Table Of ContentComputer Game Development / Game Design G
GAME DESIGN
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Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, 3rd Edition is a truly great book, WORKSHOP
and has become, in my opinion, the de facto standard text for beginner- to intermediate-level game design education. D
This updated new edition is extremely relevant, useful and inspiring to all kinds of game designers. e
— Richard Lemarchand, Interactive Media & Games Division, s
School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California i
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n
This is the perfect time for a new edition. The updates refresh elements of the book that are important as examples,
A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games
but don't radically alter the thing about the book that is great: a playcentric approach to game design. W
— Colleen Macklin, Associate Professor, Parsons The New School for Design
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Tracy Fullerton’s Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, 3rd Edition r
k
covers pretty much everything a working or wannabe game designer needs to know. She covers game theory, concepting, by Tracy Fullerton
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prototyping, testing and tuning, with stops along the way to discuss what it means to a professional game designer and h
how to land a job. When I started thinking about my game studies course at the University of Texas at Austin, this was o with a foreword by Eric Zimmerman
one book I knew I had to use. p
— Warren Spector, Director of the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy,
University of Texas at Austin
“Create the digital games you love to play.”
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Discover an exercise-driven, non-technical approach to game design, without the need for IT3R
programming or artistic expertise with Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to IOD
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Creating Innovative Games, 3rd Edition.
Tracy Fullerton demystifies the creative process with clear and accessible analysis of the formal,
dramatic and dynamic systems of game design. Using examples of popular games, illustrations of
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design techniques, and refined exercises to strengthen your understanding of how game systems
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function, this book gives you the skills and tools necessary to create a compelling and engaging game. L
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Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, 3rd Edition E
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puts you to work prototyping, playtesting, and revising your own games with time-tested methods T
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and tools. These skills will provide the foundation for your career in any facet of the game industry
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including design, producing, programming, and visual design.
Tracy Fullerton is an award-winning game designer and educator with 15 years of professional
experience, most recently winning the IndieCade 2013 Trailblazer award for her pioneering work
in the independent games community. Tracy is Associate Professor and Chair of the Interactive
Media & Games Division at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, the #1 game design program in
North America as ranked by the Princeton Review.
K22093
3RD
EDITION
“Game Design Workshop is a truly great book, and has become, in my opinion, the
de facto standard text for beginner to intermediate level game design education.
This updated new edition is extremely relevant, useful and inspiring to all kinds of
game designers.”
—Richard Lemarchand, Interactive Media and Games Division,
School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California
“This is the perfect time for a new edition. ... The updates refresh elements of the
book that are important as examples, but don’t radically alter the thing about the
book that is great: a playcentric approach to game design.”
—Colleen Macklin, Associate Professor, Parsons The New School for Design
“Tracy Fullerton’s Game Design Workshop covers pretty much everything a working
or wannabe game designer needs to know. She covers game theory, concepting,
prototyping, testing and tuning, with stops along the way to discuss what it means
to be a professional game designer and how to land a job. When I started thinking
about my game studies course at the University of Texas at Austin, this was one
book I knew I had to use.”
—Warren Spector, Director, Denius-Sams Gaming Academy, University of Texas
at Austin
“This is a break-through book, brimming with battle-tested ‘how-to’s.’ Aspiring game
designers: you will ‘break through’ to the next level when you learn to set, and then
test, experience goals for your game players.”
—Bing Gordon, former Chief Creative Officer, Electronic Arts
“Game Design Workshop is without a question the most important (and best book)
on the topic of game design. Its unique approach is both deep and practical and
draws students into the very heart of what game design is all about. The emphasis
on paper-and-pencil prototyping encourages students to think, quite literally, “out-
side the box,” and stretch themselves to innovate beyond simply rehashing com-
mercially successful game genres. If the author’s students are any indication, this
method has a proven track record of producing both original and successful games.
Game Design Workshop is ideal for those starting new educational programs as the
book is structured around a design curriculum that can be easily implemented by
instructors with no prior game design experience.”
—Celia Pearce, Director, Experimental Game Lab,
Georgia Institute of Technology
“This book offers a thoughtful and comprehensive look at the field of game design.
I’m particularly impressed with the way Tracy has managed to integrate the view-
points and comments of so many diverse and notable designers with her own per-
ceptive view of the state of the art.”
—Noah Falstein, Chief Game Designer, Google
“This book does a great job illustrating how games are designed and developed by
engaging readers to play along.”
—Drew Davidson, Director, Entertainment Technology Center,
Carnegie Mellon University
“If you are considering becoming a professional game designer, you will find this
book a reliable, intelligent, and compassionate guide. If you are already a profes-
sional game designer, you’ll find this book an inspiration.”
—Bernie DeKoven, deepfun.com and author of The Well-Played Game
“If you have ever wanted to design a video game, Game Design Workshop is the
book you want.”
—Jesper Juul, video game theorist and designer, author of Half-Real
“Tracy Fullerton has combined her innate understanding and joy of games with her
patient and objective experience as a scholar in this excellent book. She’ll make you
a better game developer with her clever exercises and concise prose. This is a must-
have in the library of anyone serious about their games.”
—John Hight, Production Director, Blizzard Entertainment
“Game design is something of a black art. The trick to doing it well is retaining the
black magic but training oneself to control it. There are a lot of books on game
design out there, but Game Design Workshop is among the very few that develops
a wizard rather than a drone.”
—Ian Bogost, Professor of Digital Media, the Georgia Institute of Technology,
and Co-Founder, Persuasive Games
3RD EDITION
GAME DESIGN
WORKSHOP
A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games
by Tracy Fullerton
with a foreword by Eric Zimmerman
CRC Press is an imprint of the
Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
CRC Press
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© 2014 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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No claim to original U.S. Government works
Version Date: 20131031
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Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Image Credits and Copyright Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv
Part 1 Game Design Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1 The Role of the Game Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
An Advocate for the Player .............................................................3
Passions and Skills .....................................................................6
A Playcentric Design Process ...........................................................11
Designers You Should Know ..........................................................13
The Iterative Design Process ..........................................................17
Designing for Innovation ...............................................................22
Conclusion ...........................................................................22
Designer Perspective: Christina Norman .............................................23
Designer Perspective: Warren Spector ...............................................26
Further Reading ......................................................................28
End Notes ............................................................................28
Chapter 2 The Structure of Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Go Fish versus Quake .................................................................29
Engaging the Player ...................................................................36
What Is a Puzzle? ...................................................................38
v
vi Contents
The Sum of the Parts ..................................................................45
Defining Games .......................................................................45
Beyond Definitions ....................................................................46
Conclusion ...........................................................................48
Designer Perspective: Jane McGonigal ...............................................49
Designer Perspective: Randy Smith .................................................. 52
Further Reading ......................................................................54
End Notes ............................................................................54
Chapter 3 Working with Formal Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Players ...............................................................................55
Persuasive Games ..................................................................63
Objectives ...........................................................................66
Procedures ...........................................................................72
Rules .................................................................................74
Resources ............................................................................78
Conflict ..............................................................................83
Boundaries ...........................................................................84
The Mechanic Is the Message .......................................................85
Outcome .............................................................................89
Conclusion .......................................................................... 90
Designer Perspective: Tim LeTourneau ................................................91
Designer Perspective: Matt Korba ....................................................93
Further Reading ......................................................................95
End Notes ............................................................................95
Chapter 4 Working with Dramatic Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Challenge ............................................................................97
Play .................................................................................102
Premise .............................................................................105
Character ...........................................................................108
Story .................................................................................112
The Two Great Myths of Interactive Storytelling ......................................114
World Building ........................................................................115
The Dramatic Arc .................................................................... 116
Conclusion ..........................................................................120
Designer Perspective: Dr. Ray Muzyka ...............................................121
Designer Perspective: Don Daglow .................................................. 123
Further Reading .....................................................................125
End Notes ...........................................................................125
Contents vii
Chapter 5 Working with System Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Games as Systems ................................................................... 127
System Dynamics .....................................................................131
Deconstructing Set ................................................................ 132
Interacting with Systems ..............................................................146
A Conversation with Will Wright ....................................................150
Tuning Game Systems ................................................................155
Conclusion ..........................................................................156
Designer Perspective: Alan R. Moon ..................................................157
Designer Perspective: Frank Lantz ..................................................160
Further Reading .....................................................................162
End Notes ...........................................................................162
Part 2 Designing a Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Chapter 6 Conceptualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Where Do Ideas Come From? .........................................................165
Brainstorming ........................................................................ 167
Alternate Methods ...................................................................170
Experimental Gameplay ............................................................171
Editing and Refining .................................................................. 177
Electronic Arts Preproduction Workshop ............................................ 178
Turning Ideas into a Game ............................................................183
Where Do Game Ideas Come From? ................................................ 185
Getting the Most Out of Focus Groups .............................................. 187
Conclusion ..........................................................................189
Designer Perspective: Jenova Chen ..................................................191
Designer Perspective: Josh Holmes ................................................. 194
Further Reading .....................................................................196
End Notes ...........................................................................196
Chapter 7 Prototyping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Methods of Prototyping ..............................................................197
Catastrophic Prototyping and Other Stories .........................................204
Prototyping Your Original Game Idea ..................................................210
The Design Evolution of Magic: The Gathering ........................................213
Making the Physical Prototype Better ..................................................228
Beyond the Physical Prototype ........................................................228
viii Contents
Conclusion ..........................................................................229
Designer Perspective: James Ernest .................................................230
Designer Perspective: Katie Salen ...................................................232
Further Reading .....................................................................234
Chapter 8 Digital Prototyping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Types of Digital Prototypes ...........................................................235
Using Software Prototypes in Game Design .........................................242
Prototyping for Game Feel .........................................................246
Designing Control Schemes ...........................................................249
Prototyping Cloud .................................................................250
Selecting Viewpoints .................................................................254
Effective Interface Design ............................................................258
Prototyping Tools ................................................................... 260
Conclusion ..........................................................................264
Designer Perspective: David Perry ..................................................265
Designer Perspective: Elan Lee ..................................................... 267
Further Reading .....................................................................269
End Notes ...........................................................................269
Chapter 9 Playtesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Playtesting and Iterative Design .......................................................272
Recruiting Playtesters ................................................................272
Conducting a Playtesting Session .....................................................275
How Feedback from Typical Gamers Can Help Avoid Disappointing Outcomes ........ 276
Methods of Playtesting ...............................................................282
A Primer for Playtesting: Don’t Follow These Rules! ..................................283
Why We Play Games ..............................................................290
The Play Matrix ......................................................................293
Taking Notes .........................................................................294
Basic Usability Techniques ............................................................296
Data Gathering ......................................................................296
Metrics in Game Design ............................................................298
Test Control Situations ...............................................................301
Playtesting Practice ................................................................. 302
Conclusion ......................................................................... 303
Further Reading .................................................................... 304
End Note ........................................................................... 304
