Games, Design and Play: A detailed approach to iterative game design, 1st edition

Published by Addison-Wesley Professional (June 3, 2016) © 2016

  • Colleen Macklin
  • John Sharp

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Games, Design and Play completely demystifies the art of videogame design, by taking a play-focused and process-oriented approach that walks readers through every step, and provides a complete toolkit for creating compelling game experiences.

Part I introduces the key concepts, terminology and principles of game design. Step by step, the authors lay a strong foundation for exploring the broader expressive potential of games, and helping readers learn to think like a game designer. Each chapter is accompanied by play and design exercises to help put its key concepts into action.

In Part II, Macklin and Sharp turn to the practice of videogame design, introducing a powerful four-step iterative process: conceptualize, prototype, playtest, evaluate. For each step, Macklin and Sharp illustrate successive loops through this iterative cycle, from idea to finished game. Readers will construct the game they've designed using the open source tool "Processing" - designed specifically to help non-programmers write code.

  • The first text to completely demystify the art of game design through a play-focused, process-oriented approach - in full color
  • Bridges the gap between creative design and technical game development by walking readers through the entire design process
  • Offers a deep understanding of methods for conceptualizing, prototyping and playtesting videogames throughout the design process
  • Teaches through examples built in the easy-to-learn open source tool Processing
  • Play-tested and proven in the authors' pioneering game design courses at Parsons (The New School) in New York
  • Includes instructor resources

Part IConcepts

1Games, Design and Play

2Basic Game Design Tools

3The Kinds of Play

4The Player Experience

Part IIProcess

5The Iterative Game Design Process

6Design Values

7Game Design Documentation

8Collaboration and Teamwork

Part IIIPractice

9Conceptualizing Your Game

10Prototyping Your Game

11Playtesting Your Game

12Evaluating Your Game

13Moving from Design to Production

Works Cited

Glossary

Index 

Colleen Macklin is a game designer and an Associate Professor in the school of Art, Media and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design, where she has been teaching interaction and game design for over 20 years. Macklin is also founder and co-director of PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab), a lab that develops games for experimental learning and social engagement. PETLab projects include disaster preparedness games and sports with the Red Cross, the urban activist game Re:Activism and the physical/fiscal sport Budgetball. PETLab has also published game design curricula for the Boys & Girls Club. She is a member of the game design collective Local No. 12, best known for their social card game, the Metagame. Her work has been shown at Come Out and Play, UCLA Art|Sci Center, The Whitney Museum for American Art and Creative Time.

John Sharp is a designer, art historian, curator and educator with over twenty five years of involvement in the creation and study of art and design. He is the Associate Professor of Games and Learning at Parsons The New School for Design. Along with Colleen Macklin, John co-directs PETLab (Prototyping, Education and Technology Lab), a research group focused on games and their design as a form of social discourse. John is also a member of the game design collective Local No. 12 along with Colleen Macklin and Eric Zimmerman (Arts Professor, New York University Game Center), a company focused on finding play in cultural practices. Along with Peter Berry, John is a partner in Supercosm, where he focuses on interaction and game design for arts and education clients.

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