Player Experience Design in 20 Minutes (Coffee Break Series)

The clearest explanation of game design I have come across.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. Worth the money and the reading time, without hesitation.

Hard to recommend. The examples assume too much and explain too little.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. Not one I will be returning to. There are better introductions to game design available.

Genuinely excellent — I finished it in a week and immediately started again.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. The chapters on game design are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with game design.