Customer Reviews

The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Jesse Schell, game design professor at Carnegie Mellon University, wrote an introductory book that was published in August, titled "The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses." The back overleaf quotes Will Wright saying, "Easily the most comprehensive, practical book I've ever seen on game design." I will try to briefly state why I agree and offer details to help you decide if this book is for you.

Each chapter of the book adds a node to a network of relationships between the designer, the game, and the player. Throughout, Schell boxes 100 tips, with questions that induce a novel perspective on the design. He calls these lenses. I applaud the volume of diverse traditions, such as: psychology, storytelling, engineering, business, and management. They are so diverse as to change not only perspective, but also target. "The Lens of the Puzzle" looks at the mechanisms of the game; whereas, "The Lens of the Team" looks at the developers of the game. This is an eclectic approach that distills many abstract tips on what to consider when designing. Some experience and diligence with most of the 100 lenses would almost guarantee the reader is a competent designer.

Most lenses seemed crystal clear and provoked thoughts. Oftentimes, Schell deploys the wheels that others have invented. Many lenses refer to prior literature, such as Barry Boehm's spiral model of development (82), Scott Kim's thoughts on puzzles (209).

Furthermore, Schell gives us some original gems on the psychology of games that expanded my mind. He touches on the tactile aesthetics of the Rubik's cube (213), the learning curve of a jigsaw puzzle (215). He has some tips on personal communication that, upon reflection, exposed mistakes I have made, and would be more likely to continue to make had I not read Schell's advice. For example, in "Coping with Bad Suggestions," rather than agree or disagree, he advises to "understand why the client is making the suggestion" (417). He gives similarly important advice for playtesting (389).

Perhaps the inevitable danger of writing a comprehensive book is that one's own rough facets become apparent when placed side-by-side with one's brilliance. In a few spots, I would like to see wheels being reused rather than reinvented, such as mathematical graphs (132), epistemics of players (139), military tactics (141), risk and return (181), interface affordances (212), models of human-computer interaction (225), and plotting interest (247). I don't disagree with what Schell wrote there, but would rather dive deeper by leveraging prior literature (as he did in other lenses).

The book is well-presented with modest illustrations and easy to read from beginning to end. On an editorial note, although I affirm Schell's eclectic approach to game design, after reading the book, I wish it were easier to find the information I wanted to refer to. The table of lenses at the front of the book was not enough for me. The lens titles are not always evocative and distinct.

To summarize:
* What you will find in this book: informal habits of a professional game designer.
* What you will not find in this book: details or examples of designs and their implementation.

Game Developer magazine nominated The Art of Game Design for the Book of the Year. It got my vote.

I've been designing games for more than 20 years and I've read a ton of books on the subject.
This one is unique.

Most game design books focus on teaching you how to make a good game, detailing what techniques and processes one must master to understand an audience, to design a product that will satisfy their needs and aspirations, and to work with a team to produce it. "The Art of Game Design" goes beyond that: It teaches you how to become a better designer.

Here's an excerpt from the Deck of Lenses' instructions (it's the deck of cards sold separately that illustrates the 100 design "lenses"):

How to Design a Game
Step 1: Think of an idea for a game (it's easy, it can be anything!)
Step 2: Try it out (no really - try it out - you have to play games to see if they work)
Step 3: Figure out what's wrong with it, and change it so it is better. Then go back to Step 2!

That's what game designers do, over and over again, until they're satisfied with the game or they run out of time or money. However, if there are lots of books out there that explain how to increase the quality of whichever aspect of the game you want to change, it's the first one that so directly and so thoroughly addresses the problem of "figuring out what's wrong" with a game at each iteration.
In the book, Jesse Schell presents one hundred ways of looking at your game in order to figure this out, one hundred lenses. Even if this number seems big, it really isn't, because the book covers every domain touched by design: from the nature of the playing experience itself, to understanding the player, the game mechanisms, interface, story, technology, theme, etc.
For instance, here's the sum-up of a lens taken at random:

Lens #82: The Lens of Inner Contradiction
A good game cannot contain properties that defeat the game's very purpose. To remove those contradictory qualities, ask yourself these questions:
- What is the purpose of my game?
- What is the purpose of each subsystem of my game?
- Is there anything at all in my game that contradicts these purposes?
- If so, how can I change that?

The book doesn't give answers but helps you ask the right questions. I think of this book as the Tao of Game Design, a path toward understanding, each step its own path that can be explored and perfected. The one hundred lenses are one hundred design domains in which a designer can become more proficient. Jesse Schell's knowledge, experience and talent are obvious when he clearly explains how to consider all these questions, why they are important and how they are linked together.
This book makes and helps me think. To me, that's the best things a book about design can do.

The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses Is an awesome addition to the library of anyone, not just in the game industry, but in the themed entertainment industry as a whole. Chapters are clearly laid out, full of useful and most importantly practical information. Jesse's many years in the industry are evident as most sections of the book reference examples from his own experience. The tone of the book is easy going and open-minded, Jesse never "preaches" game design theory but rather explores it with you, the reader, and allows you to reach your own conclusions.

Perhaps the best part of this book is the lenses (which are detailed in the book and can be purchased separately in a handy "deck of cards" format). Particularly after you've read the book, these cards become a wonderful distilled version of the book's main design lenses. These lenses allow you to view your design in 100 different ways, many of which I promise you've never would have thought of. This is a very valuable tool kit for any designer.

Noobs and veterans' alike will find plenty to discover with in his book. When I have some free time I often find myself cracking the spine and simply picking a chapter at random, I always learn something new when I do.

NOTE: this is for the Kindle edition of the book.

Well written, informative and also a fun read. Other reviewers have other covered this, so I'll stop here: 5 stars for content.

Be warned if purchasing the Kindle edition that the formatting in the book has problems: margins are way too large in a number of places, the original index isn't hyperlinked properly (basically just a word list), and figure captions are often misplaced. It's legible, but not of professional quality, and certainly not worth the nearly paperback price they're asking for. 2 stars for typesetting.

If you can, buy a physical copy instead.

The Art of Game Design is a book which provides an easy read, it has a simplistic elegance to it, yet the depth of the book is quite deep which will keep you thinking for hours upon end. For me one of the most impressive things about the book is that it pretty much covers everything that a game designer should be aware of and how their decisions will effect the real world (it even talks about the moral obligations which I have never seen covered in a book about game design!). If you really want to learn the depth of being a game designer this book is a must read.

The Art of Game Design is simple in its language yet intriguing in its concepts. Jesse's well written book is equivalent to a four year undergrad degree in the same subject. The bulkiness of the book might seem overwhelming, but once you start reading, you delve right into it without you even knowing it.

The book draws inspiration from a myriad of topics and fields and definitely provides life lessons on a deeper level. The philosophy and its understanding helps in knowing yourself better, first as a person and then as a designer.

The Art of Game Design will inculcate a positive design perspective to the way you observe everyday things and events. Even if you are not a designer, it certainly is an excellent addition to collectibles that broaden your horizon. A must-buy for those aspiring to be a designer.

good things come to those who wait - and i have been waiting for this book for years. jesse schell has managed to compose not only a game design guide through an idealized design process, but also a handy catalogue of "lenses" that will help designers to inquire whether their game is enjoyable, or not, and how to improve the design. most importantly, 'the art of game design' provides intellectual as well as practical inspiration throughout - what more can you ask from a book in this field?

I bought this book a few weeks ago with the intent of strengthening my skills in game design and programming, especially with an intent towards mobile games. In the first few pages, I was a bit disappointed, as I was hoping for something to get something more immediate in terms of how to program for games, and the book seemed to be a bit more philosophical.

As I started reading further, I realized the folly of my initial thinking and I am glad that I stuck to continue reading the book.

The book is for those who want to understand the philosophy of game design rather than quickly writing a game in some language. The lenses the author talks about are very thought-provoking and are useful even outside the realm of game design. The book essentially gives you the mindset needed for designing games, and in that aspect, is fundamental to any game designer.

If you want to have instant gratification in terms of writing a game right away, there are other books, but at some point in time, you'll find yourself wanting to come back and read this book.

Like Schell, I teach in a university game development program. But unlike him, I do not have personal experience in the commercial game industry, so I am always on the lookout for ways to vicariously expand my knowledge. This book is the best I have seen on the topic of game design (and there are a _lot_ of them these days :-). The central metaphor of game design not being a linear procedure, but rather a confluence of perspectives, rings true and works well as an expository technique. I plan to use it with my students. Thanks, Jesse.

This is such a fantastic book, packed with wisdom, that I expect I'll be re-reading a few times in order to absorb everything. What I especially appreciated is how the book discusses the creative process in a high level way. While obviously all the discussions are slanted toward game design, much of the wisdom is applicable to any sort of creative endeavor, not just game design. There are wonderful insights into how to motivate yourself, how to evolve your own ideas, and how to collaborate with others.

One warning is in order though: for the most part this book is fairly abstract. That is, the material in the book tends toward high-level broad concepts, as opposed to tutorials on how to use any specific game development tool. Personally I prefer that and find it much more illuminating (game design is an art not engineering,) but to anyone looking for concrete lessons on how to implement any specific technology, well this book isn't that.

To put it another way: this book is about what game design really is, not what most beginners tend to fixate on.