Design: Inspirational books as a games designer

[This is a follow up article on a blog post I wrote in July of last year. You can find the post on my current blog No Rules Required]

The original post was a way for me to share my research ideas with the public and my academic peers on my Masters in Games Design. Since I have now completed the course I have decided to expand the original post with other texts that have been influential to my design process and me. If anybody has any other books that they have found particularly inspirational towards games design please link them or write about them in the comments.

1# FLOW.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

In terms of design this textbook discusses the psychology of how to understand as well as to achieve happiness. This may seem a bit ‘hippy like’ to some but if we take and step back and look at the larger picture the information inside becomes invaluable when designing a game. Videogames are meant to ignite enjoyment, achievement and a sense of fulfilment. These are not possible without the understanding of happiness and how the human mind achieves this state. It also will allow you to understand how to take control of your life to an extent and to identify the many elements that can take that control away from you. In the process you may even end up happy yourself…

2# The Writers Journey. 

Christopher Vogler

If you want to design your own games then this book is excellent when it comes to writing stories. It gives us a systematic understanding of how stories affect people as well as how to write them. Game narrative as a rule is more complicated than writing for a film or writing a novel yet these guidelines will allow us to understand the psychology of consumers when posed by certain types of stories. With a little intelligence and risk this should help you create stories that are worth playing through whether they are 4 minutes long or 60 hours.

3# Homo Ludens. Johan Huizinga

A brilliant theory book that looks into the reasons man needs to play. Homos Ludens itself means, “Man the Player” and discusses the importance of play in culture and society. I guess the questions may arise in yourself of how can you create a truly remarkable game without knowing the real reasons that one needs to play? Or you may gain some insight into the human need to enjoy themselves through games? Maybe the realization that videogames are an important cultural medium will give you confidence? Any of these things may occur when reading texts that investigate the reasons why we want to play videogames and in turn will help you create better and more substantial games. Anyone can make games that may be true, but knowing why and how they work will help you make better games.

4# Creativity.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Another great textbook by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi that looks into the theory of flow in order to understand creativity. This book in itself may not explain how to make better games but what it does do is help you understand the creative process as well as help you enrich your work with a great creative ethos.

5# Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames.

Chris Bateman (Editor)

This was the first book I read when writing a report on narrative design in videogames and although I am not a game writer the lessons I learnt in game structuring has stayed with me. The book goes into many different aspects of games design and game writing and is written by various different professionals to give you a broad view. As narrative in videogames goes the theories and ideas on show often dictate what is already used in the games industry thus giving any games designers a strong foundation of what does work. This will allow them, as it did me, to stray from the path and experiment with game mechanics and game narrative.

6# Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals.

Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman

This is probably one of my favourite books on games design. Not because it is one of the better know books on games design but because it doesn’t just focus on video games, it looks at all times of games from board games to sport games and of course computer and video games. The book works its way through 8 games design “schemas” such as games being a storytelling medium and contexts of social play and gaming. Out of all the books I have read on games design this is the one that helped me as guide the most. It allowed me to make rational choices and risks by understanding the aesthetics of games design whilst still feeling creative. I also helped me identify with myself as a games designer rather than just a “video” games designer.

7# The Laws of Simplicity.

John Maeda

Games design textbooks are all well and good but it is basic design philosophies that will allow us to make clear, concise and accessible titles. I found the “The Laws of Simplicity” allowed me to understand why it was important to create challenges, controls and mechanics simply. In my last post The Rules of Three I talk about design in process being broken down simply, without this book those ideas would not have been fully realised or at least not as clearly. The book itself is not too academic and easy enough to read, or should I say simple to read, and Maedas simple advice proved influential on my work. I suggest picking it up to see if it has the same effect on you.

These books have been highly influential to me and have helped me when I am stepping through the design process. If you design games and don’t read I highly recommend to start with some of these titles and see if they help you when you are creating. On top of these books there are some others that I intend to read but have not yet gotten round to doing so. These are the following:

1# Universal Principles of Design

2# Emotional Design – Donald Norman

3# The Design of Every Day Things - Donald Norman

4# How’s and Whys of Level Design – Sjoerd De Jong

5# House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski

Hopefully I will get to read them soon, as for now back to ideas factory to makes some games.