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The Art of Game Design: A Deck of Lenses, Second Edition Cards – November 6, 2014

by Jesse Schell (Author)

4.8 118 ratings

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There is a newer edition of this item:

The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Third Edition
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Would you like to design world-class games? The Second Edition Deck of Lenses is the ultimate game design creativity toolkit. Companion to the 2nd edition of the acclaimed book The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, this convenient deck has been updated to contain 113 unique individual lens cards; each featuring key questions that will make your game great, and a magnificent color illustration to help you remember each principle. The cards have been updated for enhanced durability, appearance and information, truly spanning every aspect of game design - story, game mechanics, technology, aesthetics, psychology, creativity, teamwork, playtesting, and even business issues. Included instructions explain how to use the cards to design board, card, and videogames. Whether you are a novice or expert game designer, this deck of lenses will change the way you look at games.In 2019, when the 3rd edition of the book was released, Jesse also released a Booster Pack for the Deck of Lenses. Information about the booster pack can be found on artofgamedesign.com

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Schell Games; 2nd edition (November 6, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Cards ‏ : ‎ 113 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0692288872
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0692288870
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds

Best Sellers Rank: #1,131,934 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #19,872 in Puzzles & Games

Customer Reviews:
4.8 118 ratings

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Jesse Schell

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Jesse Schell is the author of the critically acclaimed book "The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses," published in 2008. The book captured Game Developer Magazine's coveted "Front Line Award" in 2008. In 2014, he released the second edition of this book. In 2019 the tenth anniversary and third edition of the book was released.

Jesse is also the founder and CEO of Schell Games. Since starting Schell Games in 2002, Jesse has grown it into the largest and most successful game development company in Pennsylvania. Under his leadership, Schell Games has produced an amazing array of innovative, transformational and award-winning entertainment experiences, including the Disney Fairies MMO, Pixie Hollow, Toy Story Mania TV Game and some of the most popular interactive theme park attractions in the world.

Jesse also holds a faculty position as Distinguished Professor at the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) of Carnegie Mellon University. Since 2006, Professor Schell has taught the Building Virtual Worlds class, created by ETC Co-Founder and "The Last Lecture" author, Randy Pausch.

Prior to starting Schell Games, Jesse was the Creative Director of the Disney Imagineering Virtual Reality Studio, where he worked and played for seven years as a designer, programmer, and manager on numerous projects for Disney theme parks and DisneyQuest.

He is perhaps most celebrated for his design of Disney's Toontown Online, the first massively multiplayer game for kids. Toontown Online won several awards, including the following:

Computer Gaming World - "2003 MMORPG Game of the Year"

Webby Awards - "2003 People's Voice Award, Kids Category"

Parents' Choice Foundation - "2003 Silver Honor"

Children's Software Review - "2003 All Star Software Award"

WiredKids - "2005 Safe Gaming Award"

2005 Webby Awards - "Webby Worthy Selection Award"

In addition to his award-winning work at The Walt Disney Company, Jesse has achieved numerous accomplishments, including the following:

+ KAPi Pioneer Award in 2019

+ Pioneer in Immersive Reality Award in 2018

+ Pittsburgh Technology Council Tech50 CEO of the Year in 2016

+ Pittsburgh Technology Council 2016 CREATE Selection- Creators of the Year

+ Selected as Pittsburgh Business Times Most Admired CEOs in 2016

+ Named a Smart 50 business leader in 2014

+ Selected as Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2009 Finalist for Upstate NY, Western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia region

+ Named one of the world's Top 100 Young Innovators by MIT's Technology Review (2004)

+ Served as Director and Chairman of the International Game Developers Association (2003-2005)

+ Lead designer of "2001 Thea Award" winner, Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle of the Buccaneer Gold, a virtual reality attraction within Disney's theme park

+ Cut his technical teeth as a Software Engineer for IBM and Bell Communications Research

+ Earned a Master's Degree in Information Networking from Carnegie Mellon University

+ Earned a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)

To learn more about Jesse, visit his website at http://www.jesseschell.com.

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Edward Sigler

Required reading for all game designers

Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2013

Verified Purchase

What Jesse does with this book is ask important questions that are pertinent to nearly every game. The other thing he does is create a clear and concise vocabulary for those elements of a game that maybe intuitive to us as designers, but perhaps is not articulated that well in our own minds. This clear vocabulary is empowering, as it enables a designer to more easily think about the elements of their game, and in addition, to add to the foundation that Jesse has already put together. We as game designers are thus able to leap-frog far ahead in terms of how we think about our games. An excellent book by an obviously very thoughtful and intelligent person.

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2014

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I tried to explain why I wanted this product to my wife. She asked me why I'd want it if I already have the book. I said it was a handy reference and summary. She asked why I didn't just make note cards. I stammered something about pretty pictures. Ultimately, I just want these because they are more fun than note cards and the pictures are, indeed, pretty.

I will say that some of the reviews here made me fear that these would be paper thin, and they're not. They're not as sturdy playing cards, but you're not going to play games with these... are you? For reference, they're about the thickness of the cover of a paper back book.

2 people found this helpful

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Shere Khan

A beautiful art tool for Gamification & Game Design

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2015

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A great tool for checklist of elements and find some other issues, is not absolute, and depends more of the way of use, team and school of knowledge, frameworks one uses, but is it indeed effective, especially on Gamified Designs.

About quality & art, is at the level one will expect, is a tool that in fact will give you some relaxing time on the desk admiring them arranging when you're trying to find a problem or optimize a design.

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r66-y

Great, even without the book.

Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is a fantastic way to quickly look through the different lenses and get a different perspective on your game quickly without having to flip through the book. Great to keep on your desk and flip through while idle and looking for some inspiration.

Each card has a surprising amount of information on it, and is surprisingly easy to grasp even if you haven't read the accompanying section in the book.

One person found this helpful

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Anton Matrosov

Great stuff!

Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2020

Verified Purchase

Awesome tool for game designers of any skill level. Very fast delivery to Russia - just under 1 week!

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MacBryce

Great tool, plain production quality.

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2009

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed Jesse's book and looked forward to this deck of cards. They contain the exact same questions from the lenses in the book and they have lovely artwork, that occasionally reminded me of the Magic: The Gathering trading card game.

I just have three complaints that make me give it 4 stars instead of 5: 1) The cards are much bigger than regular playing cards. There's a lot of text on some of them, but I would've preferred to have regular-sized cards. This deck isn't as convenient to carry as a normal deck of cards. 2) The cards don't feel like playing cards. They are a bit flimsy and it's still a pretty thick deck. Once again, I'd prefer regular-sized cards even if that meant that they would've been seperated in two decks. 3) The box is firm and durable, I guess, but the finishing isn't very good. It feels like it's something that's been put together manually.

That said, I would still recommended the deck. As a creative or evaluative tool it's excellent.

13 people found this helpful

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Usman Naeem Khokhar

Needed for all game/ganification designers

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2021

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A must have set of method cards. The box packaging is great. Though I wish the cards were even better quality they are still fantastic.

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2020

Verified Purchase

The cards are a little on the large size. Other than that I've no complaints. They are of a nice quality and a great complement to the book. Any serious game designer should consider having a deck of these.

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Top reviews from other countries

Ajit Padmanabh

Great Seller

Reviewed in India on November 23, 2020

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Great Product! Great Delivery! Very proactive seller, constantly valuing customer satisfaction.

Stephen Scoglio

Invaluable tool for game design

Reviewed in Australia on June 21, 2022

Verified Purchase

As a lecturer and a lead designer in a studio I find Jesse Schell's work as an invaluable tool for both education and practical design purposes. These cards are great in both settings, the tactility of them beats the app version and open up more possibilities in shaping your design. The content itself is great and works as a shortcut in helping to improve your game and get you thinking about design in new ways.

Thank you, Jesse for creating these cards and for all your work in the field, I'll always recommend these to any students and new designers I come across.

Brina

Nice cards

Reviewed in Singapore on March 5, 2021

Verified Purchase

The cards came out right, I really like the card content, especially the design since it resembles a tarot card.

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