Williams College Professor Morgan McGuire takes his games very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he has written a book about it. ... While teaching his game design class, McGuire couldn't find a book that covered this, so he called up his colleague Professor Chad Jenkins at Brown, and they co-wrote the book to help other people design games. It combines scientific theories about rule systems with more practical advice about the process of designing a game.
— L452The Berkshire Eagle , November 2008

Apply Game Design as a Science for Public Policy to Rescue Economy, Planet: They are all subject to analysis as games: scenarios where intelligent agents (players) seek to maximize their payoff (win) under a set of rules. Although some seem like fun and others like work, an understanding of each instance informs the others, and insights for any improve how we both work and play.
— Morgan McGuire, Infinite Connection, April 2009

The writing is friendly and just casual enough that the authors' personalities come through. The book is engaging, clear, and well focused. The text combines a general survey of each topic with occasional asides offering specific and well-chosen detail. This combination gives the book a sense of confident authority. . . .This ambitious, wide-ranging book succeeds in giving its readers a broad overview of many topics that contribute to contemporary video game design. For someone who has never worked in the field, this book will give a general understanding of how a game is designed, the working of a modern studio, the roles of different departments and the people in them, the tools they use, and the technical issues that are important to them. The exercises at the end of each chapter enhance the book's value as a course textbook.
With its wealth of information on many subjects important to game design, the book would serve well as an introductory text for a student considering a career as a game designer.
— Andrew Glassner, SIAM, January 2010

"Successful computer games are a careful blend of technology and art. This is the first book I've found that deals well with both the technical elements of computer games, and the alchemy of mixing those elements create an engaging experience."--(Benjamin Watson, Member, Digital Gaming Research Center Associate Professor, Dept. Computer Science, North Carolina State University)