Another key component of a university course often is its textbook. Game Studies is still such a new field that available textbooks are limited, yet there is a growing library of materials on the subject. Through research and reading, Dr. Denning and I early on narrowed our selection of textbooks down to Rules of Play and The Art of Game Design. Each covered the aspects of game studies that interested us and utilized the hybrid approach we were planning to teach with focus on both tabletop and digital games. Rules of Play emphasizes more heavily the tabletop aspects and fit well in my initial proposal for a Game Design course. As the course development moved from a game design focus to a game studies approach and found its home in the Systems area aof the CSE Department at Taylor, the focus shifted and The Art of Game Design encompassed the course topics better and leaned more toward the digital game aspects which better fit the expected students this first semester of the course.
So at this current stage in the development of the course, we are planing to use The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell, ISBN-10: 1466598646, as our textbook.
That still leaves a library of other texts that could be of use to students taking the course, so we are supplying a list of Further Reading Of Interest. These texts are not required but highly recommended as additional reading on Game Studies.
- The Art of Game Design: A Deck of Lenses, Second Edition by Jesse Schell, ISBN-10: 0692288872
- Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations by R. C. Bell, ISBN-10: 0486238555
- Characteristics of Games by George Elias, Richard Garfield, and K. Robert Gutscher, ISBN-10: 026201713
- The Compleat Strategyst: Being a Primer on the Theory of Games of Strategy by J. D. Williams, ISBN-10: 0486251012
- Creating Games: Mechanics, Content, and Technology by Morgan McGuire, ISBN-10: 1568813058
- The Ethics of Computer Games by Miguel Sicart, ISBN-10: 0262012650
- Eurogames: The Design, Culture and Play of Modern European Board Games by Stewart Woods, ISBN-10: 0786467975
- The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology by Katie Salen Tekinbaş and Eric Zimmerman, ISBN-10: 0819428469
- Game Usability: Advancing the Player Experience by Katherine Isbister and Noah Schaffer, ISBN-10: 0123744474
- Handbook of Computer Game Studies by Joost Raessens and Jeffrey Goldstein, ISBN-10: 0262182408
- Kobold Guide to Board Game Design by Mike Selinker, ISBN-10: 1936781042
- Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals by Katie Salen Tekinbas and Eric Zimmerman, ISBN-10: 0262240459
- Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster, ISBN-10: 1449363210
- Uncertainty in Games by Greg Costikyan, ISBN-10: 0262018969
- The Well-Played Game: A Player’s Philosophy by Bernard De Koven, ISBN-10: 0262019175
What other texts would you recommend we add to our Further Reading for the Game Studies course?
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