Creating Games

Contents; Preface; Minigame Design Exercise; Design; Internal Playtest; Revision; Kleenexa Playtest; Discussion; 20-Minute Variation; Exploration; The Process of Development and Theory of Design; What Is a Game? Levels of Abstraction; Emergence and Progression; Development Roles; Design as Theory; Industry Structure; Exercises; Resources; Managing Innovation; How Hard Can It Be? Attitude; Organization Chart; Consistency; Inspiration; Brainstorming; Scheduling; Managing Risk; Exercises; Resources; Critique and Proposal; Critique; Generating Ideas; Format; Examples; Exercises; Resources; The Design Document; Title Page; Executive Summary; Overview; Related Games; Player Composites; World; Characters; Plot Graphs; Art Direction; User Interface Storyboards; Tags and Dialogue; Technology Plan; Software Architecture; Controls; Level Design; Mechanics Analysis; Schedule and Related Elements; Budget; Change Log; Exercises; Resources; Game Technology; Document Tools; Asset Management Tools; Art Tools; Runtime Technology for Video Games; Licensing; Exercises; Strategic Thought; State; Graphs; State Machine; Decision Trees; Algorithms; Search; Complexity; Heuristics; Game Theory; Exercises; Choice and Probability; Statistics and Probability; Random Variables; Generating Random Numbers; Cards and Dice; Outcome Tree; Combining Probabilities; Expected Value; Variance; Compound Expressions; Case Study: Settlers of Catan; Exercises; Resources; Balance; Our Methodology; Before Balance; Fairness; Stability; Engagement; The Role of Randomness; What Players Value; Optimizing for Real People; Exercises; Resources; Mechanics; Techniques for the First Move; Character Building; Action; Lock-and-Key; Geometry; Superunit; Rock-Paper-Scissors; Combat Simulation; Effect Distance; Rush Prevention; Dialogue Trees; Economy; Ensuring Entropy; Reward Cycles and Minigames; Resources; Creating a World; Setting; Motivations for Setting; Characters and Plot; Geography; Exercises; Resources; Art

Morgan McGuire is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Williams Colle, where he teaches computer graphics and games. He is also a games industry consultant with credits including Titan Quest (2006), ROBLOX (2005), Zen of Sudoku (2007), and a yet-unannounced Activision title. He received his Ph.D in Computer Science from Brown University. Odest Chadwicke Jenkins is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Brown University. In 2007, Jenkins received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and Young Investigator funding from the Office of Naval Research. He received his Ph.D in Computer Science from the University of Southern California.

Williams College Professor Morgan McGuire takes his games very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he has written a book about it. ... While teaching his game design class, McGuire couldn't find a book that covered this, so he called up his colleague Professor Chad Jenkins at Brown, and they co-wrote the book to help other people design games. It combines scientific theories about rule systems with more practical advice about the process of designing a game. -- L452The Berkshire Eagle , November 2008 Apply Game Design as a Science for Public Policy to Rescue Economy, Planet: They are all subject to analysis as games: scenarios where intelligent agents (players) seek to maximize their payoff (win) under a set of rules. Although some seem like fun and others like work, an understanding of each instance informs the others, and insights for any improve how we both work and play. -- Morgan McGuire, Infinite Connection, April 2009 The writing is friendly and just casual enough that the authors' personalities come through. The book is engaging, clear, and well focused. The text combines a general survey of each topic with occasional asides offering specific and well-chosen detail. This combination gives the book a sense of confident authority...This ambitious, wide-ranging book succeeds in giving its readers a broad overview of many topics that contribute to contemporary video game design. For someone who has never worked in the field, this book will give a general understanding of how a game is designed, the working of a modern studio, the roles of different departments and the people in them, the tools they use, and the technical issues that are important to them. The exercises at the end of each chapter enhance the book's value as a course textbook. With its wealth of information on many subjects important to game design, the book would serve well as an introductory text for a student considering a career as a game designer. -- Andrew Glassner, SIAM, January 2010