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Game Design Workshop
Create the Digital Games You Love to Play
Discover an exercise-driven, non-technical approach to game design without the need for programming or artistic expertise using Game Design Workshop, Third Edition.
Author Tracy Fullerton demystifies the creative process with a clear and accessible analysis of the formal and dramatic systems of game design. Examples of popular games, illustrations of design techniques, and refined exercises strengthen your understanding of how game systems function and give you the skills and tools necessary to create a compelling and engaging game.
The book puts you to work prototyping, playtesting, and revising your own games with time-tested methods and tools. It provides you with the foundation to advance your career in any facet of the game industry, including design, producing, programming, and visual design.
Discover an exercise-driven, non-technical approach to game design without the need for programming or artistic expertise using Game Design Workshop, Third Edition.
Author Tracy Fullerton demystifies the creative process with a clear and accessible analysis of the formal and dramatic systems of game design. Examples of popular games, illustrations of design techniques, and refined exercises strengthen your understanding of how game systems function and give you the skills and tools necessary to create a compelling and engaging game.
The book puts you to work prototyping, playtesting, and revising your own games with time-tested methods and tools. It provides you with the foundation to advance your career in any facet of the game industry, including design, producing, programming, and visual design.
535 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
116 people are currently reading
2002 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
April 24, 2012
Game Design Workshop is a great book for learning how to design games, it was required for a class while we design board games. This book shares a lot in common with The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, and the exercises are definitely useful. Compared with the book of lenses, reading either one helps and reading other won't give much more information. As for what's different, well you have exercises to help you learn game design or lenses which helps to pose valuable questions about the game you're designing.
Both the exercises and lenses are useful and more than likely you would find yourself using both.
Both the exercises and lenses are useful and more than likely you would find yourself using both.
January 4, 2015
A very comprehensive discussion of contemporary game design practice. This book provides a theoretical foundation for game design, and a description of the position of the game designer in today's industry, but where it really shines is its structured, step-by-step description of how to design a game. I was pleasantly surprised by the author's emphasis on early prototyping, iteration and playtesting, playtesting, playtesting. Since owning this, it has become the first thing I recommend to my students to look at when they're having issues with their process. For myself it's been a good way to review my own approach. The only reason it's not getting top marks is because in some areas, I found it too shallow, even for a novice audience.
August 25, 2010
Game Design Workshop é um livro fascinante, posso não ter lido muitos para compará-lo mas isso não diminui a minha estupefação ao lelo, a forma com o qual aborda o assunto e instiga o leitor a formar a sua própria opinião é impressionante, este não é um livro receita do tipo faça isso que você terá um game, é claro que ele passa instruções, mas principalmente busca fazer com que o leitor busque pensar na melhor maneira de realizar o design do jogo, quais as perguntas e respostas ele deve ter na ponta da língua sobre o projeto e sempre pensando na experiencia do jogador e como torna-la memorável.
O livro também ensina técnicas de brainstorming, playtesting, qual as obrigações de cada membro da equipe, da dicas para quem pretende iniciar sua carreira e por ai vai, é um curso completo de game design ao custo de míseros dólares, uma barganha em que o leitor sai ganhando.
Ele também esta repleto de entrevistas com designer de todos os tipos e países, cada uma passando a visão e falando do caminho que o desenvolvedor seguiu para alcançar sua posição e para finalizar possui centenas de exercícios que no final lhe premiara com o design de um game completo.
Game Design Workshop é uma bíblia para qualquer um que deseja entrar neste ramo como designer de games, uma obra de leitura obrigatória que certamente lhe impulsionara para o sucesso.
O livro também ensina técnicas de brainstorming, playtesting, qual as obrigações de cada membro da equipe, da dicas para quem pretende iniciar sua carreira e por ai vai, é um curso completo de game design ao custo de míseros dólares, uma barganha em que o leitor sai ganhando.
Ele também esta repleto de entrevistas com designer de todos os tipos e países, cada uma passando a visão e falando do caminho que o desenvolvedor seguiu para alcançar sua posição e para finalizar possui centenas de exercícios que no final lhe premiara com o design de um game completo.
Game Design Workshop é uma bíblia para qualquer um que deseja entrar neste ramo como designer de games, uma obra de leitura obrigatória que certamente lhe impulsionara para o sucesso.
May 25, 2011
A very practical guide to game design, written conscisely and down to earth with alot of examples. Many interviews with seasoned gamedesigners give different perspectives to issues and questions of designing games.
March 21, 2014
It is really interesting to work with this book step by step. Helps the reader gain more from the exercises. It is written in a simple and easy way and inclides a lot of examples and interviews with game designer which I found very insightful.
April 27, 2020
What a horrendous read! I never expected a book that was as informative as this - to be so badly designed. How ironic is it that a book that is aimed towards designers (sure, game design, but we write game design documents that are meant to communicate effectively) - was so badly designed!!
Tiny font, with interviews breaking the flow of reading on the regular, easily 400+ words a page with HUGE blocks of text, and about two inches away from intellectual masturbation. I love game design, and can consider myself at an intermediate level, and it nearly sucked the passion out of me. I consider it cheeky to call this "Hard Fun", since I managed to persevere and read the entire thing. A sense of accomplishment and relief took over, and I can't wait to continue reading Book of Lenses, which I remember having amazingly intuitive design and quite the fun experience.
Some of the content is now obsolete, which is completely understandable due it being written a long time ago - but I still took away quite a bit from it - despite how much I just bashed it. I did read all the interviews - and now have a better understanding of the industry from around when the book was published. I also definitely am more enlightened about the importance of playtesting and prototyping. I'll definitely be a lot more attentive to that from now on.
Read at your own risk, and be prepared for a very dense experience.
Tiny font, with interviews breaking the flow of reading on the regular, easily 400+ words a page with HUGE blocks of text, and about two inches away from intellectual masturbation. I love game design, and can consider myself at an intermediate level, and it nearly sucked the passion out of me. I consider it cheeky to call this "Hard Fun", since I managed to persevere and read the entire thing. A sense of accomplishment and relief took over, and I can't wait to continue reading Book of Lenses, which I remember having amazingly intuitive design and quite the fun experience.
Some of the content is now obsolete, which is completely understandable due it being written a long time ago - but I still took away quite a bit from it - despite how much I just bashed it. I did read all the interviews - and now have a better understanding of the industry from around when the book was published. I also definitely am more enlightened about the importance of playtesting and prototyping. I'll definitely be a lot more attentive to that from now on.
Read at your own risk, and be prepared for a very dense experience.
November 2, 2023
Tracy Fullerton's Game Design Workshop is an excellent read for anyone looking into understanding the full scope of the game design process. The book carries the reader through every step of the process, from ideation to prototyping, development and iteration, QA testing, and publishing. In addition, she provides Exercises at the end of most sections that provide the reader with an opportunity to further explore the concepts in a practical way, which also offers a means of building a portfolio of work as you follow along (a step that I skipped at this time, but intend to pursue down the road).
Another great aspect of the book is that it is peppered with personal perspectives and anecdotes from various game designers, producers, writers, and creatives who make games. They expand on some of the information that Fullerton provides and also share their journey into games, what inspires them, and how they approach problems during the development process. It's a fantastic way to expand the scope of the discussion.
My copy was the 4th Edition, published in 2019, so some of Fullerton's perspectives in regards to the status of the games industry (in Chapter 15) are a bit outdated, since the nature of the industry is constantly changing. So, I would imagine that a new edition could be due soon. However, the bulk of this book remains valid — as it provides valuable insights and perspectives on how to approach making games.
Another great aspect of the book is that it is peppered with personal perspectives and anecdotes from various game designers, producers, writers, and creatives who make games. They expand on some of the information that Fullerton provides and also share their journey into games, what inspires them, and how they approach problems during the development process. It's a fantastic way to expand the scope of the discussion.
My copy was the 4th Edition, published in 2019, so some of Fullerton's perspectives in regards to the status of the games industry (in Chapter 15) are a bit outdated, since the nature of the industry is constantly changing. So, I would imagine that a new edition could be due soon. However, the bulk of this book remains valid — as it provides valuable insights and perspectives on how to approach making games.
December 29, 2019
A solid textbook on game design
Fullerton has put together a well-focused and tightly structured textbook that guides readers through all relevant stages of game design. The chapters have a sharp focus, are clearly written, and contain useful exercises and further readings. Arguably one of the strongest elements are the sidebars by industry insiders, which provide reality checks and inspiration. I only had minor gripes, for instance that the digital version of the third edition is missing all cross references, or that the writing could have been checked better for industry jargon (what is it with design folks always 'planning out', 'mapping out', 'building out', etc? What ever happened to simply 'planning', 'mapping', or 'building' something?). But these are negligible caveats in an overall solid publication that I am more than happy to recommend to my own Games Studies students.
Fullerton has put together a well-focused and tightly structured textbook that guides readers through all relevant stages of game design. The chapters have a sharp focus, are clearly written, and contain useful exercises and further readings. Arguably one of the strongest elements are the sidebars by industry insiders, which provide reality checks and inspiration. I only had minor gripes, for instance that the digital version of the third edition is missing all cross references, or that the writing could have been checked better for industry jargon (what is it with design folks always 'planning out', 'mapping out', 'building out', etc? What ever happened to simply 'planning', 'mapping', or 'building' something?). But these are negligible caveats in an overall solid publication that I am more than happy to recommend to my own Games Studies students.
January 11, 2025
Textbook authors and publishers, follow this book’s lead.
It is colossal and I need to go back and reread all interviews and the pages I made note of, but I assessed the whole book, from cover to cover - all the steps that go into making a game is in this book. It contains many examples and exercises about analogue games as well as photos and illustrations that depict the making of some of the most charming games in history.
From ideation to flowcharts, tips from the best artists and developers to player-oriented thinking, this book is a top star in the textbooks of games and in general, one of the best textbooks I have read.
It is colossal and I need to go back and reread all interviews and the pages I made note of, but I assessed the whole book, from cover to cover - all the steps that go into making a game is in this book. It contains many examples and exercises about analogue games as well as photos and illustrations that depict the making of some of the most charming games in history.
From ideation to flowcharts, tips from the best artists and developers to player-oriented thinking, this book is a top star in the textbooks of games and in general, one of the best textbooks I have read.
October 20, 2019
This is an interesting book. It goes over the basics of Game Design and production, with many exercises that help developing the skills taught on the chapter, and many, many very interesting interviews with people that work on the area.
This feels like a Game Design Textbook, and that's not a bad thing. I would recommend it to someone who wants to start learning Game Design, for sure.
This feels like a Game Design Textbook, and that's not a bad thing. I would recommend it to someone who wants to start learning Game Design, for sure.
August 4, 2025
Brilliant workshop. The advice, work and personal experiences, and detailed anecdotes from people within the industry was the most helpful part. Obviously some stuff did not aged well, like applying for jobs, but they can easily be understood to modern standards.
June 26, 2022
An excellent read for designers that also gives avid gamers plenty to think about.
Recommend for all interested in exploring the art and science of gaming.
Recommend for all interested in exploring the art and science of gaming.
June 20, 2015
Game Design Workshop is a pragmatic textbook on how to make games, with a plethora of useful exercises in analysis and design for helping rookies turn their game design dreams into reality. There isn't much in the way of theory here; a brief nod towards Huizinga's magic circle and the flow state, and then the game delves into the meat of prototype, iteration, and improvement. As a gamer, it's interesting to see the small number of games which people at the top of the field consider their inspirations (ever heard of M.U.L.E?) As a teacher, there are tons of good exercises that could be adapted into homework.
Game Design Workshop is deliberately agnostic towards what type of games its reader will make, although there is a slight trend bias towards cardboard prototypes of computer games, a practice followed by many major studios. The advice on using playtesters was particularly good. Compared to Jesse Schell's The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses this book is much less theoretical, preferring a lose concept of 'play' to stricter ideas about storytelling, simulation, and balance.
I read the second edition, which in 2015 is slightly outdated, but I have faith that the 2013 3rd edition is a worthy upgrade. If I were teaching a class on game design, I'd definitely consider this book a central resource.
Game Design Workshop is deliberately agnostic towards what type of games its reader will make, although there is a slight trend bias towards cardboard prototypes of computer games, a practice followed by many major studios. The advice on using playtesters was particularly good. Compared to Jesse Schell's The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses this book is much less theoretical, preferring a lose concept of 'play' to stricter ideas about storytelling, simulation, and balance.
I read the second edition, which in 2015 is slightly outdated, but I have faith that the 2013 3rd edition is a worthy upgrade. If I were teaching a class on game design, I'd definitely consider this book a central resource.
January 22, 2013
Like most people of my generation, I have been playing video games since I can remember. I've read bits and pieces of other game design books, but none have been as clear or as aligned with my own vision of games as this book. It helped me really make the transition from thinking like a consumer to thinking like a creator. It is indispensable for designers of paper and digital games alike.
Fullerton focuses on designing games with the constant goal of vigilantly keeping the player experience at the center of the design process. Everything should be prototyped iteratively. Repeatedly. The upbeat tone encourages experimentation, failure, and revision, reassuring budding designers that games are not some divine inspiration that happens perfectly the first time around. For someone with little experience, this was exactly what I needed to hear, and Fullerton is sure to repeat the message through examples and anecdotal interviews from some of the biggest names in the field.
I also found the exercises in the book extremely helpful for thinking about games, but more importantly for thinking about how I was thinking about games.
Fantastic and inspiring.
Fullerton focuses on designing games with the constant goal of vigilantly keeping the player experience at the center of the design process. Everything should be prototyped iteratively. Repeatedly. The upbeat tone encourages experimentation, failure, and revision, reassuring budding designers that games are not some divine inspiration that happens perfectly the first time around. For someone with little experience, this was exactly what I needed to hear, and Fullerton is sure to repeat the message through examples and anecdotal interviews from some of the biggest names in the field.
I also found the exercises in the book extremely helpful for thinking about games, but more importantly for thinking about how I was thinking about games.
Fantastic and inspiring.
Want to read
May 30, 2012A text book on designing/understanding/dissecting video games and (I think) a little bit of "the theory of fun."
Probably more book than I can chew right now, but we'll see if I read it all....or maybe a resource for fun games I haven't played yet!
Any book that makes an in-depth comparison of Go Fish to Quake can't be bad.
Probably more book than I can chew right now, but we'll see if I read it all....or maybe a resource for fun games I haven't played yet!
Any book that makes an in-depth comparison of Go Fish to Quake can't be bad.
September 21, 2016
This is a very good book that makes you thinks about games in a new light. It breaks down elements of fun in games as simple as Red Rover and as complex Call of Duty. As a writer, it makes you think about ways of writing games for player; even not for players (because apparently that's a thing). A valuable resource for anyone who wants to study games.
June 24, 2017
Very nice book with exercises to actually get some practical game design experience and insights. I does cost a lot of time to do the exercises but it's the only way to really learn how to make good games. The theory and exercises from this book are a nice addition to the theory from the book 'The Art of Game Design'.
December 9, 2019
I really liked this book. It takes you throughout the entire process of designing a game and it has a lot of nice pictures. What's special about this book is its sidebars. It contains a _lot_ of them and they're called "Designer's perspective" or something like this. They contain interviews with famous designers and good war stories. Sometimes they're more interesting than the actual content.
September 2, 2008
I am using this book in my course this semester: Collaborative Writing Practices - Game Design. I think it is the most teachable, most practical (and not just theoretical) book on game design for students.
September 11, 2012
An excellent book on game design. In particular the early parts on prototyping and playtesting. I found the book covered many areas that I had come across in my own game designs, and playtesting for other companies.
December 25, 2009
A fantastic reference and resource. I'm definitely going to refer to it when planning brainstorm and playtest sessions! I also love the interviews with industry folks.
January 8, 2014
Amazing read!
April 19, 2014
Fantastic resource for game design
Want to read
April 24, 2024If you're a game developer this is a must have on your shelf.
March 21, 2016
By far one of the best game design books out there.
Want to read
April 5, 2016Classic game design book and really interesting for the kinds of things I hope to create.
January 1, 2019
Book is good for high school folks who would like to do games. Useful just to get general image of game design at school practice level. Too wide to be used in professional field.
August 22, 2019
Good for developing board games as well. I read it while creating a board game. Very clear explanations of game design core elements, with nice practical exercises for the reader(s)/game designer(s).
Read
May 3, 2020An exemplary primer, albeit some needless information which gamers must have already known and cannot interest non-gamers to open the whole book.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews