The Game Design Reader is a one-of-a-kind collection on game design and criticism, from classic scholarly essays to cutting-edge case studies. A companion work to Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman's textbook Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, The Game Design Reader is a classroom sourcebook, a reference for working game developers, and a great read for game fans and players.Thirty-two essays by game designers, game critics, game fans, philosophers, anthropologists, media theorists, and others consider fundamental questions: What are games and how are they designed? How do games interact with culture at large? What critical approaches can game designers take to create game stories, game spaces, game communities, and new forms of play?Salen and Zimmerman have collected seminal writings that span 50 years to offer a stunning array of perspectives. Game journalists express the rhythms of game play, sociologists tackle topics such as role-playing in vast virtual worlds, players rant and rave, and game designers describe the sweat and tears of bringing a game to market. Each text acts as a springboard for discussion, a potential class assignment, and a source of inspiration. The book is organized around fourteen topics, from The Player Experience to The Game Design Process, from Games and Narrative to Cultural Representation. Each topic, introduced with a short essay by Salen and Zimmerman, covers ideas and research fundamental to the study of games, and points to relevant texts within the Reader. Visual essays between book sections act as counterpoint to the writings.Like Rules of Play, The Game Design Reader is an intelligent and playful book. An invaluable resource for professionals and a unique introduction for those new to the field, The Game Design Reader is essential reading for anyone who takes games seriously.
 |
| |||||||||||||||
Shop the Amazon.com Textbooks Store and save up to 70% on textbook rentals, 90% on used textbooks and 60% on eTextbooks. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman have done a great service to the academic community with their well-composed and highly usable work. With all these key texts now conveniently accessible, there is one reason less to postpone setting up game-studies courses and degrees."--Frans Mäyrä, Hypermedia Laboratory, University of Tampere, Finland, and President, Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA)Please note: Arrived too late to appear on book jacket.
About the Author
Katie Salen is Professor of Design and Technology at Parsons the New School for Design. She is the coauthor of Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals and coeditor of The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology and The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Media and Learning, all published by the MIT Press. She is also Executive Director of Institute of Play, a design-led games and learning nonprofit.
Eric Zimmerman is a game designer, game design theorist, and co-founder and CEO of gameLab. He has taught at universities including MIT, the University of Texas, Parsons School of Design, New York University, Rhode Island School of Design, and the School of Visual Arts.
Eric Zimmerman is a game designer, game design theorist, and co-founder and CEO of gameLab. He has taught at universities including MIT, the University of Texas, Parsons School of Design, New York University, Rhode Island School of Design, and the School of Visual Arts.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Tom
Format:Hardcover
This book collects a wide variety of critical thought on game design and the theory of games. As the subtitle states, it's a nice companion to "Rules of Play", but "Rules of Play" is by no means necessary to appreciate this book.
I like that it has a broad mix of theoretical articles from academics and more practical discussions from practicing game designers. It has most of the seminal articles I would expect to find in a summary of the field, as well as some I was not previously familiar with, but still enjoyed. As with any collection, not every piece was my cup of tea, but the overall quality was higher than I expected.
If you like games, this will make you think about how they work. It won't give you much day to day practical advice on making games, but sometimes it's good to think outside the practical. As a professional video game designer, I like things that make me think in new ways.
I like that it has a broad mix of theoretical articles from academics and more practical discussions from practicing game designers. It has most of the seminal articles I would expect to find in a summary of the field, as well as some I was not previously familiar with, but still enjoyed. As with any collection, not every piece was my cup of tea, but the overall quality was higher than I expected.
If you like games, this will make you think about how they work. It won't give you much day to day practical advice on making games, but sometimes it's good to think outside the practical. As a professional video game designer, I like things that make me think in new ways.
2 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Getting this book is a lot like googling "Game Design Article" - you have to do a lot of sifting of your own. Many of these articles aren't even about game design, they're just some story that happens to involve a videogame. Plenty of hot-air articles in here, and the occasional quality article. Why someone would want to have this when they have an internet connection is beyond me. Just go browse Gamasutra and you'll get the same experience.
3 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By Gi-In An
Format:Hardcover
Curious minds that have delighted in games will love this book! I adored the compilation of shared thoughts from "Who's Who" in game design. Aesthetically, the book is so cute! My copy sits on my coffee table. The book had me at the cover...
