to use games to help shape political opinion.” – Steve Meretzky
Title: Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business
Author: Jay Conrad Levinson
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date: October 21, 1998 (third edition)
ISBN: 0395906253
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Title: How Hits Happen: Forecasting Predictability in a Chaotic Marketplace
Author: Winslow Farrell
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: July 1, 1998
ISBN: 0887309070
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Comments: “Great stuff about the word of mouth process of making a hit.”
Title: Marketing Outrageously
Author: Jon Spoelstra
Publisher: Bard Press
Publication Date: July 9, 2001
ISBN: 1885167504
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Title: The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less
Author: Barry Schwartz
Publisher: Ecco
Publication Date: January 1, 2004
ISBN: 0060005688
Suggested by:
Comments: Mostly about how too many choices in the marketplace (supermarket shelves, electricity deregulation, financial instruments, medical care) but with some lessons that can be applied to games. Lots about the psychology of decision-making.
Title: Positioning: The
Author: Al Ries, Jack Trout
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Publication Date: December 13, 2000
ISBN: 0071373586
Suggested by: Scott Miller
Comments: “Everything our company does is based on this. I credit the success of our company to this book.” Enthusiastically seconded by Gordon Walton and Mike Pondsmith.
Title: Powerful Products: Strategic Management of
Successful New Product Development
Author: Roger Bean,
Russell Radford
Publisher:
AMACOM
Publication Date: May
15, 2000
ISBN:
0814405665
Suggested by: Gordon
Walton
Title: Purple Cow:
Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
Author: Seth Godin
Publisher:
Portfolio
Publication Date:
May, 2003
ISBN:
159184021X
Suggested by:
Title: The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing: How to Trigger Exponential Sales Through Runaway Word of Mouth
Author: George Silverman
Publisher: American Management Association
Publication Date: April 2001
ISBN: 0814470726
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Comments: “Best book this year… no way you can read that and not make your games better.”
Title: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Publisher:
Publication Date: January 7, 2002
ISBN: 0316346624
Suggested by: Susan O’Connor
Comments: Warren Spector: “Better than Blink, I think.”
Title: Virtuous Reality: How
Author: Jon
Katz
Publisher: Random
House
Publication Date:
January 1997
ISBN:
0679449132
Suggested by: Warren
Spector
Title: Thinker Toys
Author: Michael Michalko
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Publication Date: June 8, 2006
ISBN: 9781580087735
Suggested by:
Comments: A chest of tools for creative thinkers.
Title: Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Author: Douglas Hofstadter
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication Date: 1979
ISBN: 0465026567
Suggested by:
Comments: Deep thinking. Genius analogies. (Like Zen and the Art.) With this one, you need to read a page, then let it digest, but man did it inspire me many times.
Title: Comics & Sequential Art
Author: Will Eisner
Publisher: Poorhouse Press
Publication Date: November 1, 1985
ISBN: 0961472812
Suggested by:
Comments: An earlier treatise on comic book design by a master and teacher.
Author: James P. Carse
Publisher:
Ballantine
Publication Date: 1987
ISBN:
0345341848
Suggested by: Brian Moriarty
Comments: “Is it an
elite design primer? Philosophy? A religious treatise? I turn to this again and
again. Wish I wrote it."
Title: The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the
Author: Simon
Winchester
Publisher:
Publication Date:
October, 2004
ISBN:
019517500X
Suggested by: Lee
Sheldon
Comments: “Witty, fascinating, and easily readable story of the tortuous compiling of the Oxford English Dictionary.”
Title: NewMedia Magazine Puzzle Workout: A Multi-Dimensional Exercise Program for Your Mind
Author: Scott Kim
Publisher: Random House Information Group
Publication Date: October 25, 1994
ISBN: 0679755950
Suggested by:
Comments: A collection of Scott’s puzzle columns from New Media magazine. Great stuff for casual game brainstorming, or for puzzle-based games.
Title:
Author: Charles Perrow
Publisher:
Publication Date:
September 1999 (Updated Edition)
ISBN:
0691004129
Suggested by: Zeb Cook
Comments: “This builds the theory that there is a special type of
accident, a ‘normal’ or system accident that occurs in complicated technologies,
caused by the interactions and failures of small things in ways that create
results that can’t be anticipated, predicted, or even understood at the time
they occur. Perversely, adding more safety and backup systems can actually
increase the risk of a system accident. While he focuses on big engineering
projects – nuclear power plants, air traffic control – there is a lot of useful
info for designers about how complex systems interact and create unpredictable
results. If nothing else, it is a good book to remind us of the value of KISS as
we map out our projects.”
Title: Understanding Comics
Author: Scott McCloud
Publisher: Perennial Currents
Publication Date: April 27, 1994 (reprint edition)
ISBN: 006097625X
Suggested by:
Comments: First recommended to me by Chris Crawford. Both an excellent analysis of a medium that has some key touchstones with our own medium, as well as a blueprint for how to deconstruct and analyze any art form. McCloud has spoken at several GDCs and drawn large crowds. “More entertaining than any comic and a wonderful treatise on visual aesthetics.” – Hal Barwood
Title: VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice-Over
Actor
Author: Harlan
Hogan
Publisher:
Watson-Guptill Publications
Publication Date:
November 2002
ISBN:
1581152493
Suggested by: Al Lowe
“Social Mobs” (?) – Mike Pondsmith
“Understanding Behavioral Psychology” (?) – Mike Pondsmith
Title: The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
Author: Steven Pinker
Publisher: Penguin Putnam
Publication Date: September 26, 2002
ISBN: 0670031518
Suggested by:
Comments: Locke versus Hobbes, and Hobbes was right. Disturbing, quirky, wonderful book.
Title: Blink: The
Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Publisher: Little,
Brown
Publication Date:
January 2005
ISBN:
0316172324
Suggested by:
Comments: “Like his
earlier book, The Tipping Point, this will make you look at the world
differently. Microexpressions, unconscious
associations, autism, and more.” “Mostly, this is a warning about the pitfalls
of trusting the ‘adaptive unconscious.’ This is a terrific cognitive psychology
book masquerading as a business book, full of stunning anecdotes and examples of
our cognitive powers and limitations.” – Hal Barwood
Title: Eye to Eye: How People
Interact
Author: Peter
Marsh
Publisher:
Publication Date: May
1, 1991
ISBN:
0881623717
Suggested by: Mark
Terrano
Comments: This book
is an amazing compilation of research filled with hundreds of clear pictures and
diagrams. An extremely useful book for designers – there is condensed
information on social groups, eye contact and speaking distance, reading facial
expressions, marking territory, and much more. Every page seemed to have a
useful game design topic.
Title: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Author: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Publisher: Perennial
Publication Date: March 13, 1991 (reprint edition)
ISBN: 0060920432
Suggested by: Noah Falstein
Comments: “Helpful in understanding how people think.” – Noah Falstein; “Happiness can be analyzed and engineered, and fun has a psychological structure.” – Hal Barwood. Also on Nicole Lazzaro’s list of “suggested first reads on interface design, usability, emotion, games, storytelling, and more” – see www.xeodesign.com/topshelf.html.
Title: Homo Ludens
Author: Johan Huizinga
Publisher: Beacon
Press
Publication Date:
1955
ISBN:
none
Suggested by: Hal
Barwood
Comments: “Originally published in 1944 and later translated. Excellent intro to the concept of play, its prominence in human activity, and how traces of the impulse are found in many of society's structures, especially the military and the law. Very good discussion of poetry (and by extension, all the arts) as species of play. Tough to track these down at Borders, but I found a cheap copies through the usual Amazon used bookstore allies without any trouble.”
Title: How the Mind Works
Author: Steven Pinker
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company
Publication Date: January 1, 1999
ISBN: 0393318486
Suggested by: Noah Falstein
Comments:
“Modules in the mind, what they do, and what games should hit.” – Noah Falstein; “What evolutionary psychology has learned about
the mind inside our brains.” –
Title: Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy,
Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence
Author: Gerard
Jones
Publisher: Basic
Books
Publication Date: May
2003
ISBN:
0465036961
Suggested by: Warren
Spector
Comments:
Title: The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
Author: Steven Pinker
Publisher: Perennial
Publication Date: November 7, 2000
ISBN: 0060958332
Suggested by:
Comments: It’s nice to know that double negatives are grammatical and the niceties of usage debated in newspaper grammar columns are merely etiquette.
Title: Man, Play and
Games
Author: Roger Caillois
Publisher:
Publication Date:
2001 Reprint of a 1958 Issue
ISBN:
0-252-07033-X
Suggested by: Hal
Barwood
Comments: “Original French title is Les Jeux et les Hommes. A very clear and useful analysis of play types, ways of playing, and combinations of elements. Example: Caillois distinguishes 4 types of play, competition, chance, simulation, vertigo. Like Huizinga (Homo Ludens), he's interested in establishing how societies form around certain play concepts and when they evolve, how they move on to others in various combos, for good and ill. Tough to track these down at Borders, but I found a cheap copies through the usual Amazon used bookstore allies without any trouble.”
Title: Play
Author: Catherine Garvey
Publisher:
Publication Date: November 1, 1990 (enlarged edition)
ISBN: 0674673654
Suggested by: Sherri Ray
Title: Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types
Author: David Keirsey, Marilyn Bates
Publisher: Prometheus Nemesis Book Company
Publication Date: November 1, 1984 (third edition)
ISBN: 0960695400
Suggested by: Lori Cole
Comments: “Myers-Briggs test popularized. How people think differently. Shows why some games fail because they went for the wrong audience. Helps with team dynamics.”
Title: The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales
Author: Bruno Bettleheim
Publisher: Vintage
Publication Date: April 23, 1989 (reissue edition)
ISBN: 0679723935
Suggested by:
Comments: How fairy tales work; in other words, why it’s good for young minds to encounter the dark side of life indirectly; Freudian in a good way.
Title: What Video Games Have to Teach Us About
Learning and Literacy
Author: James Paul
Gee
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Publication Date: May
7, 2004
ISBN:
1403965382
Suggested by: Eric
Goldberg
Title: Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language
Author: Steven Pinker
Publisher: Perennial
Publication Date: January 15, 2000
ISBN: 0060958405
Suggested by:
Comments: Irregular verbs and what they tell us about our mental powers.
A good dictionary for reference – Lee Sheldon
Foreign dictionaries, especially Latin –
A good baby name book, for naming characters –
Title:
Author: John Bartlett
Publisher: Little, Brown
Publication Date: November 2002 (17th edition)
ISBN: 0316084603
Suggested by:
Comments: Sprinkling a game, or documentation, with authentic quotes can give you and your game an air of intellectualism and class (undeserved, of course, but what the hell!) It’s also great for title ideas.
Title: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR
Author: none
Publisher: American Psychiatric Association
Publication Date: June 2000 (fourth edition)
ISBN: 0890420254
Suggested by:
Title: The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition
Author: William Strunk Jr., E. B. White, Roger Angell
Publisher: Longman
Publication Date: January 15, 2000 (fourth edition)
ISBN: 020530902X
Suggested by: Lee Sheldon
Title: Glossary of Literary Terms
Author: M. H. Abrams
Publisher: Heinle
Publication Date: 1957; November 18, 1998 (seventh edition)
ISBN: 015505452X
Suggested by:
Title: The Macmillan Visual Dictionary
Author: Jean-Claude Corbeil, Ariane Archambault
Publisher:
Webster's
Publication Date: October 14, 1992 (first American edition)
ISBN: 0025281607
Suggested by:
Comments: I have several visual dictionaries and this is by far the best one. Useful for a 1,001 different reasons.
Title: Microsoft Bookshelf 2000
Author: n.a.
Publisher: Microsoft
Publication Date: October 24, 1999
ISBN: n.a.
Suggested by: Noah Falstein
Comments:
“Quotes, atlas, useful as a brainstorming tool.” “The thesaurus alone is worth
the price; the dictionary ain’t bad either; it will
cut down thumb-trips through a paper thesaurus by 90%; not bad.” –
Title: The New Games Treasury: More Than 500 Indoor and Outdoor Favorites With Strategies, Rules, and Traditions
Author: Merilyn Simonds Mohr
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date: September 1, 1997
ISBN: 1576300587
Suggested by:
Comments: Rules of hundreds of board games, card games, sports, and so forth, but more than that a history of each game, a strategy guide, variations, and more. Copious diagrams.
Title: Sizes
Author: John Lord
Publisher: Perennial
Publication Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 0062732285
Suggested by:
Comments: Incredibly fun book; sort of a book of lists, but entirely size-related. Everything from biblical measurements to knitting needle sizes to the scoville system for rating the hotness of peppers.
Title: The Slang Thesaurus
Author: Jonathon Green
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: 1986; June 1, 1990 (reprint edition)
ISBN: 0140512055
Suggested by:
Comments: Actually works, although all books like this date quickly.
Title: The Thesaurus of Slang
Author: Ester Lewin, Albert E. Lewin, Esther Lewin
Publisher: Facts on File
Publication Date: August 1, 1997 (revised expanded edition)
ISBN: 0816028982
Suggested by:
Comments: Alternative to Jonathon Green, also actually works, also dating quickly.
Title: The Writer’s Grammar Guide
Author: Jane Walpole
Publisher: Fireside
Publication Date: October 18, 1984 (reissue edition)
ISBN: 0671530461
Suggested by:
Comments: Get this or its equivalent, just in case.
Software Management and Team
Leadership
Title: 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player: Becoming the Kind of Person Every Team Wants
Author: John C. Maxwell
Publisher: Nelson Books
Publication Date: January 8, 2002
ISBN: 0785274359
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Title: Agile Software
Development
Author: Alistair
Cockburn
Publisher:
Addison-Wesley
Publication Date:
December 15, 2001
ISBN:
0201699699
Suggested by: Gordon
Walton
Title: Agile Software
Development with SCRUM
Author: Ken
Schwaber, Mike Beedle
Publisher: Prentice
Hall
Publication Date:
October 2001
ISBN:
0130676349
Suggested by:
Paul Stephanouk
Comments: “Our group [at the workshop] was just talking about using the SCRUM process. Here’s a link to a good overview: http://www.controlchaos.com/about/. The book is worth picking up.”
Title: Are Your
Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is
Author: Gerald Weinberg
Publisher: Dorset House Publishing Company
Publication Date: March 1990
ISBN: 0932633161
Suggested by: Jurie Horneman
Comments: “Another book by Weinberg on
defining your problem before you try solving it.”
Title: Code Complete, Second Edition
Author: Steve McConnell
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Publication Date: June 2004 (second edition)
ISBN: 0735619670
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Comments: “The producer’s bible.” – Ellen Beeman.
Title: Death March, Second Edition
Author: Edward Yourdon
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Publication Date: December 7, 2003 (second edition)
ISBN: 013143635X
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Title: Dynamics of
Software Development
Author: Jim
McCarthy
Publisher: Microsoft
Press
Publication Date:
August 1, 1995
ISBN:
1556158238
Suggested by: Gordon
Walton
Title: Exploring
Requirements: Quality Before Design
Author: Gerald Weinberg
Publisher: Dorset House Publishing Company
Publication Date: September, 1989
ISBN: 0932633137
Suggested by: Jurie Horneman
Comments: “This is an excellent book on
general problem-solving and design, independent of any particular field.”
Title: Extreme
Programming Explained: Embrace Change
Author: Kent
Beck
Publisher:
Addison-Wesley
Publication Date:
October 5, 1999
ISBN:
0201616416
Suggested by: Gordon
Walton
Title: First, Break All the Rules: What the World's
Greatest Managers Do Differently
Author: Marcus
Buckingham, Curt Coffman
Publisher: Simon
& Schuster
Publication Date: May
5, 1999
ISBN:
0684852861
Suggested by: Gordon
Walton
Title: A Good Hard Kick in the Ass: Basic Training for Entrepreneurs
Author: Rob Adams
Publisher: Crown Business
Publication Date: January 29, 2002
ISBN: 0609609505
Suggested by:
Comments: “About running a start-up.”
Title: Hot Groups: Seeding Them, Feeding Them, and Using Them to Ignite Your Organization
Author: Jean Lipman-Blumen, Harold J. Leavitt
Publisher:
Publication Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0195144058
Suggested by: Susan O’Connor
Comments: “A team-building book by the writing team from Hill Street Blues.”
Title: Leadership and the One Minute Manager:
Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational
Leadership
Author: Ken
Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi
Publisher: William
Morrow
Publication Date:
October 6, 1999
ISBN:
0688039693
Suggested by: Gordon
Walton
Title: Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative
Collaboration
Author: Warren Bennis, Patricia Ward Biederman
Publisher: Perseus Books Group
Publication Date:
June 1, 1998
ISBN:
0201339897
Suggested by: Gordon
Walton
Title: Patton on Leadership
Author: Alan Axelrod
Publisher: Prentice Hall Art
Publication Date: August 28, 2001 (reissue edition)
ISBN: 0735202974
Suggested by: Scott Miller
Title: Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams
Author: Tom Demarco, Timothy
Lister
Publisher:
Publication Date: February 1, 1999 (second edition)
ISBN: 0932633439
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Title: Rapid
Author: Steve McConnell
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Publication Date: July 2, 1996
ISBN: 1556159005
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Comments: “Everything McConnell writes is useful.”
Title: Software for Your Head: Core Protocols for Creating and Maintaining Shared Vision
Author: Jim McCarthy, Michele McCarthy
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Publication Date: December 27, 2001
ISBN: 0201604566
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Title: Software
Project Survival Guide
Author: Steve
McConnell
Publisher: Microsoft
Press
Publication Date:
November 14, 1997
ISBN:
1572316217
Suggested by: Gordon
Walton
Title: Software
Requirements, Second Edition
Author: Karl Wiegers
Publisher: Microsoft
Press
Publication Date:
February 26, 2003 (second edition)
ISBN:
0735618798
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Title: Directing Video Games: 101 Tips for Creative Leaders
Author: Brian Allgeier
Publisher: Illusion Road
Publication Date: 2017
ISBN: 0998637513
Suggested by:
Comments: Basically about leadership and creative vision.
Title: Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity
Author: Jakob Nielsen
Publisher: New Riders Press
Publication Date: December 20, 1999
ISBN: 156205810X
Suggested by:
Title: The Design of Everyday Things
Author: Donald A. Norman
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication Date: September 17, 2002
ISBN: 0465067107
Suggested by:
Comments: “The
importance of usability in amazing detail, with great examples.” –
Title: Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach
to Web Usability
Author: Steve
Krug
Publisher: New Riders
Press
Publication Date:
August 2005 (Second Edition)
ISBN:
0321344758
Suggested by: Hal
Barwood
Comments: “Not all of us are excited by Web design, but as designers we’re all interested in usability and its many dimensions. This book is just excellent, lean on words and long on instructive illustrations.”
Title: Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things
Author: Donald A. Norman
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication Date: December 23, 2003
ISBN: 0465051359
Suggested by:
Comments: The importance of psychological factors in design beyond usability. Also on Nicole Lazzaro’s list of “suggested first reads on interface design, usability, emotion, games, storytelling, and more” – see www.xeodesign.com/topshelf.html.
Title: Envisioning
Information
Author: Edward R.
Tufte
Publisher: Graphics
Press
Publication Date: May
1, 1990
ISBN:
0961392118
Suggested by: Gordon Walton
Title: The Gamer's Brain: How Neuroscience and UX Can Impact Video Game Design
Author: Celia Hodent
Publisher: CRC Press
Publication Date: 2017
ISBN: 1498775500
Suggested by:
Comments: Great book on game UX.
Title: Universal Principles of Design: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach Through Design
Author: William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler
Publisher: Rockport Publishers
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 1592535879
Suggested by:
Writing, Storytelling and Characters
Title: Art Of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives
Author: Lajos Egri
Publisher: Touchstone
Publication Date: 1946; February 15, 1972 (reissue edition)
ISBN: 0671213326
Suggested by:
Susan O’Connor (but
Comments: “Much better than McKee.” – Lee Sheldon; “The best book on dramatic writing I’ve read that’s less than 100 years old.” – Hal Barwood
Title: Cause of Death: A Writer's Guide to Death, Murder and Forensic Medicine (Howdunit Series)
Author: Keith D. Wilson
Publisher: Writer's Digest Books
Publication Date: September 1, 1992
ISBN: 0898795249
Suggested by:
Comments: “This and the other 7 entries in the Howdunit Series from Writer’s Digest Books. Poisons, Weapons, Wounds, Private Investigating, etc. Topics get pretty grim.”
Title: Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)
Author: Orson Scott Card
Publisher: Writer's Digest Books
Publication Date: April 1, 1999 (first paperback edition)
ISBN: 0898799279
Suggested by: Paul Schuytema
Title: The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Author: Joseph Campbell
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1949; March 1, 1972 (reprint edition)
ISBN: 0691017840
Suggested by:
Comments: “The classic; how an individual fits into the scheme of life; prototype stories.” – Hal Barwood.
Title: On Moral Fiction
Author: John Gardner, John C. Gardner
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: September 1, 1979
ISBN: 0465052266
Suggested by: Lee Sheldon
Title: Play Making: A Manual of Craftsmanship
Author: William Archer
Publisher:
Publication Date: June 1, 1913
ISBN: 0848232550
Suggested by: Lee Sheldon
Title: Poetics
Author: Aristotle (translated by Malcolm Heath)
Publisher: Penguin Books
Publication Date: March 1, 1997
ISBN: 0140446362
Suggested by: Lee Sheldon
Comments: “Read
this first.” – Lee Sheldon; “Writers gotta read this
book.” –
Title: The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers
Author: Christopher Vogler
Publisher: Michael Wiese Productions
Publication Date: October 1, 1998 (second edition)
ISBN: 0941188701
Suggested by: Scott Miller
Title: Writing Dialogue for Scripts
Author: Rib
Publisher: A&C Black
Publication Date: January 2003
ISBN: 0-7136-4802-3
Suggested by: Steve Ince
Comments: This book is valuable because it looks at the importance of how spoken dialogue works in scripts. Writers and designers should be ever mindful of the fact that the dialogue we write will be performed by professional actors (in the main). Game dialogue should be written with great consideration for the performance.
Title: Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach
Author: Katherine Isbister
Publisher: CRC Press
Publication Date: 2006
ISBN: 1558609210
Suggested by:
Comments: Applies psychology to the design of video game characters.