Games, Design and Play

Games, Design and Play completely demystifies the art of videogame design, by taking a play-focused and process-oriented approach that walks readers through every step, and provides a complete toolkit for creating compelling game experiences.

Part I introduces the key concepts, terminology and principles of game design. Step by step, the authors lay a strong foundation for exploring the broader expressive potential of games, and helping readers learn to think like a game designer. Each chapter is accompanied by play and design exercises to help put its key concepts into action.

In Part II, Macklin and Sharp turn to the practice of videogame design, introducing a powerful four-step iterative process: conceptualize, prototype, playtest, evaluate. For each step, Macklin and Sharp illustrate successive loops through this iterative cycle, from idea to finished game. Readers will construct the game they've designed using the open source tool "Processing" - designed specifically to help non-programmers write code.