Player Experience Design in 20 Minutes (Coffee Break Series)

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 chapters on game design are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. I have already recommended it to two colleagues and will recommend it to more.

Genuinely excellent — I finished it in a week and immediately started again.

This is the third book I have read on game design this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. Worth the money and the reading time, without hesitation.

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

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. The chapters on game design are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. One of those books that pays for itself within the first few chapters. Highly recommended.