5th Edition
Game Design Workshop A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games
“Create the digital games you love to play.”
Discover an exercise-driven, non-technical approach to game design without the need for programming or artistic experience with Game Design Workshop, Fifth Edition.
Tracy Fullerton demystifies the creative process with clear and accessible guidance on the formal, dramatic, and dynamic systems of game design. Using examples of classic and popular games, illustrations of design techniques, and refined exercises to strengthen your understanding of how game systems function, this book gives you the skills and tools necessary to create a compelling and engaging game.
This updated 5th edition brings deeper coverage of playcentric design techniques, including setting emotion-focused experience goals and managing the design process to meet them. It includes a host of new diverse perspectives from top industry game designers.
Game Design Workshop puts you to work prototyping, playtesting, and revising your own games with time-tested methods and tools. These skills will provide the foundation for your career in any facet of the game industry including design, producing, programming, and visual design.
Introduction
Part I Game Design Basics
Chapter 01 The Role of the Game Designer
Chapter 02 The Structure of Games
Chapter 03 Working with Formal Elements
Chapter 04 Working with Dramatic Elements
Chapter 05 Working with System Dynamics
Part II Designing a Game
Chapter 06 Ideation
Chapter 07 Prototyping
Chapter 08 Digital Prototyping
Chapter 09 Playtesting
Chapter 10 Functionality, Completeness, and Balance
Chapter 11 Fun and Accessibility
Part III Working as a Game Designer
Chapter 12 Team Structures
Chapter 13 Stages and Methods of Development
Chapter 14 Communicating Your Designs
Chapter 15 Understanding the New Game Industry
Chapter 16 Selling Yourself and Your Ideas to the Game Industry
Biography
Tracy Fullerton is an award-winning game designer and educator with over 30 years of professional experience, including winning the Games for Change Game of the Year Award for her independent game Walden, a game. She has also been awarded the 2016 GDC Ambassador Award, the 2015 Games for Change Game Changer Award, and the IndieCade 2013 Trailblazer award for her pioneering work in the independent games community. Tracy is a Professor of Interactive Media & Games ad the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the founding Director (emeritus) of the USC Games Program, which has regularly been ranked the #1 game design program in North America by the Princeton Review.
“Tracy Fullerton's Game Design Workshop was my first game design textbook. It fundamentally transformed my perspective on games, shifting my mindset from that of a player to that of a designer. I firmly believe that this book continues to be an essential resource for all aspiring game designers. The latest edition of the book enhances its offering, providing additional advice and strategies focused on contemporary, play-centric design.”
Jenova Chen, CEO and Creative Director of thatgamecompany.
“Tracy Fullerton’s playcentric approach to game design is a necessary central feature of any game program aiming to innovate new forms of mechanics and aesthetics. It is a must read for game design educators and scholars alike, helping us understand how the formal and dramatic elements of games come together through thoughtful design and testing to create the kinds of experiences that entertain, delight, inspire and even educate. If you’re interested in game design, this book is where you start. I don’t know of any serious game designer or scholar who doesn’t have it on their bookshelves.”
Constance Steinkuehler, Professor of Informatics, University of California, Irvine.
“Though it's difficult to improve on a practical classic like Game Design Workshop, Tracy Fullerton pulls it off with thoughtful care in the new edition, mixing time-tested advice for design, iteration and development with notes on the latest developments in technology, culture and authorship. The voices of an inclusive and range of design experts makes Game Design Workshop not only an invaluable guide to making games, but a contemporary portrait of the creative field.”
Naomi Clark, Chair, NYU Game Center.
“Game Design Workshop is the gold standard game design teaching text. For students, it’s a perfect way to learn a complex profession. For professionals, it’s required reading to revisit why we do what we do and to encourage innovation."
Brenda Romero, Studio Director, Romero Games Ltd.
