I am always on the lookout for good books about *non-computer-game* game design and production (board games, card games, etc.). I'd appreciate knowing what suggestions folks here have for useful and/or interesting books in that line. To start, I'll mention a few from my library.
"Things We Think About Games", by Will Hindmarch and Jeff Tidball. Though more a collection of short insights into things that make games good or bad (or other game-related insights) than a deep discussion of any one, there are a lot of useful gems in here that are good food for further thought.
"Rules of Play", by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman. This is a college textbook, and can be heavy reading, as such. It has some useful insights to offer, but I very much got the feeling that this is a first, and rather immature stab at the topic. No offense to the authors intended: all fields of study go through a process of maturation, and I think the process of analyzing games on various levels, from various perspectives, will expand and acquire more depth and substance than might have been "state of the art" in 2004 when this was published.
"The Game Inventor's Guidebook", by Brian Tinsman. While this touches on game design to some degree, it is more about game development with an eye toward the commercial considerations -- how to make a game marketable, and ways to market it. I'm not far enough along to make use of much of its advice yet, but I recommend it highly.
Anyone else?
