Rating: 
Summary: A Bunch of Interviews, Not a Step by Step Guide
Review: I bought this expecting to get a step by step process for everything ( i.e. if you want to be a level designer, you should first draw so and so, then maybe you might want to consider getting such and such.) what I got was still a very nice book. You have a guy sit a bunch of big name game designers, ask them what they do to make the games they did, how they got into the industry, that kind of thing. It's all very nice, but it is not what I was expecting. there are no tutorials, just a bunch of advice.
Rating: 
Summary: A defintite need......
Review: If you dont own this book, you can't become a game programmer. Absolutely one of the best books around. This will tell you about how to design your game, how to chose topics, what you need, and help with publishing. It offers websites with help, and schools for game designers. This is not only for programmers. You want to be a graphic designer(for games)? This tell you the tools used by the big guys. It includes interviews with hundreds of professionals, including the makers of Final Fantasy and Mario Brothers. THIS IS THE BOOK. I reffer to this book before doing anything with games. But, they are coming out with a third edition, so new buyers, you can wait if you would like. This book was much more than I expected. Good job Marc Saltzman!
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT!
Review: If you're looking at designing your own computer or console games, this book is a must! It covers everything from graphics to music to AI. With dozens of interviews, articles and code examples, this book is one of the bibles for game designers.
Rating:
Summary: Great for the price
Review: Imagine interviewing over one hundred people in the game in the game industry, and then taking all those interviews, editing them, and compiling them into a single, coherent volume that flows well. Seems like a daunting task, doesn't it? Well, that's exactly what Marc Saltzman has done here. Although the book doesn't flow perfectly, Saltzman has done an excellent job of organizing and tying together the advice and insights of some of the top developers in the industry, and it makes for quite an interesting read. The book covers each major area of game development, from programming and design to art and animation to production and marketing. Although the book is certainly not the only book you need to learn to make games (it contains no actual programming information, for example), it's a good general resource that will help you avoid many of the pitfalls others have encountered, and learn from their experience in general. One complaint I had is that the quality of the advice ranges all over the place, from truly insightful, to stating the obvious, to blatantly wrong. Most of it is good, though, and it's helpful to view each developer's views in light of how well received their games were. My only ohter complaint is that in some sections, most of the developers interviewed seemed to be saying the exact same things, and although that helped to reinforce the point being made, it caused the book to drag a bit. All-in-all, I don't consider this book a "must have," but I do think it's a good value for the price.
Rating:
Summary: Great selection for game design
Review: It shows you the easy way to acheive your goal in making your game. I found it to be very helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Secrets Interesting though not all are helpful
Review: Make no mistake this is a genuinely interesting book. There are some great insights into the makings of some of the great games and some solid information is doled out to the reader as to the game-making process from start to finish. Its just that so much of what they say is stuff youd say to yourself "yeah thats just common sense". Still I dont regret a cent i spent on this book......its just that good to read but if you want in depth design tips look elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: lots of nice interviews, but basically a useless book
Review: Not so much the secrets of the sages, more like, the helpful ideas from the sages. There really were no big secrets at all, just a bunch of interviews with people talking about the projects that they have worked on. Basically, you wont learn anything usefull from this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the Newest Edition of this Book
Review: The newest edition of this book (the 5th) is for some reason published under a different name. The first four editions were published under this title (1st edition was copyrighted in 1999). The newer version of this book can be found on Amazon's website also, under the title "Game Creation and Careers: Insider Secrets from Industry Experts", published June 2003 with a 2004 copyright (1st edition), so be sure you get the newest copy (if you don't believe me just check the table of contents of both books - they are 95% identical and published by the same author).
Rating:
Summary: Initiation into game design.
Review: They say that the best way to excel in a trade is to find a position as an apprentice under a great mentor who you would like to emulate. Wouldn't it be great to have Sid Meier, Peter Molyneux or Warren Spector at your disposal, to learn the trade of Game Design? These three game designers alone are responsible for some of the greatest hits ever in the computer games industry. About the next best thing to actually obtaining employment at one of their respective companies, is to get a chance to interview them and find out what some of those trade secrets are, that have made them a blatant success. Well, Marc Saltzman has done just that! He not only interviewed the luminaries mentioned above, but others including: David Cage, Toby Gard, Richard Garriot, Ron Gilbert, Tom Hall, Marc LeBlanc, The Levelord, Shigeru Miyamoto, David Perry, Bobby Prince, George Sanger, Chris Taylor, Roberta Williams and over 100 others! These interviews have been nicely edited and put together in an extremely easy to read format and can be found in the book, "Game Design: Secrets of the Sages". This title offers a wide scope of information on various subjects regarding game development issues, such as: character design, level design, programming, AI, art, Animation, sound FX, music, testing, Marketing, web site design, and much, much more. What truly sets this book apart from others, are the dozens of interviews with the top respected game designers, so the information and opinions represented are ones to take note of. The book never claims to be an extensive study on the art of game design, it merely makes notions and true and tried development concepts accessible to all levels of readers. Various designers, who at times take opposite views on a matter, tackle each of the subjects. It is interesting to read each of these opinions and understand the interviewee's point of view on a matter. For example, there are variances on whether to use a design documents or not, how to flesh out the main characters and whether to use storyboards or not. The real point is that at times there may be more than one way to accomplish something, so the successful way of doing something may be as unique as the person implementing the technique. In fact, this exchange of ideologies runs throughout the various chapters in this title. It's kind of like attending a roundtable at the GDC. Some other interesting chapters in "Secrets of the Sages" include topics like: breaking into the industry, game agents and headhunters, Design schools, resources on the net, distribution channels, and key industry conventions and organizations. Overall, this title touches on a large amount of information, but it is important to note that the title is geared for the newer game developers. For example, you won't find any programming examples, nor any in depth study of technical information. Yet, if you are just getting started in the industry or don't know where to start, I would easily recommend that you obtain yourself a copy of this title. Maybe someday you'll be the one looked upon as the venerable mentor. The book can also be purchased as part of Macmillan Software's Game Programming Starter Kit 4.0 or you can purchase it separately at your favorite retailer.
Rating:
Summary: Initiation into game design.
Review: They say that the best way to excel in a trade is to find a position as an apprentice under a great mentor who you would like to emulate. Wouldn't it be great to have Sid Meier, Peter Molyneux or Warren Spector at your disposal, to learn the trade of Game Design? These three game designers alone are responsible for some of the greatest hits ever in the computer games industry. About the next best thing to actually obtaining employment at one of their respective companies, is to get a chance to interview them and find out what some of those trade secrets are, that have made them a blatant success. Well, Marc Saltzman has done just that! He not only interviewed the luminaries mentioned above, but others including: David Cage, Toby Gard, Richard Garriot, Ron Gilbert, Tom Hall, Marc LeBlanc, The Levelord, Shigeru Miyamoto, David Perry, Bobby Prince, George Sanger, Chris Taylor, Roberta Williams and over 100 others! These interviews have been nicely edited and put together in an extremely easy to read format and can be found in the book, "Game Design: Secrets of the Sages". This title offers a wide scope of information on various subjects regarding game development issues, such as: character design, level design, programming, AI, art, Animation, sound FX, music, testing, Marketing, web site design, and much, much more. What truly sets this book apart from others, are the dozens of interviews with the top respected game designers, so the information and opinions represented are ones to take note of. The book never claims to be an extensive study on the art of game design, it merely makes notions and true and tried development concepts accessible to all levels of readers. Various designers, who at times take opposite views on a matter, tackle each of the subjects. It is interesting to read each of these opinions and understand the interviewee's point of view on a matter. For example, there are variances on whether to use a design documents or not, how to flesh out the main characters and whether to use storyboards or not. The real point is that at times there may be more than one way to accomplish something, so the successful way of doing something may be as unique as the person implementing the technique. In fact, this exchange of ideologies runs throughout the various chapters in this title. It's kind of like attending a roundtable at the GDC. Some other interesting chapters in "Secrets of the Sages" include topics like: breaking into the industry, game agents and headhunters, Design schools, resources on the net, distribution channels, and key industry conventions and organizations. Overall, this title touches on a large amount of information, but it is important to note that the title is geared for the newer game developers. For example, you won't find any programming examples, nor any in depth study of technical information. Yet, if you are just getting started in the industry or don't know where to start, I would easily recommend that you obtain yourself a copy of this title. Maybe someday you'll be the one looked upon as the venerable mentor. The book can also be purchased as part of Macmillan Software's Game Programming Starter Kit 4.0 or you can purchase it separately at your favorite retailer.
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