Which Book?

I have heard Rules Of Play is really cool, though it sounds more like an interesting academic thing than practical stuff (though it would surely boost your design skills - "A Theory Of Fun For Game Design", mainly about computer games, is a great book that I feel has affected how I design). It's all design theory, I believe, nothing to do with getting to market at all, though I've never read it, so what do I know? I've wanted to get it for a long time, but it's real pricey.

I did not like the Toy and Game Inventor's Handbook which I finished last week. It's almost entirely about toys, and kind of mentions games offhand at the end of each thing, like "this is the entire production process for toys [pages of graphs and timetables and details]... oh, and if you're doing a game, it'll take half as long."... It really felt like a whole different take, but it does include lots of agents and publishers (but weeding out the game ones from the toy ones is tough, and it blows off lots of obvious game choices - it's really almost all toy ones), and info about them. I'm gonna try seeking out an agent soon, and I will go with one mentioned in there, because there are interviews and stuff with them, so you get an idea about them. The agent section really seemed the most useful. For the most part, I felt like I was skimming this book and just waiting for each section to get over with. It is however, ALL about getting to market, not about design at all. It's hard to say really, I think I actually learned a lot from it, but it bugged me to plow through page after page of toy stuff to get to it. It is probably a good choice if you don't mind the wading.

Game Inventor's Guidebook I really like. Quick and easy to read, and interesting. I think it's really useful actually, not necessarily nuts & bolts stuff, but good for giving you the ideas of what you need to do to succeed.

There's another one called Game Inventor's Handbook by Steve Peek. It's older, I'd say out of date (the computer stuff in it is downright hilarious), at least the 2nd edition, which is what I have. I got bored with it and have not finished it. I think it's probably both not applicable as much these days, unless there's a newer edition, and also more like hand-waving glossing over topics as opposed to actual information. My copy also stinks like cigarettes, due to purchasing it on eBay, though if you buy a copy from someone other than me, you may be able to avoid this particular downfall.

I haven't seen the other one you mentioned, sounds like something I'd check out.