Level Up!

Foreword by Danny Bilson.
About the Author.
Press Start!
Acknowledgments: Everything I Learned about Writing a Book.
Level 1 Welcome, N00bs!
A Brief History of Video Games.
Game Genres.
Who Makes this Stuff?
Programmer.
Artist.
Designer.
Producer.
Tester.
Composer.
Sound Designer.
Writer.
Have You Thought about Publishing?
Product Manager.
Creative Manager.
Art Director.
Technical Director.
And the Rest . . .
Level 1's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas.
Level 2 Ideas
Ideas: Where to Get Them and Where to Stick Them.
What do Gamers Want?
Why I Hate "Fun."
Brainstorming.
Breaking Writer's Block.
Level 2's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas.
Level 3 Writing the Story.
The Triangle of Weirdness.
Time to Wrap It Up.
Creating Characters.
A Few Pointers on Writing for Kids of All Ages.
Writing for Licenses.
Level 3's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas.
Level 4 You Can Design a Game, But Can You Do the Paperwork?
Writing the GDD, Step 1: The One-Sheet.
ESRB Ratings.
Writing the GDD, Step 2: The Ten-Pager.
The Rule of Threes.
Ten-Pager Outline.
The Game Design Document (and the Awful Truth about Writing Them).
Gameplay Progression.
The Beat Chart.
Above All, Don't Be a Schmuck.
Level 4's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas.
Level 5 The Three Cs, Part 1--Character.
Personality: Do We Really Need Another Badass?
Let's Get Personal.
Finally, We Talk about Gameplay.
Why Walk When You Can Run?
The Art of Doing Nothing.
Might as Well Jump.
Hoists and Teeters.
What Goes Up, Must Fall Down.
Me and My Shadow.
The Water's Fine... or Is It?
Be Kind to Our Four-Legged Friends.
Using All of the Parts.
We Are Not Alone.
Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?
Level 5's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas.
Level 6 The Three Cs, Part 2--Camera.
Get It Right: Camera Views.
First Person Camera.
Third Person Camera.
Giving Up Control.
So You've Decided to Let the Player Control the Camera.
So You've Decided to Not Let the Player