Book Recommendations:

• Game Design Books… Recommendations? (TIGSource Forums)
• Must Read Game Development Books (Gamedev.Stackechange)
• Good Game Design Books (Gamedev.Stackechange)

I highly recommend Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design (by Scott Rogers… he was also involved in the creation of the Maximo series and God of War 1). The book offers really good practical advice and is nicely structured and well thought out. Moreover it also contains lots of fine illustrations and is primarily tailored towards action oriented games (especially platformers).

Two more game design books that are probably good:
The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses (Note: I haven’t completely read it yet but from what I’ve read so far (2/10) it seems also interesting).
Game Feel: A Game Designer’s Guide to Virtual Sensation (Note: I have not personally read this book yet…but I want to check it out in the future… according to reviews it seems to be good)

Articles about Gameplay Mechanics

• No Twinkie Database – Even Great Games Can Include Design Errors (Designer’s Notebook)
• Principles of Virtual Sensation (Steve Swink)
• Game Design FAQ (Huge Resource by Tom Sloper)
• Gameplay Deconstruction: Elements and Layers (Game Career Guide)
• The 13 Basic Principles of Gameplay Design (Gamasutra)
• The Chemistry Of Game Design (Gamasutra)
• Evaluating Game Mechanics For Depth (Gamasutra)
• Anatomy Of A Game Mechanic (Gamasutra)

• Finishing A Game (Make games)
• Designing Games That Don’t Suck (Gamasutra)
• The Fundamentals Of Game Design (Raph Koster)
• Less Talk More Rock (Boing Boing)
• Indie Gains (Adam “Atomic” Saltsman)
• Minimsed Game Design For Indies (DevMag)

• What Is Game Design? (The Book Of Hook)
• Game Design (The Book Of Hook)
• “Design of Everyday Things” Applied to Game Design (The Book Of Hook)
• Game Design Essentials: 20 Real-World Games (Gamasutra)
• Six Ways To Tell Stories In Video Games (Untold Entertainment)

Discussions

• How To Design Games? (TIGSource Forums)
• Games That Made You Laugh (TIGSource Forums)
• Most Unique Games You Know (TIGSource Forums)
• Making A “Classic” Game? (TIGSource Forums)
• In A Perfect World, Every Game Would… (TIGSource Forums)

Rules For Games: Do & Don’t

• Rules For Games: Do & Don’t #1 (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
• Rules For Games: Do & Don’t #2 (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
• Rules For Games: Do & Don’t #3 (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
• Indie Game Design Do-s and Don’t-s: A Manifesto (Edmund McMillen / Gamasutra)
• Indie Game Design Do-s and Don’t-s: A Manifesto (Edmund McMillen / Indie Games Blog)
• Sid’s Rules (Designer Notes)
• Seven Deadly Sins for Strategy Games (Designer Notes)

Platformer Design

• The guide to implementing 2D platformers (comprehensive article about platformers / Rodrigo Monteiro)
• Platforming Camera (article with a video that shows the camera logic of Super Mario World / Kyle Pulver)
• Smart Platformer Camera Movement (article with animated gifs about platformer camera mechanics / Yuan Works)
• Sequelitis : Mega Man Classic vs. Mega Man X (game design stuff explained with Mega Man as the example / Egoraptor) [VIDEO]
• Petri and Martin Explore Platformer Physics [VIDEO]
• The Full Spelunky On Spelunky (Derek Yu)
• Making Platforming Games (Subtractive Design)
• Guide to Making Metroidvania Style Games – Part 1 (Subtractive Design)
• Guide to Making Metroidvania Style Games – Part 2 (Subtractive Design)
• Platforming Games 101: Running, Jumping & More (Racketboy)
• Why The Platformer Still Matters (GameInformer)
• A Detailed Cross-Examination of Yesterday and Today’s Best-Selling Platform Games (Gamasutra)
• 2D Platformers: A Discussion On The Deconstruction Of A Genre (reddit gamedev)
• Platformer Level Design In 11 Points (Pixeltao)
• Super Mario World Camera Analysis [VIDEO]
• 2D Platformer Design Studies (TIGSource Forums)
• Pressure Techniques in Platformer Level Design (Noble Kale)
• Super Mario Bros. Level Design Lesson: to the right, hold on tight (Auntie Pixelante)
• Sketching Platformer Mechanics In Flash (How To Not Suck At Game Design)
• Difficulty In Platformers (Team Meat)
• 2D vs 3D (Designer Notes)

• Game Design Essentials: 20 Difficult Games (Gamasutra)
• Super Mario Bros 101: What SMB Can Teach You (8bithorse)
• 11 Tips For Making A Fun Platformer (DevMag)
• What Made Those Old 2D Platformers So Great? (Significant Bits)
• Super Mario Bros. 3 Level Design Lessons – Part 1 (Significant Bits)
• Super Mario Bros. 3 Level Design Lessons – Part 2 (Significant Bits)
• The Greatest Collectible Of All Time (Significant Bits)

Videos

• Sequelitis : Mega Man Classic vs. Mega Man X (Game Design / Level Design explained by Egoraptor with Mega Man as the example) [VIDEO]
• Extra Credits Series [VIDEO]
• Extra Credits – Playing Like A Designer Part 1 [VIDEO]
• Extra Credits – Playing Like A Designer Part 2 [VIDEO]
• Understanding Games (Episode 1-4) (Kongregate) [VIDEO]
• Master Class In Video Games & Digital Media (a series of lectures and interviews by Warren Spector with fellow game developers)

How To Not Suck At Game Design

• 5 Types Of Things To Keep Around For Game Designers.
• XBLA Games And The Importance Of Good Game Design
• Big And Scary: The Science Of Size In Video Games
• Game And Swatch: Color Theory For Game Designers – Part 1
• Game And Swatch: Color Theory For Game Designers – Part 2
• Regarding The Gameplay-Vs-Story Bullshit
• From Conversattion To Satisfaction
• Almanac Of Awesomeness: Ninja Part 1
• Top Down Hyrule Over The Ages
• To Kill Or Not To Kill – Part 1
• To Kill Or Not To Kill – Part 2
• Points Of Reference

Genre

• Become A Genre Scavenger (Black Golem)
• Celebrating Frontiers In Game Design – Create New Genre Of Game? (Lostgarden)

Game Polish

• Basic Principles Of Game Optimisation (Cliffski / Positech Games)
• The Art Of Game Polish: Developers Speak (Gamasutra)

User Interface Design

• Video Game User Interface Design: Diegesis Theory (DevMag)

Difficulty

• Risk / Reward (Team Meat)
• Reward Systems, An Excerpt From Level Design: Concept, Theory, and Practice (Gamasutra)
• Difficulty In Platformers (Team Meat)
• The Difficulty Of Difficulty (DevMag)
• Game Difficulty & Consumer Expectations (Game Tycoon)
• How Complex (Positech Games)
• Challenging Design (Designer Notes)
• Our Cheatin’ Hearts (Designer Notes)

• Action Adventure Level Design, Part 1 (Gamasutra)
• Action Adventure Level Design: Kung Fu Zombie Killer (Gamasutra)
• Action Adventure Level Design: Pacing, Content, and Mood (Gamasutra)

Game Design Documents

• Gamestorm (user submitted doodles and sketches of games!)
• Game Design Documents Tutorial (Studio Eres)
• The Design Document (TIGSource Forums)
• Creating A Great Deisgn Document (Gamasutra)
• Game Design 101 (Sloperama)
• A Practical Guide to Game Writing (McDevitt / Gamasutra)
• The Game Design Process (GameDev.net)
• Game Design Cheat Sheet (TIGSource Forums)
• Moncao Original Design Documents

• Three Hundred Gameplay Mechanics (Squidi)
• Achievement Design 101 (Gamasutra)
• Achievements Considered Harmful (Chris Hecker)

Game Design Concepts (Ian Schreiber)

• What Is Game Design Concepts?

• Level 1: Overview / What is a Game?
• Level 2: Game Design / Iteration and Rapid Prototyping
• Level 3: Formal Elements of Games
• Level 4: The Early Stages of the Design Process
• Level 5: Mechanics and Dynamics

• Level 6: Games and Art
• Level 7: Decision-Making and Flow Theory
• Level 8: Kinds of Fun, Kinds of Players
• Level 9: Stories and Games
• Level 10: Nonlinear Storytelling

• Level 11: Design Project Overview
• Level 12: Solo Testing
• Level 13: Playing With Designers
• Level 14: Playing with Non-Designers
• Level 15: Blindtesting

• Level 16: Game Balance
• Level 17: User Interfaces
• Level 18: The Final Iteration
• Level 19: Game Criticism and Analysis

• Teaching Game Design (Ian Schreiber)
• My Problem With Gamification

Game Balance Concepts (Ian Schreiber)

• Level 1: Intro to Game Balance
• Level 2: Numeric Relationships
• Level 3: Transitive Mechanics and Cost Curves
• Level 4: Probability and Randomness
• Level 5: Probability and Randomness Gone Horribly Wrong

• Level 6: Situational Balance
• Level 7: Advancement, Progression and Pacing
• Level 8: Metrics and Statistics
• Level 9: Intransitive Mechanics
• Level 10: Final Boss

Game Length

• Game Length And Value (Wolfire)
• Size Doesn’t Matter (Positech Games)
• The Mythical 40-Hour Gamer (Wired)

Character Design

• Visual Clarity In Character Design – Part I
• Visual Clarity In Character Design – Part II
• Character Design: Clone And Customize (How To Not Suck At Game Design)
• Character Design: Left 4 Dead 2 (How To Not Suck At Game Design)
• Create Brief Visual Descriptions Of Characters (TIGSource Forums)

Level Design

• VGMaps (huge amount of screenshots of entire levels from hundreds of games. Note: Site is filled with Poker ads)

• Level Design Primer: Notes on Playtesting
• Level Design Primer: Starting A New Level
• Level Design Primer: Keep It Wide
• Level Design Primer: The Sawtooth
• Level Design Primer: S-Curve Variations
• Intro to Pathfinding (Flash Game Dojo)
• Procedural Content Generation
• Good Level Design… With Kayin
• On Level Design: A Macro Map design and some Ecology!

Artificial Intelligence

• Intro to AI (Flash Game Dojo)
• No More Wrong Turns (Gamasutra)
• AI and Designers Discussion (Designer Notes)
• AI Game Dev
• How AI in Games Works (bit-gamer)

Prototyping

• Quick and Dirty Prototyping: A Success Story (Gamasutra)
• Why Prototyping is so important in game development (Jochen Heinzmann / Intermediaware)
• Prototypes – Get Them Right (IndieVision)
• How To Prototype A Game In Under 7 Days (Gamasutra)
• Save Time And Money: Asset Prototyping (Black Golem)

Sandbox & Open World Design

• The History And Theory Of Sandbox (Gamasutra)
• Open World Issues Part 1: The Rockstar Model
• Open World Issues Part 2: The Bethesda Model
• Open World Issues Part 3: Trust And The Player-driven Narrative
• Open World Design
• Making A World Seem Open And Alive (TIGSource Forums)
• Game Design Essentials: 20 Open World Games (Gamasutra)

Popularity

• 5 Minutes Worth Of Observations About AAA Indie Games (Chris Hecker)
• How Some Games Are Getting Popular? (TIGSource Forums)
• A Brief Explanation Of Why Minecraft Matters (Crunch Gear)
• What Indie Developers Can Learn From Minecraft (Mode 7 Games @Indie DB)
• Why Minecraft Is So Damn Popular (Kotaku)
• Minecraft And The Question Of Luck (Gamasutra)
• Minecraft Illustrates the Two Keys to a Sandbox Game (The Game Prodigy)
• How To Make A Roguelike Popular (TIGSource Forums)

Game Accessibility

• Game Accessibility Top Ten (IGDA Game Access SIG)
• Why is Accessibility Important? (IGDA Game Access SIG)
• How to Provide Accessibility in Games (IGDA Game Access SIG)
• Physical Barriers In Video Games (One Switch)
• Resetting Accessibility In Games (Gamasutra)

Free Books

• Playing To Win (Sirlin / HTML)
• List Of Freely Available Programming Books (Stackoverflow)
• The Art Of Computer Game Design (Chris Crawford / PDF from 1984)
• Gamer Theory 2.0 (McKenzie Wark / HTML)
• Ludoliteracy: Defining, Understanding, and Supporting Games Education
• Beyond Fun: Serious Games and Media
• Well Played 1.0: Video Games, Value and Meaning
• Well Played 2.0: Video Games, Value and Meaning
• Toward a Ludic Architecture: The Space of Play and Games

Uncategorized Articles

• Learn Game Design
• Game Dev Radio
• How To Make Interesting Games By Accident (Wolfire)
• Why Left 4 Dead Works (Gamasutra)
• Game Design Essentials 20 RPGs (Gamasutra)
• Unabusive Design And Why You Wouldn’t Want To Be Mean To Your Players (Wolfire)

• Testosterone And Competitive Play
• Tutorials: Learning To Play (Gamasutra)
• Tetris is Not The Answer Because You Got The Question Wrong (Octopus Journal)
• Boss Battle Design And Structure (Gamasutra)
• Stealth In Videogames And Why It’s So Fun (Wolfire)

• Game Dynamics And Loops In Game Design (What Games Are)
• Functions Vs Loops Finding Fun (What Games Are)
• Extensible Actions (What Games Are)
• Theme Is Not Meaning – Part I (Designer Notes)
• Theme Is Not Meaning – Part II (Designer Notes)
• Asynchronity (Designer Notes)
• Closing the Loop: Fostering Communication In Single Player Games (Gamasutra)
• Lifting The Designer’s Curse (Gamasutra)
• The Designer’s Notebook: Don’t March, Dance! (Gamasutra)

Game Development Sites

• Gamasutra
• #AltDevBlogADay
• IndieGames Blog
• Develop
• design3