Inside Game Design

Videogames are the fastest growing form of popular culture ever. These in-depth interviews with today's leading designers reveal the creative process behind games design and cover a wide range of games, including handheld and online. Full of colour artwork and practical advice, the book includes process sketches from the production period, studio photos, a detailed glossary and a comprehensive ludography.

Inside Electronic Game Design opens the secret world inhabited by designers of computer, multimedia, and video games. Leading game designers are spotlighted and give insights into the concepts and dynamics of game making. Would-be game designers will learn how to professionally pursue a career in this booming industry.

This edited collection of chapters concerns the evolving discipline of procedural storytelling in video games. Games are an interactive medium, and this interplay between author, player and machine provides new and exciting ways to create and tell stories. In each essay, practitioners of this artform demonstrate how traditional storytelling tools such as characterization, world-building, theme, momentum and atmosphere can be adapted to full effect, using specific examples from their games. The reader will learn to construct narrative systems, write procedural dialog, and generate compelling characters with unique personalities and backstories. Key Features Introduces the differences between static/traditional game design and procedural game design Demonstrates how to solve or avoid common problems with procedural game design in a variety of concrete ways World’s finest guide for how to begin thinking about procedural design

Games, whether educational or recreational, are meant to be fun. How do we ensure that the game delivers its intent? The answer to this question is playtesting. However, a haphazard playtest process cannot discover play experience from various dimensions. Players' perceptions, affordances, age, gender, culture, and many more human factors influence play experience. A playtest requires an intensive experimental process and scientific protocols to ensure that the outcomes seen are reliable for the designer. Playtesting and players' affordances are the focus of this book. This book is not just about the playtest procedures but also demonstrates how they lead to the conclusions obtained when considering data sets. The playtest process or playtest stories differ according to the hypothesis under investigation. We cover examples of playtesting to identify the impact of human factors, such as age and gender, to examine a player's preferences for game objects' design and colors. The book details topics to reflect on possible emotional outcomes of the player at the early stages of game design as well as the methodology for presenting questions to players in such a way as to elicit authentic feedback. This book is intended mainly for game designers, researchers, and developers. However, it provides a general understanding of affordances and human factors that can be informative for readers working in any domain.

This book focuses on the human aspects of wearable technologies and game design, which are often neglected. It shows how user centered practices can optimize wearable experience, thus improving user acceptance, satisfaction and engagement towards novel wearable gadgets. It describes both research and best practices in the applications of human factors and ergonomics to sensors, wearable technologies and game design innovations, as well as results obtained upon integration of the wearability principles identified by various researchers for aesthetics, affordance, comfort, contextual-awareness, customization, ease of use, ergonomy, intuitiveness, obtrusiveness, information overload, privacy, reliability, responsiveness, satisfaction, subtlety, user friendliness and wearability. The book is based on the AHFE 2018 Conference on Human Factors and Wearable Technologies and the AHFE 2018 Conference on Human Factors in Game Design and Virtual Environments , held on July 21–25, 2018 in Orlando, Florida, and addresses professionals, researchers, and students dealing with the human aspects of wearable, smart and/or interactive technologies and game design research.

Explore Level Design through the Lens of Architectural and Spatial Experience Theory Written by a game developer and professor trained in architecture, An Architectural Approach to Level Design is one of the first books to integrate architectural and spatial design theory with the field of level design. It explores the principles of level design through the context and history of architecture, providing information useful to both academics and game development professionals. Understand Spatial Design Principles for Game Levels in 2D, 3D, and Multiplayer Applications The book presents architectural techniques and theories for level designers to use in their own work. The author connects architecture and level design in different ways that address the practical elements of how designers construct space and the experiential elements of how and why humans interact with this space. Throughout the text, readers learn skills for spatial layout, evoking emotion through gamespaces, and creating better levels through architectural theory. Create Meaningful User Experiences in Your Games Bringing together topics in game design and architecture, this book helps designers create better spaces for their games. Software independent, the book discusses tools and techniques that designers can use in crafting their interactive worlds.

This two-volume set LNCS 12789 and 12790 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Conference on HCI in Games, HCI-Games 2021, held as part of the 23rd International Conference, HCI International 2021, which took place in July 2021. Due to COVID-19 pandemic the conference was held virtually. The total of 1276 papers and 241 posters included in the 39 HCII 2021 proceedings volumes was carefully reviewed and selected from 5222 submissions. The papers of HCI-Games 2021, Part I, are organized in topical sections named: Experience Design in Games; User Engagement and Game Impact; Game Mechanics.

Making a successful video game is hard. Even games that are successful at launch may fail to engage and retain players in the long term due to issues with the user experience (UX) that they are delivering. The game user experience accounts for the whole experience players have with a video game, from first hearing about it to navigating menus and progressing in the game. UX as a discipline offers guidelines to assist developers in creating the experience they want to deliver, shipping higher quality games (whether it is an indie game, AAA game, or "serious game"), and meeting their business goals while staying true to their design and artistic intent. In a nutshell, UX is about understanding the gamer’s brain: understanding human capabilities and limitations to anticipate how a game will be perceived, the emotions it will elicit, how players will interact with it, and how engaging the experience will be. This book is designed to equip readers of all levels, from student to professional, with neuroscience knowledge and user experience guidelines and methodologies. These insights will help readers identify the ingredients for successful and engaging video games, empowering them to develop their own unique game recipe more efficiently, while providing a better experience for their audience. Key Features Provides an overview of how the brain learns and processes information by distilling research findings from cognitive science and psychology research in a very accessible way. Topics covered include: "neuromyths", perception, memory, attention, motivation, emotion, and learning. Includes numerous examples from released games of how scientific knowledge translates into game design, and how to use a UX framework in game development. Describes how UX can guide developers to improve the usability and the level of engagement a game provides to its target audience by using cognitive psychology knowledge, implementing human-computer interaction principles, and applying the scientific method (user research). Provides a practical definition of UX specifically applied to games, with a unique framework. Defines the most relevant pillars for good usability (ease of use) and good "engage-ability" (the ability of the game to be fun and engaging), translated into a practical checklist. Covers design thinking, game user research, game analytics, and UX strategy at both a project and studio level. Offers unique insights from a UX expert and PhD in psychology who has been working in the entertainment industry for over 10 years. This book is a practical tool that any professional game developer or student can use right away and includes the most complete overview of UX in games existing today.