UI/UX

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People

Great collection of human factors in design from Susan Weinschenk. Highly recommended for any game designer.

The Design of Everyday Things

Classical book from usability guru Don Norman. Must read for any designer who needs to create anything ‘interactive,’ from teapot to video game.

Game Feel: A Game Designer’s Guide to Virtual Sensation

Great game design book from Steve Swink. The topic is how to create engagement, the vital part of the player experience. One of my favorite game design books.

Real-Time Cameras

~500-pages book about…cameras! How to design cameras, how to implement cameras, 2D-cameras, 3D-cameras, and any other types of cameras from Metroid Prime game developer Mark Haigh-Hutchinson.

The Essential Guide to User Interface Design: An Introduction to GUI Design Principles and Techniques

A huge, detailed and fundamental book about User Interface Design from Wilbert O. Galitz, UI designer with more than 50(!) years of experience. The book contains very specific guidelines, approaches and detailed explanations what consequences you can expect after one or another design decision. Taking into account an age of an author, some parts of the book might look outdated, but the depth and quality of explanation of many basic design principles are priceless in this book. Highly recommended.

Game accessibility guidelines

The comprehensive guide for game accessibility. Must read for any game designer.

Dark Patterns

A collection of “dark” UI patterns that use different cognitive flaws to trick users. Use such patterns or not – it’s your moral choice, but know how they work is useful.