Books On Designing Board Games

Kamil r

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Ugh, like every Wednesday I was really looking forward to asking Jamey Stegmaier some questions on his weekly Facebook live but he's not doing it today due to Thanksgiving probably.

Today was a tough day in terms of creativity. I just felt really burnt out from thinking about my games so I took the afternoon off, resolving not to open my game design journal. I knew I wouldn't come up with any ideas anyways. I hate that feeling.

To fill my afternoon a bit I decided to write a couple little reviews of a few books I've read on game design.

"Tabletop: Analog Game Design" by Drew Davidson and Greg Costikyan:

This book has a variety of contributors, each writing their own chapter on board game design related topics. From this book you learn about design mainly through reading essays about the design of several board games, including Agricola, Cosmic Encounter, and Pandemic, among many others. However, the chapter I found the most useful as an aspiring game designer was entitled "The Greatest Gift" and was about the early stages of the design process. I just wish more of the book was filled with such practical information like this chapter.

The book has a bit of a potpourri approach. Some chapters I enjoyed, others not so much. I would have preferred it to be more structured, and more consistent. However, if you want an insight into how several well-known board games were designed, this is perfect.

I read this book pretty early, probably before I even really got into board games strangely enough. I definitely have to reread it now to fully benefit from it.

"The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design"

Similarly, this is a collection of essays covering a wide array of aspects of board game design. Unlike the previous book it has a more structured approach, with four main parts: Concepting, Design, Development, and Presentation.

This book is a better fit for you if you're a beginning game designer who is looking to learn more about what it takes to design a game.

One of my favorite chapters from the book was written by Andrew Looney, and in it he said something that convinced me to exclusively design card games:

"It's better to design in terms of what you can get manufactured than to attach yourself to the dream of a difficult to mass-produce design. […] Restrictions also help you focus your thinking, as anyone who's ever written a haiku or a 55 word short story will understand."

I personally preferred this book over the other but if you're a more experiences designer you might prefer that one for its more anecdotal and example-based approach.

"The Art of Game Design" by Jesse Schell

This textbook-like book has a 4.39 rating from a whopping 2,272 ratings on Goodreads! So it's great. Although it's directed towards video game designers primarily, it is just as helpful for board game designers. Yes, I would have liked some board game specific information but I liked it nonetheless. If you're a beginner you'll come out with a much better understanding of game design after reading this clever book.

Other recommendations

"Eurogames: The Design, Culture and Play of Modern European Board Games" is a good book if you want to emerge with a better understanding of modern board games, what they are, and how they evolved.

Another book I suggest is "Rules of Play". Admittedly I couldn't finish it because I found it a bit too technical for my liking. If you're more technically minded, you'll love it.

I haven't read Geoff Engelstein's "Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms" but I'm sure it's a terrific book, so I highly recommend it. According to the summary on its Goodreads page, the book can "assist in getting unstuck in the midst of a project", so it would be the perfect book to read right now.

I hope you enjoyed today's post, and have a great evening!

Books On Designing Board Games

Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/97442/top-3-books-board-game-design

Posted by: lewissaitan.blogspot.com

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