Book Image

Practical Game Design

By : Adam Kramarzewski, Ennio De Nucci
Book Image

Practical Game Design

By: Adam Kramarzewski, Ennio De Nucci

Overview of this book

If you are looking for an up-to-date and highly applicable guide to game design, then you have come to the right place! Immerse yourself in the fundamentals of game design with this book, written by two highly experienced industry professionals to share their profound insights as well as give valuable advice on creating games across genres and development platforms. Practical Game Design covers the basics of game design one piece at a time. Starting with learning how to conceptualize a game idea and present it to the development team, you will gradually move on to devising a design plan for the whole project and adapting solutions from other games. You will also discover how to produce original game mechanics without relying on existing reference material, and test and eliminate anticipated design risks. You will then design elements that compose the playtime of a game, followed by making game mechanics, content, and interface accessible to all players. You will also find out how to simultaneously ensure that the gameplay mechanics and content are working as intended. As the book reaches its final chapters, you will learn to wrap up a game ahead of its release date, work through the different challenges of designing free-to-play games, and understand how to significantly improve their quality through iteration, polishing and playtesting.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

What is a game mechanic?


I know, this is a book about practical game design, but when it comes to game mechanics and the core elements of gameplay, we have to go through some theory.

Formally defining anything is a difficult task; I always prefer to quote definitions from different authors. All of them are equally correct and the different points of view complement each other. It is not our goal with this book to give a comprehensive definition, what's important is that a clear idea can stick in your designer mind by reading them!

Mechanics are the various actions, behaviors, and control mechanisms afforded to the player within a game context.

–'MDA: Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics Framework' by Hunicke, M. LeBlanc, R. Zubek

Game mechanics are rule based systems/simulations that facilitate and encourage a user to explore and learn the properties of their possibility space through the use of feedback mechanisms.

–'A Theory of Fun' by Raph Koster

They are the interactions and relationships that...