1st Edition
The Pyramid of Game Design Designing, Producing and Launching Service Games
Author
Chapter 1 ◾ The Pyramid
Chapter 2 ◾ The Base Layer
Chapter 3 ◾ The Retention Layer
Chapter 4 ◾ The Core Loop and the Gearbox
Chapter 5 ◾ The Session and the On-Ramp
Chapter 6 ◾ The Session: Playtime, the Off-Ramp and Return Hook
Chapter 7 ◾ The Superfan Layer
Chapter 8 ◾ What Will People Pay For?
Chapter 9 ◾ Production-Centric versus Design-Centric
Chapter 10 ◾ How to Develop a Service Game
Chapter 11 ◾ How to Prototype and When to Pivot
Chapter 12 ◾ Production
Chapter 13 ◾ Managing Creativity
Chapter 14 ◾ Marketing Your Launch
Chapter 15 ◾ Metrics
Chapter 16 ◾ Ethics
Chapter 17 ◾ The Pyramid of Game Design Afterword 279
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
GLOSSARY
ENDNOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SOFTOGRAPHY
INDEX
Biography
Nicholas Lovell has been working with game companies making service games since 2008. He has worked on large franchises such as Angry Birds, consulted on taking PC games like EVE Online free, helped take existing intellectual properties into a F2P service model (Stronghold Kingdoms) and helped small startups with their online MMOs (e.g. Lazarus). Along the way, clients have included a vast array of companies ranging from the largest (Square Enix, Bandai Namco, Rovio) to tiny startups like Spilt Milk Studios and nDreams and companies throughout Europe, the US and Canada.
Nicholas is the author of The Curve (Portfolio Penguin), a book about how to make money in the digital age and The F2P Toolbox (Gamesbrief). He has been writing about F2P game design since 2008 at www.gamesbrief.com.
Prior to 2008, Nicholas was CFO of Internet startup Shopsmart, CEO of PC gaming community GameShadow and, for a decade, an investment banker.
Nicholas lives in London.
