Game Design Referencing Popular Games

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Shelves > Game Design Reference >

Game Design Reference Books

Showing 1-25 of 25

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Paperback)
by

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

(shelved 2 times as game-design-reference)
avg rating 4.07 — 67,853 ratings — published 1990

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Critical Play: Radical Game Design (Hardcover)
by

Mary Flanagan

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 3.88 — 134 ratings — published 2009

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In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing (Hardcover)
by

Matthew E. May

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 3.78 — 523 ratings — published 2009

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Things We Think About Games (Paperback)
by

Will Hindmarch (Goodreads Author)

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 3.59 — 115 ratings — published 2008

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Thinking in Systems: A Primer (Paperback)
by

Donella H. Meadows

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 4.20 — 11,436 ratings — published 2008

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The Well-Played Game: A Player's Philosophy (Hardcover)
by

Bernie DeKoven

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 3.95 — 129 ratings — published 1978

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Fundamentals of Game Design (Paperback)
by

Ernest Adams

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 3.87 — 144 ratings — published 2006

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Art as Experience (Paperback)
by

John Dewey

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 3.92 — 5,422 ratings — published 1934

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The Player of Games (Culture, #2)
by

Iain M. Banks

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 4.26 — 64,988 ratings — published 1988

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Casual Game Design: Designing Play for the Gamer in All of Us (Paperback)
by

Gregory Trefry

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 3.62 — 47 ratings — published 2010

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Oxford History of Board Games (Hardcover)
by

David Parlett

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 3.98 — 43 ratings — published 1999

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Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (Paperback)
by

Haruki Murakami

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 4.14 — 114,875 ratings — published 1985

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Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture (Paperback)
by

Johan Huizinga

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 4.02 — 2,046 ratings — published 1938

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Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1)
by

William Gibson

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 3.90 — 284,372 ratings — published 1984

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Morphology of the Folktale (Paperback)
by

Vladimir Propp

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 4.00 — 1,607 ratings — published 1928

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Man, Play and Games (Paperback)
by

Roger Caillois

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 3.86 — 418 ratings — published 1958

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Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World (Paperback)
by

Jane McGonigal

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 3.80 — 7,603 ratings — published 2010

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Challenges for Game Designers (Paperback)
by

Brenda Brathwaite

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 4.02 — 277 ratings — published 2008

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The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses (Paperback)
by

Jesse Schell

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 4.40 — 2,738 ratings — published

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The Image of the City (Paperback)
by

Kevin Lynch

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 4.06 — 3,452 ratings — published 1960

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Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (Hardcover)
by

Katie Salen

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 3.98 — 908 ratings — published 2003

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A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Hardcover)
by

Christopher W. Alexander

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 4.41 — 4,508 ratings — published 1977

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A Theory of Fun for Game Design (Paperback)
by

Raph Koster (Goodreads Author)

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 3.94 — 2,802 ratings — published 2004

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The Design of Everyday Things (Paperback)
by

Donald A. Norman

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 4.13 — 36,397 ratings — published 1988

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Characteristics of Games (Hardcover)
by

George Skaff Elias

(shelved 1 time as game-design-reference)
avg rating 4.14 — 181 ratings — published 2012

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