Quickstart Guide to Game Design

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

I have been working with game development for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. I found myself making notes in the margins, which is always a good sign. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.

Good value. Not perfect, but I would buy another book from this author.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. The chapters on game development are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.