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

Chapter 6. Invention of Mechanics

Now that we know how to adapt game mechanics and which processes are available to do so, it's time to focus on one of the most challenging and exciting tasks for a game designer: coming up with brand new game mechanics! The difference between adapting and creating new mechanics is thin, though. We will see in this chapter how new game mechanics can be created not only as actions available to the players but also as different dynamics that are generated in-game by existing core mechanics.

We will discuss some of the theories behind game design and the creation of mechanics that are fun to play, and we'll dive into how a new mechanic needs to be taught to the player and how the core loop of a game is formed. Finally, we're going to have a close look at the design of a combat system and why combat and conflict are an important part of many video games. You will learn about complexity and depth and the related problems a game designer needs to solve by using...