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The Craft and Science of Game Design
The Craft and Science of Game A Video Game Designer’s Manual goes into the nuts and bolts of video game development from the perspective of a veteran designer with more than 20 years of experience in the industry. It covers the psychology and biology of why people play games and goes in depth on the techniques and tricks professional game designers use to be successful in game development. If you are looking to make a career in video games, or are already in the industry, the insights and hard-earned lessons contained in this book are sure to be useful at all levels of the profession. Originally from Canada, Phil O’Connor has been making video games all over the world since 1997. Phil has worked at some of the industry’s largest studios on some of the biggest projects, including Far Cry 3 and Rainbow Six Siege . With credits on nearly 20 games, Phil has shared in this book some of the less-known details of being a game designer in today’s video game industry, along with a breakdown of some of the skills to help professional designers shine.
- GenresGame DesignGaming
122 pages, Paperback
Published December 9, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 4, 2022
This book sets you up thinking that the specifics from the author's vast experience will be shared. You get the feeling that the tome in your hands will be something quite rare: insights into an industry and profession that is a bit young and not much can be found about them as compared to more established ones. Unfortunately, you'll come away feeling let down... a lot!
There are three key issues with this book. The first one is in its childish presentation. I understand the purpose and need for illustrations. Some book genres will use them more than others. This is supposed to be a professional book and meant to be taken seriously. I mean, the author has position himself as a subject matter expert. However, what you get is an over-abundance of very childish illustrations that takes up half a page each. This is a relatively small book and with these illustrations, it makes the book even smaller. One might think that the author is trying to pad his page count without having to write a lot. Kind of like middle-school kids working on their book reports.
A good portion of the book was dedicated to a history lesson on games. This counters the author's positioning of his book which is to present his experiences and not the entire world's on games and game development. I understand the purpose for the history lesson but it shouldn't have taken 25% of the book's actual content.
When I finally reached the part of the book that dealt with the author's experiences, he wrote about them in such a generic way that I can easily substitute different professions from other industries and the experience sharing will still be the same. for instance, you can substitute Project Manager in IT with his sharing of Designer and everything will still make sense. Not a good endorsement for a book that wants to give you the inside information on Game Designer in the Games industry.
In summary, I'm sorry to say but this is not a good book. If you looking for something more than generic and childish on Game Developers and the Game Industry, I suggest you look elsewhere.
There are three key issues with this book. The first one is in its childish presentation. I understand the purpose and need for illustrations. Some book genres will use them more than others. This is supposed to be a professional book and meant to be taken seriously. I mean, the author has position himself as a subject matter expert. However, what you get is an over-abundance of very childish illustrations that takes up half a page each. This is a relatively small book and with these illustrations, it makes the book even smaller. One might think that the author is trying to pad his page count without having to write a lot. Kind of like middle-school kids working on their book reports.
A good portion of the book was dedicated to a history lesson on games. This counters the author's positioning of his book which is to present his experiences and not the entire world's on games and game development. I understand the purpose for the history lesson but it shouldn't have taken 25% of the book's actual content.
When I finally reached the part of the book that dealt with the author's experiences, he wrote about them in such a generic way that I can easily substitute different professions from other industries and the experience sharing will still be the same. for instance, you can substitute Project Manager in IT with his sharing of Designer and everything will still make sense. Not a good endorsement for a book that wants to give you the inside information on Game Designer in the Games industry.
In summary, I'm sorry to say but this is not a good book. If you looking for something more than generic and childish on Game Developers and the Game Industry, I suggest you look elsewhere.
October 16, 2022
This is a short book that offers a sketch of what goes into the design process of bringing a game from an idea to completion.
The issue is it is broad strokes how the game-design industry works, it's sort of a personal presentation and it sort of acts as a manual but it does none of these things in any great detail.
I quite liked his quick outline of the importance of games in humanity as a whole and his own pop pychology speculations, and this was the most charmingly written part of the book. There is a lot of the middle which is scan read, and the last one-fourth of the book actually gives an outline of the design process which is clear and does give some helpful advice. I just wish more book was like the last fourth. I got it in a humble bundle and was a quick read so, I got 'kinda' what I wanted out of it.
It is two stars, it is ok.
The issue is it is broad strokes how the game-design industry works, it's sort of a personal presentation and it sort of acts as a manual but it does none of these things in any great detail.
I quite liked his quick outline of the importance of games in humanity as a whole and his own pop pychology speculations, and this was the most charmingly written part of the book. There is a lot of the middle which is scan read, and the last one-fourth of the book actually gives an outline of the design process which is clear and does give some helpful advice. I just wish more book was like the last fourth. I got it in a humble bundle and was a quick read so, I got 'kinda' what I wanted out of it.
It is two stars, it is ok.
May 28, 2022
Felt like a first few chapters of a potentially good book about Game design.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews