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Elements of Game Design
ISBN: 9780262363730 | Copyright 2020
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| Contents (pg. vii) | |
| Acknowledgments (pg. xiii) | |
| Introduction (pg. xv) | |
| Game Design and the Scope of This Text (pg. xv) | |
| Classroom Use (pg. xvii) | |
| Note on Exercises (pg. xviii) | |
| Note on Style (pg. xviii) | |
| Note on Definitions (pg. xix) | |
| 1. Elements (pg. 1) | |
| Design Process (pg. 2) | |
| Games as Machines (pg. 2) | |
| Game Design Is User-Centered (pg. 3) | |
| Motivating Example: Poker (pg. 3) | |
| Model Description (pg. 5) | |
| Designer’s Role (pg. 6) | |
| Designer’s Process (pg. 6) | |
| Player’s Experience (pg. 8) | |
| Elements of Games Outside This Model (pg. 9) | |
| The Practice of Game Design (pg. 10) | |
| Game Design, Systems Design, Content Design (pg. 11) | |
| Discipline Interactions (pg. 12) | |
| Summary (pg. 13) | |
| Further Reading (pg. 14) | |
| Formal Tools (pg. 14) | |
| MDA (pg. 15) | |
| The Practice of Design (pg. 16) | |
| Individual Exercises (pg. 16) | |
| 2. Player Experience (pg. 19) | |
| Experience Is Relative (pg. 19) | |
| What Do You Enjoy? (pg. 21) | |
| Building a Naive Taxonomy (pg. 23) | |
| Player Theories (pg. 24) | |
| Designer Theories (pg. 24) | |
| The Bartle Model (pg. 25) | |
| The Koster Model (pg. 26) | |
| User Personas (pg. 27) | |
| Empirical Models (pg. 28) | |
| The Big Five Personality Model (pg. 29) | |
| Yee’s Gamer Motivation Profiles (pg. 30) | |
| Player Motivations and the Big Five (pg. 33) | |
| Experience Design (pg. 34) | |
| Questions to Guide Experience Design (pg. 34) | |
| Experience Archetypes and Genres (pg. 36) | |
| Summary (pg. 37) | |
| Further Reading (pg. 38) | |
| Player Psychology (pg. 38) | |
| Designer Theories (pg. 39) | |
| Individual Exercises (pg. 39) | |
| 3. Mechanics (pg. 41) | |
| Mechanics as Building Blocks (pg. 41) | |
| Composition of Mechanics (pg. 42) | |
| The Language Metaphor (pg. 44) | |
| Example: Exploring Monopoly (pg. 45) | |
| Games as State Spaces (pg. 46) | |
| Game State (pg. 46) | |
| State Spaces (pg. 47) | |
| Action Spaces (pg. 49) | |
| Perceived Action Spaces (pg. 50) | |
| Explicit and Implicit Mechanics (pg. 51) | |
| Examples of Families of Mechanics (pg. 53) | |
| Control Mechanics (pg. 55) | |
| Progression Mechanics (pg. 58) | |
| Uncertainty Mechanics (pg. 60) | |
| Resource Management Mechanics (pg. 63) | |
| Beyond the Four Families (pg. 68) | |
| Mechanics Design (pg. 68) | |
| Design Heuristics (pg. 69) | |
| Primary and Derived Mechanics (pg. 71) | |
| Summary (pg. 72) | |
| Further Reading (pg. 73) | |
| History of Mechanics (pg. 73) | |
| Taxonomies (pg. 74) | |
| In-depth Explorations (pg. 74) | |
| Individual Exercises (pg. 75) | |
| Group Exercises (pg. 76) | |
| 4. Systems (pg. 79) | |
| Motivating Example: Diablo (pg. 79) | |
| Game Systems (pg. 81) | |
| Setting and Systems (pg. 82) | |
| Layering (pg. 83) | |
| Thinking in Systems (pg. 84) | |
| Mechanic Chains and Loops (pg. 85) | |
| Conversion Chains (pg. 85) | |
| Calculating Exchange Rates (pg. 86) | |
| Conversion Loops (pg. 87) | |
| Feedback Loops (pg. 91) | |
| Positive Feedback (pg. 91) | |
| Negative Feedback (pg. 93) | |
| Effects of Positive Feedback (pg. 95) | |
| Effects of Negative Feedback (pg. 99) | |
| Emergence and Chaos (pg. 100) | |
| Emergent Behavior (pg. 100) | |
| Chaotic Systems (pg. 102) | |
| Systems Design (pg. 104) | |
| From User Stories to Systems (pg. 105) | |
| System Tuning (pg. 108) | |
| Approaches (pg. 109) | |
| The Role of Tuning in the Production Process (pg. 111) | |
| Summary (pg. 111) | |
| Further Reading (pg. 113) | |
| Individual Exercises (pg. 113) | |
| Group Exercises (pg. 114) | |
| 5. Gameplay (pg. 117) | |
| Motivating Example: The Sims (pg. 118) | |
| Gameplay Loops (pg. 119) | |
| Loop Frequencies (pg. 120) | |
| Onion Diagrams (pg. 121) | |
| The Core Loop (pg. 123) | |
| Layering (pg. 123) | |
| Loops and Systems (pg. 125) | |
| Player Motivation (pg. 126) | |
| Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation (pg. 127) | |
| Intrinsic Motivation: Flow and Learning (pg. 128) | |
| Flow Theory (pg. 128) | |
| Learning and Challenge Escalation (pg. 130) | |
| Learning to Overcome Uncertainty (pg. 131) | |
| Dominant Strategies and “Solving the Game” (pg. 135) | |
| Loops and Challenges (pg. 136) | |
| Extrinsic Motivation: Work and Rewards (pg. 137) | |
| Progression and Rewards (pg. 137) | |
| Reward Schedules (pg. 138) | |
| Types of Schedules (pg. 139) | |
| Game Examples (pg. 141) | |
| Changing Workload (pg. 142) | |
| Related Topic: Gamification (pg. 144) | |
| Gameplay Loop Design Heuristics (pg. 145) | |
| From User Stories to Gameplay Loops (pg. 145) | |
| Playtesting Loops (pg. 146) | |
| Summary (pg. 146) | |
| Further Reading (pg. 148) | |
| Gameplay Loops (pg. 148) | |
| Motivation (pg. 148) | |
| Individual Exercises (pg. 149) | |
| Group Exercises (pg. 150) | |
| 6. Macrostructure (pg. 151) | |
| Motivating Example: The Witcher (pg. 151) | |
| Game Fiction (pg. 153) | |
| Fantasy (pg. 154) | |
| Story (pg. 155) | |
| Story and Agency (pg. 156) | |
| Consistency (pg. 157) | |
| Macrostructure and Content Arcs (pg. 159) | |
| The Three-Act Model (pg. 159) | |
| Story Arc and Episodes (pg. 160) | |
| Three-Act Model and Non-story Games (pg. 162) | |
| Narrative Patterns (pg. 163) | |
| Linear Narrative (pg. 164) | |
| Branching Choices (pg. 165) | |
| Branch and Merge (pg. 166) | |
| Branching with State (pg. 167) | |
| Hub and Spokes (pg. 168) | |
| Narrative Composition and Quests (pg. 168) | |
| Open Worlds (pg. 169) | |
| Open Worlds and Quest Design (pg. 171) | |
| Simulated Worlds (pg. 173) | |
| Pacing (pg. 174) | |
| Metagame (pg. 176) | |
| Mastery Metagame (pg. 177) | |
| Social Metagame (pg. 177) | |
| Game Modding (pg. 179) | |
| Benefits of Metagame (pg. 180) | |
| Summary (pg. 180) | |
| Further Reading (pg. 181) | |
| Individual Exercises (pg. 182) | |
| Group Exercises (pg. 183) | |
| 7. Prototyping and Playtesting (pg. 185) | |
| Motivating Example: Project Highrise (pg. 186) | |
| Production Stages (pg. 187) | |
| Game Concept (pg. 188) | |
| Understanding the Game Idea (pg. 189) | |
| Understanding the Market (pg. 190) | |
| Forming a Game Pitch (pg. 192) | |
| From Concept to Prototyping: Kelly Guidelines (pg. 193) | |
| Prototyping (pg. 196) | |
| Playable Prototypes (pg. 197) | |
| Iterative Process (pg. 198) | |
| Playtesting (pg. 201) | |
| Documenting Design (pg. 204) | |
| Finishing Iteration (pg. 204) | |
| Production and Beyond (pg. 205) | |
| Ideas for Student Prototyping (pg. 207) | |
| Shorter Production Cycle (pg. 208) | |
| Scaling Prototyping Scope (pg. 208) | |
| Supporting Portfolio Development (pg. 209) | |
| Summary (pg. 210) | |
| Further Reading (pg. 211) | |
| Group Exercises (pg. 212) | |
| Conclusion (pg. 213) | |
| References (pg. 215) | |
| Index (pg. 221) | |
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