DirFX Shopping


DirFX - The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses

The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses
List Price: $59.95
Our Price: $47.36
Your Save: $ 12.59 ( 21% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Morgan Kaufmann
Average Customer Rating: Average rating of 5.0/5Average rating of 5.0/5Average rating of 5.0/5Average rating of 5.0/5Average rating of 5.0/5

Buy it now at Amazon.com!

Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 006
EAN: 9780123694966
ISBN: 0123694965
Label: Morgan Kaufmann
Manufacturer: Morgan Kaufmann
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 512
Publication Date: 2008-08-18
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
Studio: Morgan Kaufmann

Related Items

Editorial Reviews:

Anyone can master the fundamentals of game design - no technological expertise is necessary. The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses shows that the same basic principles of psychology that work for board games, card games and athletic games also are the keys to making top-quality videogames. Good game design happens when you view your game from many different perspectives, or lenses. While touring through the unusual territory that is game design, this book gives the reader one hundred of these lenses - one hundred sets of insightful questions to ask yourself that will help make your game better. These lenses are gathered from fields as diverse as psychology, architecture, music, visual design, film, software engineering, theme park design, mathematics, writing, puzzle design, and anthropology. Anyone who reads this book will be inspired to become a better game designer - and will understand how to do it.

* Jesse Schell is a highly recognizable name within the game industry - he is the former chair of the International Game Developer's Association, and has designed many successful games, including Disney's award-winning Toontown Online.

* The book's design methodology was developed at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center, co-founded by Dr. Randy Pausch of "Last Lecture" fame.

* 100 'lenses' are scattered throughout the book. These are boxed sets of questions, each a different way of seeing a game that will inspire the creative process.

* 500 pages of detailed, practical instruction on creating world-class games that will be played again and again.

* Winner of Game Developer's 2008 Front Line Award in the book category


Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: Fun to read, insightful and inspirational
Comment: This is the must-have book for anyone in game design. For me personally, the book highlighted many fundamental aspects of game design I didn't realize I didn't know, even though I consider myself a fairly experienced game designer.

The book is fun to read. The author has a very engaging writing style, and interesting and relevant examples makes the subject matter of each chapter very easy to relate to.

The book is well designed to bring even a novice very quickly up to speed, yet it's also a fantastic resource for experienced game designers, covering just about everything that matters in modern game design.

The idea of lenses as game design tools really resonated with me. The book contains 100 lenses that are different angles or aspects of how you can view your game, posing poignant questions that help to easily cut to the essence of the decisions you've made or will be making in designing your game.

If you ever buy a book on game design, make it this one. You won't regret it.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
Summary: Exactly what I was looking for and cheap!
Comment: This book is the new standard for game design! Jesse knows his stuff. Outside of this book, any of the Ernest Adams books will give you a great intro to this subject.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: Great Book
Comment: It really opened my eyes to a lot of the different variables that go into successful game design.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: I wish I could have given the book a one star rating...
Comment: I wish I could have given the book a one star rating. Then everybody would read this review. Anyway, you are reading it now, I guess because the book only got excellent ratings. And this is for a reason: this book is my favorite lecture when I'm sitting on the toilet. Don't get me wrong, this is nothing disrespectful; it is the number one award a book can get from me, because it is the only time of the day I'm not disturbed by someone. No phone, no email, no twitter. I share this time with the greatest writers of all times: Thomas Mann, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, George R. R. Martin and Bill Watterson.

Next to consulting video game developers and publishers in Germany, I'm teaching Game Design at the Games Academy and University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. This is why I have read the most books about Game Design on the market. Jesse Shell doesn't repeat well known facts and strategies, he gets down to the core of the topics and explains the source. This might be a little academic, if he would not choose great examples to illustrate his thoughts. In the end it will help you understand your craft much better and remember important aspects.

The book of lenses has a wide scope, which will make it suitable for teachers setting up a curriculum, students or beginners entering the industry or game design veterans making sure their latest invention is not missing a crucial point, which could turn a million dollar idea to a spot of bat barf.


Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: a great insight into the world of game design.
Comment: "The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses" is one of the best walk through books i have ever read in my life.

Jesse Schell does a remarkable work in walking you through all the steps and mind set you need to be in in order to comprehend all the stages of game design. the book in written in an every day simple language, and is very easy to relate to. No big mouth breaking words that you have to look up in the dictionary in order to understand what they mean. Plain and to the point, filled with lots of great examples that anyone can relate to.

The book gives you the insight of the way people think, regardless if you are a game designer or not, its a must.
11 out of 10 stars.

must read (and buy of course).



Buy it now at Amazon.com!

US $43.50 (0 Bid)
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 10:49:00 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $47.99
Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $3.00
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 10:53:31 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $3.00
Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $21.21
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 10:56:23 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $21.21
Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $18.05
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 10:57:07 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $18.05
Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $21.49
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 10:57:14 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $21.49
Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $0.11 (2 Bids)
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 11:00:27 PDT
Bid now | Add to watch list

US $36.39
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 11:05:17 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $36.39
Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $44.00 (19 Bids)
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 11:06:05 PDT
Bid now | Add to watch list

US $5.00 (0 Bid)
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 11:07:43 PDT
Bid now | Add to watch list

US $28.21
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 11:12:43 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $28.21
Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $12.75
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 11:13:28 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $12.75
Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $30.43
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 11:15:41 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $30.43
Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $27.92
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 11:17:18 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $27.92
Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $6.29
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 11:18:20 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $6.29
Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $4.99
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 11:20:45 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $4.99
Buy it now | Add to watch list

Sponsored Links

Related Products

Support DirFX

The DirFX Shopping experience is still in beta. Let us know how to improve your shopping experience and the changes you would like to see at DirFX. Head over to the Contact Page to send us your feedback.