Game: A Field Guide to Practical Game Design

This is a practical book that teaches a format (not a formula) for designing games.

Its focus is on making the designer understand who her audience is, what the requirements of the team that she works with are, and why clarity saves so much time and money in the long run.

It teaches a variety of tools that designers can use to validate a design on paper (such as resource tables, mechanical loops and the game design canvas) and imparts a way of writing that moves design away from encyclopedic bibles and into production-driven specs.