1. Free PDF Download of The Art of Computer Game Design by Chris Crawford originally published in 1982. This is the Bible of Computer Game Design!
2. Chris Crawford on Game Design published in 2003 and this is an awesome book!
3. The Art of Interactive Design by Chris Crawford. Published in 2002. This is a very good book.
4. Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling published in 2004. This will only be useful if you have a story driven game. But it is a good book.
2. Chris Crawford on Game Design published in 2003 and this is an awesome book!
3. The Art of Interactive Design by Chris Crawford. Published in 2002. This is a very good book.
4. Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling published in 2004. This will only be useful if you have a story driven game. But it is a good book.
You are Chris Crawford and I claim my five pounds. :)
I'd take his ideas with a pinch of salt though, he does tend to have very polarised opinions. All are still worth reading though, and hey, the guy invented fog of war so credit is certainly due.
There's a book called State of Play, which is very good (but Amazon doesn't seem to stock it any more). Rollings & Adams on Game Design - http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1592730019 - is an essential read, IMO.
A series of lecture notes by Janet Murray - http://interactive.usc.edu/members/cpearce/MakingStevenCry.pdf
Other books not directly related to games design but very useful for games design:
* Story by Robert McKee - http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0413715604
* Art of War by Sun Tzu - http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140439196
* A Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell - http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0586085718
* Film Directing Shot by Shot by Steve Katz - http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0941188108
Blogs:
* http://grandtextauto.gatech.edu/
* http://www.raphkoster.com/category/games/
* http://projectperko.blogspot.com/
* http://terranova.blogs.com/
Probably more important than reading all of these is to play (and analyse) every game you can get your hands on, even if you don't think you'll like it.