Recommend me a good textbook for an RPG class?

April 5, 2010 7:05 AM

I'm teaching a class this fall on programming role-playing games. Help me find a useful textbook?

It's up to me to decide on the technology and the textbook for the class. (It will definitely be on Windows.) The textbook doesn't have to only cover rpg's, but it should discuss them in enough detail to make it a useful purchase.

Any ideas? I've already seen this one: Programming Role Playing Games with DirectX, and it's a little too technical. My students are second-year game design students, and don't have an extremely extensive programming background.

posted by SuperSquirrel to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

I too teach a course on video game development, and I commiserate on textbook selection. For something RPG-specific, how about thinking broadly: a D&D manual.
posted by rlk at 8:00 AM on April 5, 2010

I always recommend Jesse Schell's Art of Game Design. I think it's a fantastic book on game design of any sort. I'm currently working on developing my own RPG and I apply the book's philosophy all the time, even though the book isn't written for RPGs in particular. It's pretty generic, but I think every genre can glean something useful. Even boardgames.

Also, check out this Mefi post on a presentation he made at DICE 2010.
posted by johnstein at 9:32 AM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]