Quickstart Guide to Game Design

A superb guide. The examples are small but complete.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. I found myself making notes in the margins, which is always a good sign. I have already recommended it to two colleagues and will recommend it to more.

A genuinely enjoyable read that also taught me a great deal.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

Better than I expected. Rare to find a technical book this well judged.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.