Practical Game Design A Modern and Comprehensive Guide to Video Game Design
If you're in search of a cutting-edge actionable guide to game design, your quest ends here! Immerse yourself in the fundamentals of game design with expert guidance from veterans with decades of game design experience across a variety of genres and platforms. The second edition of this book re...
| Otros Autores: | , |
|---|---|
| Formato: | Libro electrónico |
| Idioma: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Birmingham, England :
Packt Publishing Ltd
[2023]
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| Edición: | Second edition |
| Materias: | |
| Ver en Biblioteca Universitat Ramon Llull: | https://discovery.url.edu/permalink/34CSUC_URL/1im36ta/alma991009764839306719 |
Tabla de Contenidos:
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright and Credit
- Dedicated
- Contributors
- Table of Contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1: Introducing the Game Production Process
- Game design roles
- Specialization and T-shaping
- Development teams
- Responsibilities of a game designer
- Software development models
- Waterfall
- Agile
- Production schedule and milestones
- Greenlight gates and vertical slice
- A traditional milestone structure
- Validation funnel in-game development
- The role of a games publisher
- Summary
- Chapter 2: Preparing a Game Concept
- What is a game concept?
- Structure of a game concept document
- The hook or elevator pitch
- Description
- Key feature set
- Platform
- Audience
- Genre
- Business model
- Knowing your competition
- Understanding the ideation process
- Coming up with ideas
- Twisting familiar mechanics
- Creativity through constraints
- Finding the fun
- Defining fantasy
- The mood, or how the game looks and feels
- Summary
- Chapter 3: Scoping a Game Project
- The evolution of game structure
- Common game structures
- Linear
- Structured nonlinear
- Open nonlinear
- Endless and sandbox
- Notes on structure
- Game content
- Content burn
- Scoping practices
- Content lifespan
- Game flow
- Planning design work
- Estimation techniques
- Priorities and dependencies
- Summary
- Chapter 4: Creating Design Documentation
- The purpose of a GDD
- Characteristics of a good GDD
- It is modular
- It starts with goals and requirements
- It is the result of a discussion
- It is clear, brief, and concise
- It is multimedia
- It leaves space for creativity and debate
- It comes in different formats and sizes
- It is online, shareable, and accessible
- Tools for writing a GDD
- Word processors
- Wikis
- Presentations
- Note organizers
- Digital whiteboards
- Mind maps.
- Spreadsheets
- Illustration tools
- Generative AI tools
- Writing techniques
- Use of style
- Layering details
- Start with a high-level design
- Motion versus action
- Write incrementally by drafting
- Prioritize
- Use of keywords
- Table of contents
- Bullet points
- Images with captions
- Diagrams
- Variables
- Redundancy
- Hyperlinks
- Elegance in game design
- Keep it short and simple (KISS)
- The less-is-more principle
- Summary
- Chapter 5: Understanding Game Mechanics
- What is a game mechanic?
- Examples of game mechanics
- Game mechanics interact with each other to develop dynamics
- Mechanics and dynamics are part of a feature
- Approaching mechanic design
- Rules and game mechanics
- Mechanics and dynamics produce feedback
- Finding the right reference
- Deconstructing your references
- Additive and subtractive design
- Putting it all back together
- Summary
- Chapter 6: Designing Systems and Features
- Developing an idea into an experience
- Innovating with design
- Solving gameplay problems with design
- Building a game feature starting from the players
- Game loops
- Game's model and player's mental loops
- Interactive loops
- Designer's loops
- Progression systems
- Progression systems provide pace to the game
- Progression systems provide variety
- Games as systems of conflict
- Opponents
- Obstacles
- Dilemmas
- Quality over quantity
- More choices, not best choices
- Combat systems
- How to design a combat system
- Combat depth
- Teaching game features
- How to design a tutorial
- Tutorials in free-to-play games
- Summary
- Chapter 7: Making Prototypes
- What is a prototype?
- Why a prototype?
- Prototyping techniques
- Paper prototyping
- Digital prototyping
- A step-by-step guide to prototyping
- Step 1 - ask the right questions.
- Step 2 - select the framework and tools
- Step 3 - create the rules
- Step 4 - implement and create the prototype
- Step 5 - the first playtest
- Step 6 - iterate
- Step 7 - move on
- Prototyping exercise
- The hands-on game designer
- A paper prototype case study
- Questioning a combat system
- Addressing the problem
- From paper to digital
- Abstraction versus reality
- Moving on
- Summary
- Chapter 8: Designing Compelling Stories for Games
- Narrative
- Do all games have a narrative?
- Why are stories good for games?
- Traditional narrative models
- The three-act story
- Monomyth
- Designing narratives for video games
- Linear narrative
- Modular narrative
- Environmental storytelling
- Summary
- Chapter 9: The Fundamentals of Level Design
- What is level design?
- The level-design process
- The premise
- The sketch
- Grayboxing
- Art implementation
- Final polish
- Level design and storytelling
- Level-design practices
- Functional level design and realism
- Evolving game features
- Pacing from day one
- Lock and key
- Geometry and gameplay
- Effects of lighting
- Vision as a mechanic
- Level design in multiplayer action games
- Summary
- Chapter 10: Creating Characters
- Do all games need characters?
- The birth of a video game character
- Playable characters, NPCs, and enemies
- The function of characters
- Character statistics, attributes, and abilities
- A step-by-step character design
- Acquire deep knowledge of the game
- Write down the design pillars
- Write a high concept
- Define and balance the stats
- Prototype and iterate
- Final implementation
- Enemies
- Types of villains
- Types of enemies
- Enemy behaviors and stats
- Enemies exist to entertain a player
- Diversity
- Summary
- Chapter 11: Balancing Your Content and Systems
- Gameplay balancing.
- Gameplay balancing methods and tips
- MBT balancing
- Layered Modifiers
- Game difficulty
- Static difficulty settings
- Automatic difficulty adjustment
- Pacing
- Mental and sensory stimulation
- How to approach pacing
- Summary
- Chapter 12: Building a Great User Interface and User Experience
- Understanding UX
- Player input
- Camera systems
- Feedback
- Designing UIs
- Listing and prioritizing information
- UI mockups
- UI tips and tricks
- Summary
- Chapter 13: Making Your Games Accessible
- Increasing accessibility
- Reducing cognitive load
- Limiting the complexity of interaction
- Maintaining visual clarity
- Making audio optional
- Restricting negative consequences
- Building on common knowledge
- Teaching game systems
- In-game teaching techniques
- Teaching outside gameplay
- Best practices
- Localization
- Playtesting
- What to playtest?
- Playtesting formats
- Sourcing candidates
- Running playtesting sessions
- Summary
- Chapter 14: Mastering Games as a Service
- Terms of engagement
- Basic stats
- Marketing and analytics
- Economy and balancing
- Live operations
- Staffing
- Efficient live ops
- Managing the content treadmill
- Live-game balancing
- Tools and setup
- Content management system (CMS)
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Dashboards
- Test environments
- Live ops tools
- Asset streaming
- Events
- Event classification
- Event components
- Event rewards
- Community and customer support
- Supporting players
- Official Discord servers, Reddit communities, and social media accounts
- Gathering feedback
- Newsletters
- Localized customer support
- Live streaming
- Introduction to season passes
- Designing a season pass
- Progression mechanics
- Accessing previous passes
- Premium rewards and perks
- Season pass tips
- Summary.
- Chapter 15: Understanding Monetization Techniques
- Basics of F2P monetization
- Vectors of monetization
- Time
- Difficulty
- Playable content
- Non-playable content
- In-game advertisements
- Establishing a game economy
- Adjusting the monetization strategy
- Balancing player progression
- Gacha
- Weight-based loot tables
- Packaging and opening
- Maintaining consistency
- Kompu gacha
- Box gacha
- Bundles and targeting
- Adjusting your offering based on individual player spending
- Purchase rationalization
- Evaluate your audience!
- Players have limited budgets
- Using season passes for monetization
- Tips for creating a high-performing season pass
- Why do some games fail to monetize?
- Poor goal setting
- Content is not desirable
- Poor balancing (too easy or too hard)
- Monetization works but is inherently low performing
- Monetization tips and tricks
- Earn an opportunity to spend
- Player spending should build up your community, not divide it
- Disappointments and regrets cost dearly!
- Think of technical performance holistically
- Scarcity influences value
- Focus on daily retention
- Optimize your newsletters and notifications
- The network effect can make and break your game
- Put yourself in the consumer's shoes
- Maintain tight control over your rewards
- Beware of stockpiling resources
- Start strong and hook players onto the long-term premise
- Preview content to spark a desire
- Summary
- Chapter 16: The Final 10%
- Putting the pieces together
- Feature creep
- User experience improvement
- Polishing
- How to polish
- Quality assurance
- Game designers and QA
- Tips for closing a game project
- Summary
- Index
- Other Books You May Enjoy.
