100 Principles of Game Design

by DeSpain

Game designers spend their lives solving extraordinary problems and facing mind-bending paradoxes. It’s their job to make a meticulous plan for “spontaneous fun” players will want to experience over and over again. Pressure is heaped on with demands for innovation and blockbuster status. So designers find themselves facing an abyss of problems, pressure, and possibilities, armed only with their brains and an assortment of design principles they picked up over years of experience.

For the first time, 100 Principles of Game Design gathers some of the best of these big ideas into one toolkit. Seasoned designers will be glad they don’t have to hold it all in their heads anymore, and beginning design students can use the book to learn the tools of the trade. When the going gets tough, everyone can turn to this book for guidance, inspiration, or just to remind them of what works. Collected from every popular school of thought in game design, these core principles are organized by innovation, creation, balancing, and troubleshooting.

• Includes advances from the world’s leading authorities on game design, some explained by the creators themselves
• A reference book of finite, individual principles for easy access, providing a jumping off point for further research
•  Principles originating in fields as diverse as architecture, psychiatry, and economics, but shown here as they apply to game design
• Richly designed with illustrations and photos, making each principle easy to understand and memorable
•  Timeless approach includes feedback loops, game mechanics, prototyping, economies of scale, user-centered design, and much more

Professional designers and instructors at one of the world’s leading game design institutions lay out the building blocks of diverse knowledge
required to design even the simplest of games.

Genres: Game Design, Games, Nonfiction, Art, Video Games

241 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 14, 2012

Reviews

[Traci · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is terrific. Alongside The Art of Game Design , this is one of my go-to books whenever I'm stuck, or just need some inspiration. Structured like a reference book, there's a lot in here I was familiar with, a lot I wanted to know more about, some things I wouldn't have really thought about in the context of games, and best of all, some things I thought about and never had the right words for.
It's great. I love it. My only gripe is not really the fault of the authors. I think this book is overpriced at $59.99. I suspect the publisher drove the price up by putting in lots of needless stock photography. There are several helpful images in the book, including some original artwork, but a lot of the principles really didn't need an illustration. They each have one anyway. That complaint aside, I still think I will get my money's worth for what I paid. I'm glad to have this tool handy on my bookshelf.

[Karen Chung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent, comprehensive guide to game design. I especially enjoyed their analysis of the "satisficing" vs. "optimizing" approaches to game playing, and also the list of problem solving methods in the appendix. Recommended.

[Serge Pierro · Rating 4 out of 5]

"100 Principles of Game Design" presents a great deal of useful information in a small book. On the left side of the open book is an article on the relevant topic with an illustration on the right side. While this was aesthetically pleasing from a design viewpoint, I would have preferred to have had a smaller picture (or none at all) and more musings by the writer. The book in written by several writers, and each contributes their expertise on the relevant articles. Recommended for aspiring or working game designers.

[Harriet Frayling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly informative, when making notes I found I was making them for the majority of the pages. Concepts are explained in really easy ways, a definite staple for any game designers shelf.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good reference but maybe not to be read cover to cover.

[Eddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent resource of high-level game design principles.