Game Design and Development: Code, Psychology and Analytics (Paperback)

Not quite what I expected from the description, but there is material here.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. Three stars feels about right. It will stay on my shelf, but it will not be the first one I reach for.

Good book. The writing is direct and the author is honest about limits.

I have been working with javascript for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.