Rating: 
Summary: It hurt to read it...
Review:
Ouch!
One previous reviewer said "The author is a writer, not a designer."
That gave Mr. Lewinski too much credit as a writer.
I've never seen so many passive, preposition-laden, cliché-ridden, hyperbole-loaded sentences!
It really hurt my head to read this stuff.
Despite the title, the book is not for Developers.
Its title should have been:
"A Total Beginner's Guide To Computer Game Design"
...
Rating:
Summary: Beginner's Guide to Interactive Scriptwriting
Review: A bunch of interviews (the first one is with an author of a supermarket food hygiene multimedia!), demagogical phrases, medieval articles and reviews of software for Hollywood screenwriters. When the author wrote this "book", he was in the industry for only two years! Very disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: Get "Game Design Theory & Practice" instead...
Review: I admit, I only flipped through the book so I'm not able to give you an in depth review. However, from what I saw and read here all is true.Game Design Theory & Practice from Richard Rouse instead has all the in depth information you will be missing in this book. Where you get 2 pages about game psychology in John's book you'll get a whole chapter of useful information about what players want and expect .. and TONS more! I personally wouldn't even consider publishing the information provided in John's book as a FAQ on the web, not to speak of publishing it as a book...
Rating:
Summary: Get "Game Design Theory & Practice" instead...
Review: I admit, I only flipped through the book so I'm not able to give you an in depth review. However, from what I saw and read here all is true. Game Design Theory & Practice from Richard Rouse instead has all the in depth information you will be missing in this book. Where you get 2 pages about game psychology in John's book you'll get a whole chapter of useful information about what players want and expect .. and TONS more! I personally wouldn't even consider publishing the information provided in John's book as a FAQ on the web, not to speak of publishing it as a book...
Rating: 
Summary: Weak.
Review: Read this if you've got nothing else to do. Avoid this one, and jump over to Rollings' "Game Architecture and Design" for the first book you should have on your shelf.
Rating:
Summary: not recommended
Review: the only way in which this book is *about* computer game design is in how it circles about the topic, never actually hitting anything in its path. it provides great examples of success stories (and a few mediocre ones as well), but it's little more than an edited collection of product reviews and conversations with designers. all in all, it appears to be written for someone needing a very high-level introduction to the topic - most definitely not a "developer's guide".
Rating: 
Summary: Gaming philosophy...
Review: This book consists of the following: 1) A guide to wannabe-screen writers, telling them how they can make extra cash on games. 2) Shallow "interviews" (in quotes, because what you get is mostly glowing history of the interviewee, not actual interviews). 3) Advertisements (! ) for various screen writing tools. This is a total waste of time for any game developer or designer. Go buy a real book instead. Morris.
Rating:
Summary: Very basic attempt at explaining computer game design...
Review: This book did not add much to the theory of game design. A majority of the book was concerned with the scripting of a game like that of a movie, which is unfortunately not how a majority of games are made. I would not suggest this book to the majority of people interested in game design, or to those people current designing games. It really has very little to help with or add.
Rating:
Summary: Very basic attempt at explaining computer game design...
Review: This book did not add much to the theory of game design. A majority of the book was concerned with the scripting of a game like that of a movie, which is unfortunately not how a majority of games are made. I would not suggest this book to the majority of people interested in game design, or to those people current designing games. It really has very little to help with or add.
Rating:
Summary: A good insider title for curious would-be designers.
Review: This book provides what it promises -- an overall, basic look at game design with lots of interviews by working designers. It's for beginner game designers or curious gamers who just want to learn about how they make games. It's not for people who already make games since they must know all this already. It's for people not in the game-making business yet. The book tries to cover as much material as it can and does a good job.
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