Customer Reviews

The Art of Game Design: A Deck of Lenses

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this product, other than the fact that they aren't really cards. I was expecting them to have some stiffness to them like playing cards or baseball cards. In fact, they are rather flimsy and so, only earn 4 stars instead of 5 from me.

I'm enjoying Jesse Schell's THE ART OF GAME DESIGN--A DECK OF LENSES.
They are useful for much more than game design. For example, my husband , a professional square dance caller, says he can use them to design square dance arrangements/dances. They will be helpful to me as I create picture books. Obviously they are splendid for game design! And frankly, I enjoy "looking at the pictures" and reading the text and just thinking about it all.
Diana Patton artist/writer

this deck of cards goes with _the art of game design_ book. the book does a great job discussing how each lens helps you consider the design of a game, but the cards actually enable you to apply these ideas while you're designing your game. definitely worth getting both the book and this deck of cards.

This product is brilliant on any number of levels. The idea of applying "lenses", or different ways of looking at design issues is wonderful all by itself, but it is very clear that Professor Schell has given a great deal of thought to each of the lenses in the deck, and designed approaches and questions that really force the designer to look hard at her/his work, probably in a way that never occured to him/her before. I am VERY impressed.

I enjoyed Jesse's book and looked forward to this deck of cards. They contain the exact same questions from the lenses in the book and they have lovely artwork, that occasionally reminded me of the Magic: The Gathering trading card game.

I just have three complaints that make me give it 4 stars instead of 5: 1) The cards are much bigger than regular playing cards. There's a lot of text on some of them, but I would've preferred to have regular-sized cards. This deck isn't as convenient to carry as a normal deck of cards. 2) The cards don't feel like playing cards. They are a bit flimsy and it's still a pretty thick deck. Once again, I'd prefer regular-sized cards even if that meant that they would've been seperated in two decks. 3) The box is firm and durable, I guess, but the finishing isn't very good. It feels like it's something that's been put together manually.

That said, I would still recommended the deck. As a creative or evaluative tool it's excellent.

Great to help remind you of basics of game design.
I give it 5 *, but I agree with some of the 4 * people.
Card stock is to light. But not tremendously so, just needs to be a bit heavier.
Then again . . . iPhone app for these cards is coming out in a few months.
But still worth the cost.

I am a Game Art and Design student and if i had not been told to buy this book and deck for my Game Design Class, i probably would have never found it. I'm glad i bought it though. these are essential tools for any game designer to help them think about how they want to go about making their game. Not just video games, but board games and such too.

Even if you don't think of yourself as a game designer(Schell talks about this in the book), you can still find these interesting to help you learn about what exactly goes into making a video game or board game. You then learn to appreciate games for what they are.

This is a must have for anyone interested in the slightest in games.

While specifically designed to complement the book, "The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses" I have found that these cards are of value for projects beyond game design as well. Any product development or creative process can benefit from this toolkit in that the cards succinctly outline what the issues may be, and provide direction via leading questions on how the issues may be resolved in a remarkably straightforward manner. This deck enables well defined problem statements and solutions.

As a companion for the book The Art of Game Design, this is a must. It's a really useful and practical tool for everyday game design, and as such I keep it with me most of the time.
The cards could be of better quality (they may be too thin), but the content more than makes up for that. I highly recommend A Deck of Lenses.

To be fair I'm not a game designer - I'm a game artificial intelligence programmer, but the "Deck of Lenses" is the one game design tool that I make sure to always have at my desk. Not only is this deck (as well as the Book of Lenses) a fantastic tool for game design... but a fantastic tool for any type of abstract design. Whenever I have some downtime I flip through this deck and always leave with plenty to think about - not just in terms of game design, but in terms of AI design and problem solving in general.