7-7-7 Rule for Game Design (Paperback)

I have read a lot of books on this subject and this is the clearest.

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. I have already recommended it to two colleagues and will recommend it to more.

This is the one to get if you are serious about game design.

I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between tutorials and proper reference material, and this does that well. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with game design.

Mixed feelings. The good parts are genuinely good; the rest is forgettable.

This is the third book I have read on game design this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. Useful as a reference, less so as a straight read from cover to cover.