The Game Design Resource Guide
4 min readFeb 19, 2022
I rounded up a list of references for some of the most useful resources when designing games. This includes game design references, books on Game Design, game engines to use, and some general inspiration. If you see something missing, let me know and I’ll add it!
Design Resources
- Bartle Taxonomy
- MDA Framework (Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics)
- 8 Types of Fun
- Gameplay progression fundamentals
- How to playtest games
- Worldbuilding framework
- How to storyboard
- Designing game systems
- How to market a game
- Business model canvas
- Guide to grayboxing/blockouts
- Game Design Document references
- A reference art style guide from DOTA
Reading
- I’m only listing this because it’s the first book I ever bought for game dev in 2014. It’s going to be very out of date, but I’d recommend getting something similar:
- A good one on general product and team advice:
- Good info on the psychology of play with interviews from game devs:
- I really love this read because it covers community, identity, and design of systems by interviewing players of massive multiplayer online games:
- Why gaming is good for you and how to gamify mundane things, like chores:
- Covers integrity in virtual worlds by outlining the darker history of some online communities back when it was all text-based:
- How to design mechanics that feel great:
- A tale on the history of two companies targeted at similar player bases. I learned a lot about marketing and why good character design is really important:
Super in-depth read on game design, playtesting, and everything else to do with gamedev. Quite a slog to read but good for reference:
- A few more books that cover more technical game design (systems, psychology, playtesting, level design, mechanics design, production) at higher levels:
- Two good industry-related books:
- These next two are simply inspiring, quick reads to help you keep moving in creation and encourage collaboration and sharing throughout your process:
Engines
- Unity — your all around engine, and my preferred choice
- Unreal Engine 4 — your all around engine with a great visual scripting system called Blueprints
- Godot — I’ve never used Godot but I hear good things
- Gamemaker — this was the first engine I ever made a game with, it was a 2D game, but that was back in 2014
- Construct3 — every time I want to make a web game I choose Construct due to the easy to use code blocks and wide variety of plugins from the community
- Phaser JS — Great for web games, but ultimately you need to know javascript
Gamedev Inspiration from Twitter
Game Design and Critique Channels
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you click on a link to a book I recommended and decide to purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
