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

Not quite what I expected from the description, but there is material here.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. The chapters on game design are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. Three stars feels about right. It will stay on my shelf, but it will not be the first one I reach for.

Very good, with a few caveats. The core material is strong.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. Worth picking up if you already have the basics. Set realistic expectations and you will get a lot out of it.

A genuinely enjoyable read that also taught me a great deal.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. I have already recommended it to two colleagues and will recommend it to more.