The second book I have decided to read to help further my goals with Evolving Developer is not a game design book. It is a book about design however.
A Programming Book
The book I have decided on is Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship.
Why This Book?
I Make Games
While I want to get better at game design, I also am currently the only one making the games that I design. And since so far all of them have been video games (and will mostly be for the time being), I need to get better at building them.
The majority of the work that I do is writing code. If I can write it better and cleaner, not only will my games work better and be better, but also when I get to teach other people, they will be able to read the examples that I create and understand them easily.
Game Design Borrows From All Design
Additionally, Clean Code is about design. Naming things, when to include things, when to exclude things. These concepts are useful in both writing code and designing your games.
Time Leverage
There is an old saying “Kill 2 birds with 1 stone,” and that is what I am doing here. I have several goals with my day job in addition to goals in making games that Clean Code will hopefully help me accomplish better. One of those is to provide more value. If I can write better, cleaner, more easily readable code, I can provide more value.
Already 20% Done
I actually started this book a week ago and have already read over 100 pages in (out of almost 500). It should not stretch out over 5 months like The Art of Game Design did.
Remember, ideas about good design in general can help you with how you design your games.