As published by Gamedev, Games are Art has a list of books “every designer must read.” I’ve read most of the books on the list or have a passing knowledge of them (I’ve been bad and haven’t picked up Raph’s book yet). I’d like to also offer my personal recommendations. Not for design books or even specific books, but fields of study from which I’ve taken a lot of my concepts.

First: communications theory. If interactivity is a conversation as Crawford asserts in The Art of Interactive Design, how can you understand it without actually studying communication theory? Specifically, pay attention to the concept of self as it relates to communication theory. Nothing made me think about the self as character more than the quote: “I am not who I think I am. I am not who you think I am. I am who I think you think I am.” In games, it’s the same thing. You are not you in a game. You are not the character in a game. You are who you think the character should be. In my mind its an important distinction, and to fully understand the ramifications, you need to read communications theory.

Second: experimental authors. Italo Calvino especially. I’ve got a full post about this half written so I’ll leave it for that, but if you need your fix now, check out If on a Winter’s Night A Traveler. Another book that will make you question just how the relationship between author, narrator and reader really works, and can be manipulated in both interactive and non interactive literature.

Last (and really only if you’re interested in games as narrative): read up on literature. Read the stuff that changed the world, like The Jungle, stuff that satirized culture like Pride and Prejudice, stuff that exposes the human condition, like Hamlet or Crime and Punishment, or simply stuff that has stood the test of time because of its artistic quality, like Great Expectations. Basically read anything that is available as a penguin classic. Hell, buy the whole collection. If you’re going to write good stories in any form, the only way to do it is by actually reading good stories.

That’s all. Enjoy reading!