Book synopsis:

Learning to Design Games (textbook title)

(Also How to Design Games (commercial book title))

These books will share about 50% of their contents. This synopsis, especially the chapter list, focuses on the textbook. The textbook will not say much past the point of creating and playing a prototype, since it is intended to be a teaching tool for video game design. The commercial book will include material about refining a non-video game design to make it publishable.

I am an experienced designer of commercially published boardgames and writer of magazine articles about games. I teach computer game design at my college, as well as networking and other topics, and though I am no longer a programmer, I used to work as a programmer. I have attached my “game resume” and my teaching resume.

Purpose of the textbook:

You cannot teach game design by teaching video game design, because it takes too long to produce a playable prototype of a computer game. And without playing a game design, beginners have absolutely no idea whether it is any good. Hence, to teach computer game design, you must teach people general game design, and let them actually design board or card games that can practically be prototyped and played in the course of one semester. There is a great need, then, for a book that teaches students how to design games with the intent of actually producing a playable prototype.

You can play a prototype of a non-video game without a fully-written set of rules, as long as the designer(s) are present; you cannot play a video game without a fully-programmed game, and programming takes much longer than rules-writing. You can produce the physical components for a non-video prototype fairly easily; the artwork and polygon work for a video game prototype is much, much more expensive and time-consuming to produce.

Several commercial (non-textbook) books about general game design and marketing have been published, as well as many about computer game design.

The current commercial books either concentrate almost entirely on marketing the game (Game Inventor’s Guidebook, Brian Tinsman) or on academic analysis of “game creation” (Rules of Play, MIT Press). The books about computer game design discuss principles and concepts quite usefully, but cannot provide practical advice because substantial computer games cannot be produced during a one-semester course. The result of using the computer game design books is that the students have no connection between the ideas and an actual, good, game. When the reader finishes he says, “OK, now what do I *do*?” He still doesn’t know, because the books tend to be theoretical. The reader may be able to write a game treatment for a video game, but has absolutely no idea whether it will actually be a good game.

The other problem we see in colleges today is that a teacher is assigned to teach game design who has never designed a viable game in his or her life. The book will not only help the students, it will help such instructors. It will provide the experience of an actual game designer to substitute for the experience that the instructor lacks. As such, it will be more direct and personal than the typical computer textbook, which tends to be distant and sterile (this varies with publisher and author, of course). My purpose is not to formulate an overall methodology or ideology of game design, but to discuss, explain, and describe the practical steps that produce a successful game design.

I will aim at 100,000 words for the textbook, perhaps longer for the commercial book. In general, students (even graduate students) do not read books unless they absolutely cannot avoid it. The vast textbooks typically produced are certain to put off students who are reluctant to read anyway, even though the topic may be very interesting. By producing a shorter book, I hope to produce a book people actually read. Moreover, a short book can be used in conjunction with one of the longer, more theoretical design books to give a more balanced view.

The following chapter listing is fairly general:

Introduction

Why we're doing this. Why non-video games to learn computer game design; designing board and card games compared with designing computer games; game design is game design, regardless of the medium

Section: Becoming a Designer

Characteristics and habits of a successful game designer. Persistence; experience; reading; education; some "outside the box" thinking

"The one-page guideline". Summary version and guide to much of the book; where we're going

What makes a game "good". Meaningful challenges and choices; opportunities to alter the course of the game (in your favor); some like a larger number of plausible choices than others; control of events (but those who like stories don't feel a need for control...); what is "fun"

Audience. Who are you designing the game for; game playing styles; differing reasons why people play games

Getting (and retaining) ideas. "Originality" usually comes from combinations, not from new ideas; sources of ideas; many hit games are not original

Setting objectives and Writing it all down. Good games come from good objectives and restrictions; if you don't write it down, it doesn't count

Section: Turning ideas into games

The fundamental structures of games. Structures help you turn an idea into a game; long exposition of possible choices for each structure, and how they relate to video as well as non-video games

Other questions you must answer to create a playable game. Zero sum, role of chance, complexity, symmetric vs asymmetric, cooperative vs competitive

Visualizing the game. What will the player feel?; what choices will he make (what will he do)?; how will he affect the course of the game?

Creating prototypes. Sources of pieces and cards, helpful software; don't put too much time into it!

Section: Turning the prototype into a GOOD game

Initial playtesting. Solo first; then "listen" to the players

Change, change, change. Love it, don't fear it.

Writing rules. Equivalent to programming a video game, but much easier to produce a usable version

Refinement/development. Beta testing; blind testing

Notes about particular genres of games

            Euro style games

            RPGs (role playing games)

            CCGs (collectible card games)

            wargames

            family games and children's games

            video game genres

(End of chapter listing)

The book will include practical examples and exercises, and many sidebars about particular questions/topics. I intend at various points in sidebars to recount the "quest for the one-hour wargame", involving three games I've designed while attempting to reach a particular objective. I do not plan to have a lot of "traditional pedagogical" material in the textbook, and none in the commercial book. I am a reasonably experienced photographer and graphics program user (but I am not an artist); I can provide many graphics myself.

The following URLs are case sensitive (Linux server)

At http://www.pulsipher.net/gamedesign/What'sImportantGameDesign.htm is the one-page summary I will use as a framework for much of both books.

At http://www.pulsipher.net/gamedesign/NineFundamentalStructures.htm is the structural list that I will use (in a much-expanded version).

Examples illustrating the difference in approach of the two books:

Example: at http://www.pulsipher.net/gamedesign/WaysToReflectFogofWarfin.htm is a long article about "fog of war" in games. This could be adapted without much change to the commercial book, but would need to be much shorter, with a particular emphasis on how video games differ from non-video games, for the textbook.

Similarly, at http://www.pulsipher.net/game_playing_styles.htm is an article about styles of play; it was written with non-video games in mind, and would be shorter, and with examples from video games, for the textbook.

Example: at http://www.pulsipher.net/gamedesign/Sim-Rep-Theme_Abst.htm is an article discussing "simulation, representation, theme, and abstraction" in game design. This would be much shorter in the textbook, again with different examples.

Sid Meier (Firaxis) said recently on slashdot, "My whole approach to making games revolves around first creating a solid prototype and then playing and improving the game over the course of the 2-3 year development cycle...until we think it's ready for prime time. My experience in this area helps me to know what to do and where to start. I definitely spend a lot of time playing the game before I let anyone else look at it." In a classroom we don't have time (or the skills, usually) to create video games.

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