Overview

Game Design: A Practical Approach is written for new game designers, practicing designers, and serious gamers wanting to create their own designs. Throughout the pages of this book, you'll find a complete and practical introduction to the craft of game design, starting at square one with an exploration of just what a game and game design are. From there you'll explore the skills you need to have as a game designer and learn when and how to use them. Then you'll dive into the very practical nuts and bolts of a number of vital game design topics, including how to balance gamplay? what is risk-reward? how do you scale challenge? And along the way, you'll learn the scripting language, Lua, and work with a sample game as you test and explore the game design concepts being discussed. The book is packed with the invaluable insights and tips you need to master the art of game design, including a variety of 'from the trenches' sidebars by some of the industry's top game designers. So whether you're a new designer, experienced professional, or serious gamer, you'll find the tools and wisdom you need to succeed as a game designer.

Full Product Details

9781584504719

Table of Contents

Reviews

Foreword, Introduction, PART ONE: INTRODUCTION TO GAME DESIGN: Ch. 1 What is Game Design?, Ch. 2 What Does a Game Designer Do?, Ch. 3 Doing Your Homework (what you need to study and learn as a designer), Ch. 4 The Design Document (a designer's blueprint for success, what it is, what it needs, and starting on our own document), Ch. 5 Learning our Tools (learning the book's baseline game engine and a quick Lua scripting tutorial), PART TWO: CORE GAME DESIGN CONCEPTS: Ch. 6 The Atoms of a Game (the player as an agent for change, etc.), Ch. 7 Player Perception (what the player actually perceives and feels), Ch. 8 Challenge and Pattern Recognition (how to craft challenge and take advantage of patterns), PART THREE: DESIGNING A GAME: Ch. 9 User Interface (the core elements of UI design), Ch. 10 Interaction Design, Ch. 11 Puzzle Design, Ch. 12 Environment Design, Ch. 13 Conflict Design and Balancing, Ch. 14 Scenario Design, Ch. 15 Risk-Reward (creating moments of player choice), Ch. 16 Storytelling, Ch. 17 Artificial Intelligence, Ch. 18 Next Steps, APPENDIX A: ABOUT THE CD-ROM, INDEX

Author Information

Paul Schuytema (Monmouth, IL) has been a professional game developer for over ten years and in that time spoke at the previous ten GDC conferences. He has produced and designed over twenty games. Schuytema wrote more than 200 professional articles and authored or co-authored over a dozen books. He teaches college-level creative writing and journalism, and he received the Governor's 2002 Entrepreneurial Success Award in Illinois. He is the primary scriptor for Magic Lantern.

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