Tick Talk

Uncertainty in Games (by Greg Costikyan) is a short, informal book that reads more like a long essay than an academic work.  The book provides a good overview of different types of uncertainty (i.e. tension), but often fails to support or fully discuss their statements.  However, the book provides an interesting foray into sources of uncertainty in play.

Characteristics of Games (by George Skaff Elias, Richard Garfield, and K. Robert Gutschere) was a fascinating read and challenged more than one assumption I had about topics I felt were quite cut and dried.  This book starts at the foundation of design by examining topics such as number of players, game length, and types of games.  The book introduces some new vocabulary and contains some excellent appendices that give good summaries of topics such as Game Theory.

As a huge fan of the Paper Mario franchise (mostly, discounting the out-of-theme Wii game), I was very excited to play Paper Mario Color Splash for the Wii U.  I remember it having solid game play and good continuation of theme and style.  Then I decided to replay it recently and ran into a couple of issues that seem like good talking points of bad design .

The White Box Essays by Jeremy Holcomb isn't just a book about game design, but rather an overview of the whole process.  Each step of creating a game is covered by a short chapter.  The topics aren't covered in great depth, but do provide valuable information.  If you want to read 5 pages about what a game "is", check out a book like "Rules of Play"... if you want information about nearly every aspect of creating a game, from conception to production to fulfillment, then the White Box Essays is the place to start.