Game Design Workshop

Name: Game Design Workshop
ISBN: 0240809742

by Tracy Fullerton · first published 2008

8mentions

6recommended by

8HN commenters

2013–2026first – last mentioned

75% recommend13% neutral13% critical

Why HN recommends it

Practical, process-focused introduction to designing games, with a playcentric approach and a large case study; suited to students and anyone starting out in game design.

Summarised by Claude from recommending comments

Programming

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What Hacker News says

Hydraulix989 · Jan 9, 2017 · Recommends

I don't think colliding with another player should even trigger death in the first place though. That's just not a fun game mechanic. I suggest reading Fullerton's "Game Design Workshop" to help fill in those knowledge gaps.
on “Show HN: Simple Multiplayer 3D render with threejs, Tile38 and websockets” ↗
ncfausti · Mar 23, 2020 · Recommends

There's a large story/case study on Garfield in the book Game Design Workshop. Great resource for anyone interested in designing new games. https://www.amazon.com/Game-Design-Workshop-Playcentric-Inno...
on “Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield on 35 years of making games” ↗
Jare · Oct 16, 2021 · Recommends

For game design, any or all of these will easily be in most top lists: - Tracy Fullerton's Game Design Workshop - Jesse Schell's Art of Game Design A Book of Lenses - Steve Swink's Game Feel - Scott Rogers' Level Up - Skaff & others' Characteristics of Games - Raph Koster's A Theory of Fun - Joris Dormans…
on “Deeper Than Pixels: A Reading List on Video Games” ↗
trynewideas · Aug 28, 2020 · Recommends

…more of an interest in design criticism than creation and want an intro to a critical vocabulary, it might appeal more: https://www.powells.com/book/rules-of-play-game-design-funda... Tracy Fullerton's Game Design Workshop is a great read, and even more well suited to a classroom environment than Challenges for Game Designers, but it's _too_ classroom-y for my tastes, focused more on getting from point A to a very specific…
on “Game Design Curriculum” ↗
modernerd · Sep 1, 2013 · Recommends

…is also excellent: http://www.raphkoster.com/ ) - Level Up! http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-047068867X... - Game Design Theory http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466554207 - Game Design Workshop http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9780240809748
on “Books For Game Developers” ↗
Impossible · Feb 10, 2021 · Recommends

…game programmers struggling with making art. It specifically focuses on vector art, and pixel art might be more suitable, for that https://lospec.com/ links to many tutorials. For game design process Game Design Workshop and Challenges for Game Designers are good books that cover process comprehensively (TLDR is quick concept, prototype, play test, refine).
on “Are we game yet? – A guide to the Rust game development ecosystem” ↗
angarg12 · Jan 22, 2019 · Critical

…contains a blend of theoretical analysis and practical experience. Maybe it’s biggest weakness is that it is still limited by the experiences of a single author. Overall a very round and well balanced book. Game Design Workshop: Having read the other books I didn’t feel this one brings anything particular to the table. It is another all-in-one book whose content is covered to some extent by any other of the previous books. The…
on “Rules of Play” ↗
zemo · Jan 6, 2026 · Mentions

…https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262240451/rules-of-play/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/monograph/9780123694966/t... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Crawford_on_Game_Design https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Design_Workshop
on “Spherical Snake” ↗