I love books and have been reading a whole lot all about game development and adjacent topics for years at this point.
Some books are very core to the theme - you will find The Art of Gamedesign in here, just like you will find Level Up. They are basics for good reasons.
But other books might surprise you a little more. Designing Virtual Worlds was a book I enjoyed tremendously and used as a basis for my Bachelor's Thesis - which was about using game design principles on motivation to create engaging learning experiences at schools.
And some are arguably not strictly only applicable and interesting to gamedevelopment in particular, but cover topics that might give you new ideas and solutions to things we constantly find while creating our digital worlds. I hope, you'll enjoy this!
All the links on this page are affiliate links to Amazon, which supports me in running my Youtube Channel. Still, I highly recommend you try finding these books in a library, your local small book store, or maybe in a cool book archive đź’›
Jesse Shell
You might have already heard about this one, it's among the first book for game development people recomend and for good reason.
I initially read it over a weekend, but then tackled it chapter by chapter again at later dates, whenever I felt stuck.
The lenses are a great way to tackle specific challenges and I enjoyed the part about defining what a game is in the first place more than I thought possible. One of my favourite chapters was the one about balance and trying to figure out how to do that and what "meaningful choices" are.
Scott Rogers
If you have seen my previous recomendation on The Art of Game Design, this one is rather similar but in my opinion these two books form the foundation of so much great gamedev knowledge.
I read the second edition years ago. I liked the tone of this book, directly adressing the reader and its humour worked well for me. One topic that stuck with me was about how "walking is not gameplay".
To quote: "Prevent the player from walking for too long. Look at all the other things the player could be doing instead of walking: Jumping, Fighting, Collecting, Climbing, Swimming, Swinging, Flying, Escaping, Sneaking, Exploring" (page 227, 2nd edition).
Exploring the Foundational priciples behind good game design
Anna Anthropy, Naomy Clark
This was among the first books I read on game design and it is incredible when it comes to clearly defining terms of actions and verbs. Lots of other books picked up on the language in this one and for good reason.
Small quote that stuck with me from this work: "Janet is the main character of the narrative that unfolds in this game, but don't forget: the main character of the game itself is still the verb "shoot”—a verb the player has to understand how to use wisely.
If verbs are the main characters of our game stories, we develop them as we would characters in any other form: we challenge them, we give them new responsibilities or burdens, we let them show new sides of themselves, we let them grow-or force them to." (page 31 in kindle cloud reader)
Raph Koster
I needed to buy this for the title alone. It's not terribly long (I think I basically inhaled it over the course of two days) but enjoyable with a lot of drawings and an engaging read all around.
The biggest lightbulb moment I had with this was about pattern recognition and puzzles (not puzzle games per se) and how those can be challenging and rewarding, leading to motivation. This one's a really good read and I've been recommending it for years at this point.
And as somebody who stands by playing as a form of learning, there are whole parts of this book I basically just highlighted entirely. I've used parts of this to talk with parents about their children's hobbies, with students who thought they were "no good at anything". Such a good book. Read it.
Advanced Game Design
Ernest Adams and Joris Dormans
Have you heard about a website called Machinations? You can craft systems and loops (for example for game loops, crafting systems, etc) in there and tweak numbers and systems and see the results even before you wrote a single line of code. The website is amazing.
The book Game Mechanics is where Machinations.io comes from and oooof there is a lot to learn in this. This took me a while to go through, but if crafting interconnected systems is your jam, I still recommend it without and asterisks.
Game Design Fundamentals
Katie Salen Tekinbas, Eric Zimmerman
Less focused on creating digital games, but more games in general - from cultural roots and importantce to what games are in the first place, the rules of play to a lengthy dive into what games are in the first place and how to define them. I have a very soft spot for every publication that tries to take on the task to go beyond simple "games are fun" (I tanked mythic WoW raids. That was very much not always fun, but the outcome was typically something I enjoyed). This book wasn't guiding me through projects, but it helped me a lot in talking to others what playing and games mean and why they are important.
Steve Swink
Game Feel is all about how the physical and emotional sensations of interacting with a game can make the experience immersive and satisfying. Think of adding a bit of a rumble to a controller when certain conditions are met, but also how sounds and visuals are and can be used to portrait a realistic game (whatever "realistic" might mean in your project's scope).
This one took me two tries to get into, but the concepts are fascinating to me and knowing on how to use them will make your game that much more immersive and captivating.
Also: The cover image for this is just so good.
Richard Bartle
Are you unafraid of really, really thick books that pack a ton of detailed knowledge into them? Designing Virtual Worlds could be right up your alley.
It touches on so many areas that it's hard to summarize, but let me tell you: The chapter on Player Taxonomies has changed not only how I interact and view games, but also how I think about teaching and explaining concepts. It is amazing and if you want to create a game for a certain target group (Community-driven people, Explorers, Highscore Chasers,...), this book's chapters on player taxonimy alone will be worth a read.
Tynan Silvester
This book had me hooked from page 3 with the story about a machine for happiness. Generally, I liked the focus on emotion in game design the book starts out with.
This book has a ton of helpful information about crafting a game, from thinking about systems to outcomes.
And for once, this book isn't just all academic theory - Tynan Silvester is the creator of Rimworld.
As much as I love video tutorials, sometimes, a good book can help in a way videos can't.
Robert Nystrom
You probably already know his website, but there's a book, too! I like this because I can put it below my monitor and be reminded that the problems I'm bashing my head against have most likely be solved before - and in a much more efficient way than whatever I try to cobble together.
This book feels like an experienced and patient teacher, handing out great advice and getting me unstuck whenever I inadvertandly am.
Learn the secret of popular design patterns while building fun, efficient games in Unity 2023 and C#
Harrison Ferrone
I have the 2021 version, but the new one is as good. As much as getting an understanding of Game Programming Patterns is helpful, I need examples in C# and a system I am already familiar with - I have a design background, not a programming one. Books published by <packt> have helped me a lot in learning how to become a good programmer and an earlier version of this one helped me to get started with thinking differently about the code I write.
Design Patterns and SOLID
Unity
Unity publishes a new eBook every few months, each with certain core topics: This one is about design patterns, but there are others about UI, Systems, Light, Performance,...
And they are all free!
I absolutely love design - and it is a good field to have knowledge in when creating games. Here are a few recommendations for this area, too.
100 Timeless Strategies to Create Positive Interactions between People and Technology
Irene Pereyra
One of the most important skills of any designer is simply having and utilizing a large toolbox of strategies effectively. We constantly have to come up with ways to solve problems on the spot and while "I will look at what others do and copy that with a tiny twist" is something many do at first, it can't stay the only tool inside this box.
Universal Principles of UX gives an amazing overview of some of the most important strategies out there when it comes to finding solutions. Highly recommend it.
100 Key Concepts for Choosing and Using Type
Elliot Jay Stocks, Ellen Lupton
A font is not just a font. Typography comes with so many things people rarely thing about - like readability (you'd think that was further up on people's list when picking a font, right?), hierarchical structures, combinations and so much more.
There are a lot of really good books on Typography out there, but for the English speakers, I recommend this one. If you are able to understand German, scroll further down.
100 Design Principles for Using Grids
Beth Tondreau
Do not underestimate the power of a good layout. This one obviously takes printed and digital layouts into account, but there is a lot in here you can take and use in creating your game's UI.
Especially the parts about whitespace and margins should be the ones you take to heart đź’› Giving a design air to breathe is crucial to make it feel not just professional, but just plain nice to look at.
100 Key Concepts for Understanding, Analyzing, and Working with Color
Stephen Westland, Maggie Maggio
Be it the visuals of your game itself or the colours you use in your game's UI: having a solid understanding on how colours work and interact will benefit you immensly.
Just to give you an idea: Colour Studies is a field in its own (and one I studied). It's a fascinating field and being able to talk about colours and use them correctly will make designs better.
A Visual History from Newton to Modern Color Matching Guides
Alexandra Loske
This book is not only just plain beautiful, it will also finally lay to rest the idea that there is "one correct system to sort colours" - if you have painted the Itten Colour Wheel in school, you know what I mean, I hope.
This book goes through history and presents important works on how and why people tried to sort colours with staggeringly beautiful scans and large images. Absolutely worth your time if you love colours.
Signage Concepts & Wayfinding Systems
Chris van Uffelen
Remember the yellow paint discussion on Social Media a while back? Where "yellow" was used to signal to the player that they had to go that way, interact with something there or that certain walls are climbable?
How about we learn more about how people find their way around areas - at least the man-made ones? This book gives a nice overview of orientation and signage systems found in the real world.
Friedrich Forssmann, Ralf de Jong
When I got handed my certificate of being a professional designer in 2010, this is the book that taught me everything I had missed out on when it came to Typography.
It is one of the most amazing books I've found out there on the topic and it takes the word "detail" very seriously. I learned this book's contents by heart before I took the university's entrance exam and it paid off.
If you understand German and are a total Typography nerd like I am? Get this.
Friedrich Forssmann, Hans Peter Willberg
This one does look less at pure details of letters and words, but more about what makes texts look inviting enough that we want to read them. That we sometimes can't even stop reading them in the first place.
Fantastic book. Again, fully in German.
Das neue Handbuch fĂĽr Marketer, Online-Texter und Redakteure
Daniela Rorig
Writing texts is quite a craft and this book gives lots of great advice on how to tackle this problem.
When I worked in a textile store, writing social media texts for the ever-the-same kinds of textiles was a task and this book helped my colleagues and me a lot when it came to writing postings and descriptions that worked well.
Another German book.
Architecture is one of the topics I wouldn't be able to stop talking about if you were to ask me about it. So, naturally, there are some books I highly recommend if you want to include anything architectural in your games (or just want to be awed by what is and has been possible through human's history, too).
Veronica Biermann and many more
This book gives an overview over the most important architectural tractats from the Renaissance to today with great example images (which will make you want to look them up online - the vast majority of these works can be found thanks to museums and libraries digitizing their archives đź’›!)
If you can find it, the large version of this book is preferable, but the small one already will give you a ton of ideas and informations about how humans thought about buildings.
The Complete Plates from Monuments Egyptiens & Histoire de L'Art Egyptien
Salima Ikram
Another book of the sort: If you find the larger one, it is absolutely worth it.
When Napoleon came to Egypt, he didn't just have soldiers - he had artists. Artists, who, for the first time, cataloged and drew the architecture and ruins they found in Egypt. This led to the start of the whole branch of egyptology when it comes to archaeology.
The drawings are beautifully done and the print quality is high. In case your game is set in ancient egypt, this should be a no brainer.
Fausto & Felice Niccolini
I have a habit of collecting good facsimile of architecture-related books and this one is basically somewhat of a crown jewel in my collection (even though it is not strictly a facsimile).
The 18-hundrets saw incredible amounts of architectural works and this is among the most beautiful while focusing solely on what had been found up to then in the newly found and studied city of Pompeii.
The colours will surprise you. (The price probably as well. I only have it because it was a gift.)
A. Racinet and more
I swear this is not just a collection of books from the Taschen Verlag, but they do tend to publish works with a very high standard when it comes to printing quality and restoration of historical sources.
This one will blow your mind when it comes to ornaments and pattern design and is a book I just enjoy looking through when stuck with ideas. It is, again, an old source which has been published anew and again, the large version of the book is the better one.
A Crash Course in Architectural Styles
Carol Davidson Cragoe
A rather short and condensed overview of Architecture and architectual history, but a worthwhile one.
The images are mostly engravings or drawings, which I really appreciate. Details on photos are still not on the level engravings have been able to show, at least in my opinion.
Malcolm Hislop
Where the previous one gave a good overview, this one goes all-in on the details - specifically for castles. There are books for churches and other types of buildings, too.
These books come with massive amounts of example engravings and answer probably every kind of question you could have about even the tiniest of architectural elements. Very good read and an amazing source to keep next to the PC.
No matter if it is learning a game's mechanics (think of tutorials here), or learning with games -
or learning because it is setup as a game! - these books are amongst my favourites.
Making your Ideas, Products, and Services Easier to Understand
Lee LeFever
Explaining stuff is easy, right? Nope. It's not. This is a really good book to read when wanting to become better at explaining things.
This book shows you how to break things down using simple language, clear visuals, and relatable stories.
His approach cuts through the jargon, making your ideas and concepts easy to grasp — and your message really stick.
If you ever find yourself in a position where you have to explain things, this book will help you a lot.
Seminal Works in Educational Psychology and What They Mean in Practice
Paul A. Kirschner, Carl Hendrick
This book showcases and goes through 32 of the most important research papers on educational research and has helped me a lot in my education studies. You will find a lot of research papers in here which have been cited and built upon by others. This might be a bit niche and not quite game development adjacent, but it is still a solid foundation to learn how we learn - and that's important when crafting systems people need to grasp.
Gabe Zichermann, Christopfer Cunningham
Back in elementary school, have you ever handed in a homework and gotten a gold star? Or probably more recent: Fought a big enemy with only sticks and stones on the field and had an achievement pop up?
That's gamification. You did a task, you got some form of reward.
Today, gamification feels like an old hat, but the ideas behind it are still relevant and interesting to know - and made me realize I personally fall more into the group wanting to go beyond gamification into game based learning.
Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education
Karl M. Kapp
On the note of Gamification, I enjoyed this book quite a bit - and not only because I really liked the cover image.
One thing these gamification books have in common is the realization that people enjoy games and playing them - so why not take the things that work inside games out into the real world? This one comes with good examples and even a whole workbook (sold seperatly).
Julia Morris
I used this quite a bit in my own classes (and whished I had used it a whole lot more). It's very practical and when it comes to game design, has one nice feature it makes clear: The value of crafting experiences not tied to monitors. It has a few good sources on where to find help and tools and has helped me think about creating games a little differently, too.
Teaching and Participatory Culture in the Digital Age (Technology, Education--Connections (The TEC Series))
Kurt Squire, Marcia C. Linn
This one tries to challenge the ideas in traditional classrooms by showing how video games foster immersive, hands-on learning. It explains how gameplay boosts creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration.
