However, the good news is that I hit the university library on Saturday and took out a number of useful-looking books:
- "A Theory of Fun for Games Design" by Raph Koster
This really caught my attention in a big way. Throughout my scattergun research, 'the experience' is coming up again-and-again as a key factor, requiring a balance of game elements. I'm eager to sample Koster's opinion on the matter, which I think is likely to provide lots of food for thought. - "Games Design Perspectives" edited by François Dominic Laramée
You can't really argue with the experience of 25+ different game designers, and it'll certainly be interesting to see what they have to say on the whole experience/elements theme. - "Games Design Theory & Practice" by Richard Rouse
A bit general, but I'm hoping this will either reinforce existing themes or challenge them. I'm a bit too reliant on Jesse Schell at the moment, and need a bit of perspective. - "Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames" by Ian Bogost
Looks a bit high-brow and off-topic, but I wanted to check it out. From a psychographic perspective, there is a definite relationship between the cultural & social impact of creative media (literature, TV & films in particular) and the enjoyment that audiences gain from them. This will undoubtedly apply to games too. - "Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market" by Sheri Graner Ray
Spotted this on the shelf and realised that I can't afford to ignore this. Schell makes the point that the psychology of 'the experience' can be highly gender-dependent, and gives a handful of examples where the target audience or game mechanics were re-evaluated as a result of focus group research. I suspect this book may turn out to be very important in my research.