Can anyone recommend goo 'coffee table' books on game design or game art? To explain what I mean not necessarily books digging into specific elements of a game (along the lines of how to develop pathfinding AI for an RTS game), but books looking at the higher level thought processes, philosophy or inspiration behind the overall design of a game or the art that gives a game its distinct look. I've seen a few books that come close, but they tend to concentrate on one specific game (for instance the Art of Titanfall) and ideally I would like to find a book that case studies several different games or gets the feedback from several different 'leading light' designers and artists.

I've found The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses to be immensely helpful, and possibly within the scope of what you're looking for. Although it isn't specifically organized around case studies, it is full of a ton of examples. And also a collection of 100 distinct lenses through which you can think about game design. These various perspectives can be nice for light or out-of-order reading even if you aren't focused on reading the whole book front-to-back.

Um, I'm fairly sure a "coffee table book" is one that's intended to look nice, generally having a fancy cover and lots of color pictures; that's rather different from your description of what you're looking for.

That said, most of the good written works about game design are only available in digital formats; few of them are available as paper books. I have like 2 paper books on game design topics, and neither of them would I particularly recommend. I've got lots of art books I'd recommend, but none of them are specifically about games. "Game Art" as a topic is too broad to effectively write a book about; at the least you'd probably want to narrow down to 2D or 3D.

Um, I'm fairly sure a "coffee table book" is one that's intended to look nice, generally having a fancy cover and lots of color pictures; that's rather different from your description of what you're looking for.

That said, most of the good written works about game design are only available in digital formats; few of them are available as paper books. I have like 2 paper books on game design topics, and neither of them would I particularly recommend. I've got lots of art books I'd recommend, but none of them are specifically about games. "Game Art" as a topic is too broad to effectively write a book about; at the least you'd probably want to narrow down to 2D or 3D.

True ... lots of colour pictures would not be a problem , but in describing what I am looking for as a "coffee table book" I was trying to make a distinction from the normal programming / game design books that I have scattered around my PC and that I refer to when I am working out how to code a particular element in a game. Coffee table as in I'm not developing anything, but something I can dip into when relaxing and wanting to have a stimulating read. I find a lot of Dev blogs and Gamasutra features interesting and I'm looking for something similar ... but with real paper involved...

For the game art I did find a general 2D and 3D book in the past (in French but called "Game Art") that had a good mix. However, if anything I am much more interested in the 3D side of things

I've found The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses to be immensely helpful, and possibly within the scope of what you're looking for.

Thanks for the suggestion. Will have a look at that one on Amazon and see what I think