What this book covers
Chapter 1, Introducing the Game Production Process, explores the basic machinations of the games industry, teaching you about various game design roles, the responsibilities of designers, production methods, and development milestones.
Chapter 2, Preparing a Game Concept, teaches you about how to write a game concept and your responsibilities as a game designer. Practical tips and real-life examples will help you create your very own game concept based on an original idea or an existing game.
Chapter 3, Scoping a Game Project, covers the concepts and relationships between a game’s overall scope, its structure, and its content. We’ll explore real-world examples and help you build an understanding of how to better document the size, complexity, and dependencies of your game, as well as help you estimate your tasks.
Chapter 4, Creating Design Documentation, explains everything you need to know about writing game design documentation, from the tools and techniques to numerous pieces of practical advice.
Chapter 5, Understanding Game Mechanics, approaches the definition of game mechanics and will give you an idea of how to create your own game using pieces from existing games. This chapter also introduces the concept of dynamics and features as a set of mechanics that form a bigger part of the game.
Chapter 6, Designing Systems and Features, explores the theory behind game design and the creation of mechanics, features, and systems that are fun to play. You’ll learn how a new mechanic is taught and how the core loop of a game is formed. Finally, you will learn about the roles of conflict, combat systems, game complexity, and depth.
Chapter 7, Making Prototypes, demonstrates how to prototype a game idea or concept. This chapter will cover both paper and digital prototyping, with all the pros and cons of both techniques. You will read about a practical example from a real-life scenario that is easy to replicate as an exercise.
Chapter 8, Designing Compelling Stories for Games, highlights the importance of narrative elements in games and helps you design strong characters, intriguing worlds, and compelling stories.
Chapter 9, The Fundamentals of Level Design, introduces you to processes and techniques used to create highly playable game content. You’ll learn about creating believable spaces, manipulating light and geometry, and making the best of the available game mechanics.
Chapter 10, Creating Characters, explains the different kinds of characters that populate virtual worlds and how to make the best use of them. In this chapter, you will also get a closer look at a practical character-design example for an existing game, from which you’ll be able to get some inspiration to try and do your own character design, a great exercise for any game designer.
Chapter 11, Balancing Your Content and Systems, combines the knowledge from previous chapters and explores the ways in which you can pace, structure, and adjust the rules and content of your games to create experiences that capture and hold the interest of your audience.
Chapter 12, Building a Great User Interface and User Experience, outlines the complexities of input mechanics, camera systems, and effective game feedback. You’ll then gain practical insight into the processes behind UI and UX design, helping you create interfaces and experiences that are informative, empowering, and delightful to interact with.
Chapter 13, Making Your Games Accessible, dives into how to make your games more accessible, that is, easier to use, understand, and relate to. You’ll then learn about usability testing and arm yourself with the expertise required to plan and execute your very own playtesting sessions.
Chapter 14, Mastering Games as a Service, distills the knowledge required to turn your game into a successful service by establishing an update strategy, running events, designing season passes, addressing game balancing, working with analytics, providing customer support, and using the tools required to operate your games sustainably.
Chapter 15, Understanding Monetization Techniques, expands on the knowledge from the previous chapter and dives deep into the techniques and knowledge required to thoughtfully, ethically, and effectively monetize your free-to-play games.
Chapter 16, The Final 10%, takes you through the processes that need to take place before a game is finally released. You will also read about the difficulties and pitfalls of closing and releasing a video game, and how to avoid them.