Video games have captivated us for over 50 years, giving us entire worlds to explore, new ways to connect with friends, thought-provoking stories, or just a fun way to pass the time. Creating games is a dream for many, but making great games is challenging. The Game Designer's Playbook is about meeting that challenge. More specifically, it's a book about game interaction design; in other words, shaping what players can do and how they do it to make a game satisfying and memorable. Our time with a game is built on interaction, from basic things like pushing buttons on a controller, to making complicated strategic decisions and engaging with the narrative. If you've ever felt the adrenaline rush from beating a perfectly tuned boss fight or been delighted by the fanfare of picking up that last collectible, you've experienced good interaction design firsthand.
The Game Designer's Playbook is about learning what makes for great (or terrible!) interaction design in games, exploring things like controls, feedback, story, and tutorial design by analyzing existing games. It also looks at how newer and still-developing tech like VR and streaming are changing the ways we play, and how you can bring great interaction design to your own games.
Author(s): Samantha Stahlke, Pejman Mirza-Babaei
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 401
City: Oxford
Cover
Titlepage
Copyright
Dedication
Foreword
Preface and Acknowledgments
Contents
1 Caveman Arcade
1.1 What's in a game?
1.2 A (Relatively) brief history of game interaction
1.3 How to use this book
2 The Parlance of Play
2.1 Making humans and computers play nicely
2.2 What successful game interaction design looks like
2.3 The field of game interaction design
2.4 How can we define successful game interaction design?
2.5 What to expect from the rest of this book
Expert Profile: David Galindo—Food for thought
3 The Long Con
3.1 Baby steps
3.2 A masterclass in learning
Expert Profile: Romana Ramzan—Player champion
4 Say What you Mean
4.1 Communication and the senses
4.2 Continuous communication and HUD design
4.3 Responsive communication
4.4 Brief thoughts on creative direction
Expert Profile: Cherry Thompson—Accessibility by design
5 Control Freaks
5.1 I can't find the ``any'' key
5.2 Rules of thumbstick
5.3 Virtual input and two-way interfaces
Expert Profile: Jason Avent—Changing Tides
6 The Play's the Thing
6.1 What's in a feeling?
6.2 Act I: Narrative and characters
6.3 Act II: Player agency
Expert Profile: Osama Dorias—Something for everyone
7 Rejecting your Reality
7.1 Designing for VR
7.2 What we don't want VR to give us
7.3 Putting the ``real'' in reality
Expert Profile: Mark Laframboise & Steven Smith—Partners in Play
8 The Audience is Listening
8.1 The ratings war
8.2 Come on down
Expert Profile: Kris Alexander—Learn to play, play to learn
9 Rise of the Machines
9.1 The toaster is sentient now
9.2 AI that plays with you
9.3 AI that works for you
Expert Profile: Regan Mandryk—The science of fun
10 Making the Thing
10.1 Chasing the lightbulb
10.2 Follow the rulebook
10.3 Re-writing the rulebook
Expert Profile: Ario Jafarzadeh—Steps from perfection
11 Test your Patience
11.1 Spend your questions wisely
11.2 A crash course in testing
11.3 The melting pot of methods
Expert Profile: Graham McAllister—Having a clear vision
12 What Comes Next?
12.1 Pocket supercomputers strapped to your face
12.2 Buy low, sell high
12.3 Game changers
Expert Profile: Jason Della Rocca—Optimizing for success
Glossary
List of Acronyms
Ludography
Subject Index
Game Index
