The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, 2nd Edition

Good game design happens when you view your game from as many perspectives as possible. Written by one of the world’s top game designers, The Art of Game Design presents 100+ sets of questions, or different lenses, for viewing a game’s design, encompassing diverse fields such as psychology, architecture, music, visual design, film, software engineering, theme park design, mathematics, puzzle design, and anthropology. This Second Edition of a Game Developer Front Line Award winner:

• Describes the deepest and most fundamental principles of game design
• Demonstrates how tactics used in board, card, and athletic games also work in top-quality video games
• Contains valuable insight from Jesse Schell, the former chair of the International Game Developers Association and award-winning designer of Disney online games

The Art of Game Design, Second Edition gives readers useful perspectives on how to make better game designs faster. It provides practical instruction on creating world-class games that will be played again and again.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: In the Beginning, There Is the Designer
Chapter 2: The Designer Creates an Experience
Chapter 3: The Experience Takes Place in a Venue
Chapter 4: The Experience Rises Out of a Game
Chapter 5: The Game Consists of Elements
Chapter 6: The Elements Support a Theme
Chapter 7: The Game Begins with an Idea
Chapter 8: The Game Improves through Iteration
Chapter 9: The Game Is Made for a Player
Chapter 10: The Experience Is in the Player’s Mind
Chapter 11: The Player’s Mind Is Driven by the Player’s Motivation
Chapter 12: Some Elements Are Game Mechanics
Chapter 13: Game Mechanics Must Be in Balance
Chapter 14: Game Mechanics Support Puzzles
Chapter 15: Players Play Games through an Interface
Chapter 16: Experiences Can Be Judged by Their Interest Curves
Chapter 17: One Kind of Experience Is the Story
Chapter 18: Story and Game Structures Can Be Artfully Merged with Indirect Control
Chapter 19: Stories and Games Take Place in Worlds
Chapter 20: Worlds Contain Characters
Chapter 21: Worlds Contain Spaces
Chapter 22: The Look and Feel of a World Is Defined by Its Aesthetics
Chapter 23: Some Games Are Played with Other Players
Chapter 24: Other Players Sometimes Form Communities
Chapter 25: The Designer Usually Works with a Team
Chapter 26: The Team Sometimes Communicates through Documents
Chapter 27: Good Games Are Created through Playtesting
Chapter 28: The Team Builds a Game with Technology
Chapter 29: Your Game Will Probably Have a Client
Chapter 30: The Designer Gives the Client a Pitch
Chapter 31: The Designer and Client Want the Game to Make a Profit
Chapter 32: Games Transform Their Players
Chapter 33: Designers Have Certain Responsibilities
Chapter 34: Each Designer Has a Purpose