Advanced Game Design: A Systems Approach

456 Pages·2017·9.278 MB·English

by  Michael Sellers

Advanced Game Design
The Pearson Addison-Wesley
Game Design and Development Series
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Essential References for Game Designers and Developers
These practical guides, written by distinguished professors and industry
gurus, cover basic tenets of game design and development using a
straightforward, common-sense approach. The books encourage readers to
try things on their own and think for themselves, making it easier for anyone
to learn how to design and develop digital games for both computers and
mobile devices.

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Advanced Game Design
A Systems Approach
Michael Sellers
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Dedicated to all those creating and becoming the next
generation of game designers.
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Contents at a Glance
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Part I Foundations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1 Foundations of Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 Defining Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3 Foundations of Games and Game Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4 Interactivity and Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Part II Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
5 Working as a Systemic Game Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171
6 Designing the Whole Experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .187
7 Creating Game Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .219
8 Defining Game Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .267
Part III Practice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
9 Game Balance Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
10 Game Balance Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .319
11 Working as a Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .355
12 Making Your Game Real. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .375
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .417
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Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiii
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiv
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
A Combined Approach to Game Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Where This Book Came From . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
What This Book Is and Isn’t About . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Goals of This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
How to Read This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Part I Foundations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
1 Foundations of Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Ways of Seeing and Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
A Quick History of Systems Thinking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Systems as the Process of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2 Defining Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
What We Mean by Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
A Brief Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Defining Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Wholes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
3 Foundations of Games and Game Design . . . . . . . . .89
What’s a Game? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Game Frameworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Summing Up Game Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95