Richard's book should be essential reading for studios that care about the underlying "passion" that leads to industry-leading games. Because it doesn't matter how strong the initial pitch is, how cool the tech is, how much funding the project has. Richard's argument is that game designers are necessary every single day in the project's lifecycle to tend to, foster, and kindle that passion in the team for whatever slice of the game they are responsible for delivering. This is a revelatory take take on game designers that you will not get at any GDC talk or Gamasutra article that I've seen, or even at many AAA studios.My favorite section of the book is the Core Skills section, which breaks down what a designer needs to do besides -do game design-. Again, Richard uses his decades of experience to shed light on an aspect that you just will not get anywhere online. You've probably heard from professionals or job listings that game design is a "collaborative role". What does that even mean? Richard explains what a designer needs to do for their team, so far as to break down an example schedule in which the designer incidentally spends none of their day doing formal design and all of their day collaborating with their team and communicating the vision.Richard's writing is not meandering, pandering, or elevated. It shows the brevity and clarity of a seasoned designer who has made a career out of effective communication to their team and to their players. I plowed through this book in a weekend and continue to leave it on my desk as a resource for day-to-day tasks at my studio. I hope you do the same.
