Greetings BGDF, it has been a few years since I was a regular poster here. I hope everyone is doing well.
Back in my days as an admin here, we created the game design wiki and the topics in game design forum, and the discussions we had there were a fun way to think more broadly and more deeply about principles of good game design. It was a great time for design and fun to have been a part of.
This year I self-published a book, "You Said This Would Be Fun: What Makes a Game Good and How to Make a Good Game", that collects many of these ideas about good design and springboards off of them to suggest some others, all in a systematic framework of player-centered design built around Engaging, Motivating, and Challenging your players.
It's a book about game design, and has nothing to say about prototyping, protecting your game, publication, and so on. But for those who want to grow in the craft of design, I think it's a useful resource.
It's available in paperback or Kindle at Amazon, or in ePub at DriveThruRPG. And as it happens, now through 10/2 it's on sale for 25% off.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086Y5KFLN
If you're looking for a book that lays out a systematic collection of design wisdom, I hope you'll check it out!
(And more importantly, I hope this post doesn't run afoul of the site rules; if it does, please delete this thread, and I apologize!)
