The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses Review
I wish I could have given the book a one star rating. Then everybody would read this review. Anyway, you are reading it now, I guess because the book only got excellent ratings. And this is for a reason: this book is my favorite lecture when I'm sitting on the toilet. Don't get me wrong, this is nothing disrespectful; it is the number one award a book can get from me, because it is the only time of the day I'm not disturbed by someone. No phone, no email, no twitter. I share this time with the greatest writers of all times: Thomas Mann, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, George R. R. Martin and Bill Watterson.
Next to consulting video game developers and publishers in Germany, I'm teaching Game Design at the Games Academy and University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. This is why I have read the most books about Game Design on the market. Jesse Shell doesn't repeat well known facts and strategies, he gets down to the core of the topics and explains the source. This might be a little academic, if he would not choose great examples to illustrate his thoughts. In the end it will help you understand your craft much better and remember important aspects.
The book of lenses has a wide scope, which will make it suitable for teachers setting up a curriculum, students or beginners entering the industry or game design veterans making sure their latest invention is not missing a crucial point, which could turn a million dollar idea to a spot of bat barf.
The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses Overview
Anyone can master the fundamentals of game design - no technological expertise is necessary. The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses shows that the same basic principles of psychology that work for board games, card games and athletic games also are the keys to making top-quality videogames. Good game design happens when you view your game from many different perspectives, or lenses. While touring through the unusual territory that is game design, this book gives the reader one hundred of these lenses - one hundred sets of insightful questions to ask yourself that will help make your game better. These lenses are gathered from fields as diverse as psychology, architecture, music, visual design, film, software engineering, theme park design, mathematics, writing, puzzle design, and anthropology. Anyone who reads this book will be inspired to become a better game designer - and will understand how to do it.
* Jesse Schell is a highly recognizable name within the game industry - he is the former chair of the International Game Developer's Association, and has designed many successful games, including Disney's award-winning Toontown Online.
* The book's design methodology was developed at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center, co-founded by Dr. Randy Pausch of "Last Lecture" fame.
* 100 'lenses' are scattered throughout the book. These are boxed sets of questions, each a different way of seeing a game that will inspire the creative process.
* 500 pages of detailed, practical instruction on creating world-class games that will be played again and again.
* Winner of Game Developer's 2008 Front Line Award in the book category
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