Author: Lewis Pulsipher Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 0786469528 Category : Games & Activities Languages : en Pages : 277
Book Description
Many aspiring game designers have crippling misconceptions about the process involved in creating a game from scratch, believing a "big idea" is all that is needed to get started. But game design requires action as well as thought, and proper training and practice to do so skillfully. In this indispensible guide, a published commercial game designer and longtime teacher offers practical instruction in the art of video and tabletop game design. The topics explored include the varying types of games, vital preliminaries of making a game, the nuts and bolts of devising a game, creating a prototype, testing, designing levels, technical aspects, and assessing nature of the audience. With practice challenges, a list of resources for further exploration, and a glossary of industry terms, this manual is essential for the nascent game designer and offers food for thought for even the most experienced professional.
Author: Drew Davidson Publisher: Lulu.com ISBN: 1257870602 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 207
Book Description
In this volume, people of diverse backgrounds talk about tabletop games, game culture, and the intersection of games with learning, theater, and other forms. Some have chosen to write about their design process, others about games they admire, others about the culture of tabletop games and their fans. The results are various and individual, but all cast some light on what is a multivarious and fascinating set of game styles.
Author: Katie Salen Tekinbas Publisher: MIT Press ISBN: 9780262240451 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 680
Book Description
An impassioned look at games and game design that offers the most ambitious framework for understanding them to date. As pop culture, games are as important as film or television—but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games. Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like "play," "design," and "interactivity." They look at games through a series of eighteen "game design schemas," or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance. Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design.
Author: Geoffrey Engelstein Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 1000539245 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 451
Book Description
"If games were lands to be explored, they would be far too large for one explorer to master. Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design is a much-needed atlas for the explorer—giving a framework of what to look for in a game, and a focus for game play that will be useful for understanding the whole. The game scholar will find this invaluable." —Richard Garfield, creator of Magic: The Gathering "People talk about the art of game design or the craft of game design. Engelstein and Shalev hone in on the science of game design with a razor-sharp scalpel. This book will be within arm’s reach as I work on games and I expect it to be consulted often." —Rob Daviau, creator of Risk: Legacy and Chief Restoration Officer of Restoration Games "The most comprehensive and well-researched encyclopedia of game mechanisms that I’ve seen to date." —Matt Leacock, creator of Pandemic Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms, Second Edition compiles hundreds of game mechanisms, organized by category. The book can be read cover-to-cover and used as a reference to solve a specific design problem or for inspiration and research on new designs. This second edition collects even more mechanisms, expands on and updates existing entries, and includes color images. Building Blocks is a great starting point for new designers, a handy guidebook for the experienced, and an ideal classroom reference. Each Game Mechanisms Entry Contains: The definition of the mechanism An explanatory diagram of the mechanism Discussion of how the mechanism is used in successful games Considerations for implementing the mechanism in new designs Geoffrey Engelstein is a game designer and educator. His designs include the Space Cadets series, The Dragon & Flagon, The Expanse, and Super Skill Pinball. He has published several books on game design, including GameTek: The Math and Science of Gaming, Achievement Relocked, and Game Production. He is on the faculty of the NYU Game Center as an adjunct professor for Board Game Design and has been invited to speak about game design at PAX, GenCon, Metatopia, and the Game Developers Conference. Isaac Shalev is a game designer, author, and educational games consultant. He has designed tabletop titles including Seikatsu, Waddle, and Show & Tile. He runs Sage70, Inc., a data strategy and games-based learning consultancy that serves nonprofit organizations. He lives in Cary, North Carolina with his wife, three children, and a dog.
Author: Geoffrey Engelstein Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 0429773773 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 492
Book Description
Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms compiles hundreds of different mechanisms, organized by category. Each has a description of how it works, discussion of its pros and cons, how it can be implemented, and examples of specific games that use it. Building Blocks can be read cover to cover, used as a reference when looking for inspiration for a new design, help solving a specific problem, or assist in getting unstuck in the midst of a project. This book, the first to collect mechanisms like this in the tabletop game design field, aims to be a practical guide that will be a great starting point for beginning designers, a handy guidebook for the experienced, and an ideal classroom textbook. Key Features The first compendium of its kind in the tabletop game field. Covers the nuts and bolts of design to resolve specific challenges. Serves as a practical guide, a great starting point for beginning designers, and a reference for seasoned professionals. Contains discussion of a series of standalone mechanisms, in a standard format and style, with cross-links to related mechanics and specific examples. Includes hundreds of mechanism entries with accompanying diagrams and sample games to study. Ideal for professional or classroom use.
Author: Geoffrey Engelstein Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 1000290948 Category : Games & Activities Languages : en Pages : 199
Book Description
Description: Many new games are from first-time designers or are self-published, so there is a tremendous thirst for information about the nuts and bolts of tabletop game design. While there are many books about the design process in terms of mechanisms and player experience, there are no books that cover the arts and crafts aspects of how to create a prototype, software and physical tools that can be used, graphic design and rules writing, and considerations for final production. Gamecraft: Prototyping and Producing Your Board Game presents this information in a single volume which will be invaluable for up-and-coming designers and publishers. Key Features: The text compiles information from many websites, blogs, Facebook groups, subreddits, and the author’s extensive experience in an easy-to-read volume. The text illustrates how to lay out and assemble the physical aspects of an effective board game. The book is divided into two sections for readability and covers a large array of different techniques. Geoffrey Engelstein is the designer of many tabletop games, including The Ares Project, the Space Cadets series, The Dragon & Flagon, and The Expanse. He is the founder of Ludology, a bi-weekly podcast about game design, and a contributor to the Dice Tower podcast with his bi-weekly GameTek segments that discuss the math, science, and psychology of games. He has also published several books, including GameTek: The Math and Science of Gaming, Achievement Relocked: Loss Aversion and Game Design, and Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design. He is on the faculty of the NYU Game Center as an adjunct professor for Board Game Design and has been invited to speak at PAX, GenCon, Metatopia, and the Game Developers Conference.
Author: Casper Harteveld Publisher: Digital Games and Learning ISBN: 9780415838634 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
As scholars increasingly recognize the utility of digital games as tools for learning, there is a growing need for knowledge in two related areas: first, how do players learn from games and second, what specific design techniques ensure meaningful learning outcomes for the player? In Building Blocks for Game Design and Learning, Casper Harteveld relates existing learning theories to best practices in game design, exploring how each of the three views of knowing—behaviorist, cognitivist, and situative—illuminate the process of learning through gaming. To these established theories he adds a fourth, design-based perspective that builds upon Christopher Alexander's theory of pattern languages, wherein learning takes place through specific game mechanisms or “gamelets.“ By describing these building blocks that facilitate learning, Harteveld identifies a number of practical techniques for game designers but also elucidates implications for curriculum development more generally, making this book relevant for game designers, educators, and scholars alike.
Author: Jesse Terrance Daniels Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC ISBN: 1635863422 Category : Games & Activities Languages : en Pages : 384
Book Description
Tabletop board games are having a comeback, and especially within a younger, tech-y audience who enjoys the challenge and opportunity to work in an analog sphere. Game design expert Jesse Terrance Daniels teaches all the fundamentals of game design, from rule-setting to physical construction, along with original illustrations that capture the ethos and energy of the young, contemporary gaming community. Readers will learn the “building blocks” of game design, including game components, rules, and gameplay mechanics, and then how to craft a game, with a variety of examples and design prompts. After completing Make Your Own Board Game, readers are equipped with a broad understanding of game construction and flow and ready to create games that are playable and satisfying, while also expressing the makers’ unique creativity and passions.
Author: Geoffrey Engelstein Publisher: MIT Press ISBN: 026204353X Category : Games & Activities Languages : en Pages : 149
Book Description
How game designers can use the psychological phenomenon of loss aversion to shape player experience. Getting something makes you feel good, and losing something makes you feel bad. But losing something makes you feel worse than getting the same thing makes you feel good. So finding $10 is a thrill; losing $10 is a tragedy. On an “intensity of feeling” scale, loss is more intense than gain. This is the core psychological concept of loss aversion, and in this book game creator Geoffrey Engelstein explains, with examples from both tabletop and video games, how it can be a tool in game design. Loss aversion is a profound aspect of human psychology, and directly relevant to game design; it is a tool the game designer can use to elicit particular emotions in players. Engelstein connects the psychology of loss aversion to a range of phenomena related to games, exploring, for example, the endowment effect—why, when an object is ours, it gains value over an equivalent object that is not ours—as seen in the Weighted Companion Cube in the game Portal; the framing of gains and losses to manipulate player emotions; Deal or No Deal’s use of the utility theory; and regret and competence as motivations, seen in the context of legacy games. Finally, Engelstein examines the approach to loss aversion in three games by Uwe Rosenberg, charting the designer’s increasing mastery.
Author: Lewis Pulsipher
Author: Drew Davidson
Author: Katie Salen Tekinbas
Author: Geoffrey Engelstein
Author: Geoffrey Engelstein
Author: Geoffrey Engelstein
Author: Casper Harteveld
Author: Jesse Terrance Daniels
Author: Geoffrey Engelstein
Author: Ethan Ham