A 700 pages introductory bible to the many concepts of Game Design. This book is an updated and revised edition of "Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design", and it's still divided in two parts. The first one is explaining the fundamental concepts of video game design: game design process, game mechanics, balancing, storytelling, characters, level design, etc. The second part of the book presents the main video game genres (action, adventure, simulation, sports, etc.) and their
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Keywords : game design, introduction, genre, beginner
A book introducing a unique and thought-provoking approach to Game Design. Through a concept they call "Zen Game Design", the two authors emphasize over the fact that many game design methodologies exist, and that these methodologies are many because they suit different needs. The authors thus start form the "needs", and dedicate the first part of the book to a detailed analysis of the different player profiles. This analysis is based on a theoretical model called "Demog
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Keywords : game design, players typology, DGD1, zen game design, psychology, methodology
This book focuses on the history of role-playing and adventure games made in the USA. The central theme of the book is the truly captivating story of Richard Garriott, the creator of famous rpg saga Ultima (1981-1999). The book details his path starting with his teenage years, when he discovered Dungeons & Dragons, a game that will greatly influence his first amateurs creations on the Apple II. After two years of work, he attempts to sell his first "real" game, Akalabehth (1980), b
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Keywords : history, ultima, richard garriot, origin systems, id software, john romero, doom, texas
This book tells the story of id Software, the company that created the game "Doom". It mainly focuses on the life of the two key people of the studio, John Romero and John Carmack, from their first experience with videogames during their youth to their split-up after the massive success of "Quake". It also goes through the numerous hits that they created throughout their careers: "Commander Keen", "Wolfenstein 3D" and of course "Doom". Full of un
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Keywords : id software, john carmack, john romero, doom, wolfentstein 3d, commander keen, quake, shareware
An introductory book about Game Design. The first part focuses on general tips about Game Design (storytelling, balancing, etc.). The second part is dedicated to a presentation of the different videogames genres. The first part of the book is clearly the most interesting one, as the second part is both aging fast and not as detailed as we could have expected. Please note that this book received three updates greatly extending the part about Game Design tips, titled "Fundamentals of Game Des
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Keywords : games design, tips, video games genres
Rather than a book on game design, this book is actually a kind of "introductory book" to the world of professional video game creation. Without going into details, it goes over several topics like video game genres, the various tools available (in 2003) to create games, 3d art, and sound, the basis of computer programing, and lists of many examples of actual games and games ideas, with a short description. While most of the book content is a bit outdated today, some chapter remains in
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Keywords : game design, game programming, introduction, tools
Most Game Design books tend to illustrate their ideas with some "case studies" coming from industry professionals. This books pushes this idea to the extreme: its 470 pages are solely dedicated to interviews with video game industry professionals. Over 200 professionals are interviewed, mostly American ones, ranging from unknown people to celebrities like Richard Garriott, David Perry, Sid Meier and Peter Molyneux. The advices and tips they give are both insightful and inspiring, and g
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Keywords : game design, professional tips, industry, interview
One of the first (if not the first) book dedicated to the design process of video games, written by the famous American game designer Chris Crawford. Despite its age, the content of this book is still very interesting and applicable today, which show how thoughtful its author was about the creative process of games. The book gives some very practical game design tips (elements of a game, balance, list of steps of the game design process, etc.) and some other general tips (how to educate yourself
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Keywords : game design, tips, creation, first book