Cover image for Introduction to Game Systems Design

Introduction to Game Systems Design

Release Date: 2021/08/01
ISBN: 9780137440702
Topic:
0%
34
Chapters
0-1
Hours read
0k
Total Words
    Start Reading Now    
       Add to Wishlist       
View table of contents

As games grow more complex and gamers expectations soar, the discipline of game systems design becomes ever more important. Game systems designers plan a games rules and balance, its characters attributes, most of its data, and how its AI, weapons, and objects work and interact. Introduction to Game Systems Design is the first complete beginners guide to this crucial discipline. Writing for all aspiring game professionals, even those with absolutely no experience, leading game designer and instructor Dax Gazaway presents a step-by-step, hands-on approach to designing game systems with industry-standard tools. Drawing on his experience building AAA-level game systems (including games in the Star Wars and Marvel franchises), Gazaway covers all this, and more:

  • Exploring the essentials of game design and its emerging subdisciplines

  • Asking the essential questions at the heart of all design

  • Getting started with modern game system design tools, including the spreadsheets most professionals now use

  • Creating systems and data from a blank page

  • Populating and quantifying a world of data into a game

  • Tuning and balancing game systems

  • Testing game systems and data

  • Leveraging communication, psychology, and rewards within your games

  • Balancing game probability within systems

Whether youre a college freshman entering a game design program, an indie developer using Unreal or Unity, a Dungeon Master, or anyone who wants to really understand modern games, this guide will help you get where you want to go.

Table of Contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. About This eBook
  3. Halftitle Page
  4. Title Page
  5. Copyright Page
  6. Dedication Page
  7. Contents at a Glance
  8. Contents
  9. Preface
    1. Who This Book Is For
    2. How To Use This Book
    3. What This Book Covers
  10. Acknowledgments
  11. About the Author
  12. Chapter 1. Games and Players: Defined
    1. Defining Game
    2. Finding the Target Audience for a Game: Player Attributes
    3. Value Gained from Players
    4. Target Audience Composite
    5. What to Do with a Target Audience Profile
    6. Further Steps
  13. Chapter 2. Roles in the Game Industry
    1. Core Management Team
    2. Team Subdisciplines
    3. Further Steps
  14. Chapter 3. Asking Questions
    1. How to Ask a Theoretical Question
    2. How to Ask for Help with a Problem
    3. Further Steps
  15. Chapter 4. System Design Tools
    1. What Is Data?
    2. Game Industry Tools
    3. Further Steps
  16. Chapter 5. Spreadsheet Basics
    1. Why Spreadsheets?
    2. What Is a Spreadsheet?
    3. Spreadsheet Cells: The Building Blocks of Data
    4. Data Containers in Spreadsheets
    5. Spreadsheet Operations
    6. Data Validation
    7. Further Steps
  17. Chapter 6. Spreadsheet Functions
    1. Grouping Arguments
    2. Function Structure
    3. More Complex Functions
    4. Functions for System Designers
    5. How to Choose the Right Function
    6. Further Steps
  18. Chapter 7. Distilling Life into Systems
    1. An Abstract Example
    2. Story in Games
    3. Further Steps
  19. Chapter 8. Coming Up with Ideas
    1. Idea Buffet
    2. Running a Brainstorming Session
    3. Methods to Force Creativity
    4. Further Steps
  20. Chapter 9. Attributes: Creating and Quantifying Life
    1. Mechanics Versus Attributes
    2. Listing Attributes
    3. Defining an Attribute
    4. Grouping Attributes
    5. Further Steps
  21. Chapter 10. Organizing Data in Spreadsheets
    1. Create a Spreadsheet to Be Read by an Outsider
    2. Avoid Typing Numbers
    3. Label Data
    4. Validate Your Data
    5. Use Columns for Attributes and Rows for Objects
    6. Color Coding
    7. Avoid Adding Unneeded Columns or Rows or Blank Cells
    8. Separate Data Objects with Sheets
    9. Spreadsheet Example
    10. Further Steps
  22. Chapter 11. Attribute Numbers
    1. Getting a Feel for Your Attributes
    2. Determining the Granularity for Numbers
    3. The Tension Trick
    4. Searching for the Right Numbers
    5. Further Steps
  23. Chapter 12. System Design Foundations
    1. Attribute Weights
    2. DPS and Intertwined Attributes
    3. Binary Searching
    4. Naming Conventions
    5. Naming Object Iterations
    6. Using the Handshake Formula
    7. Further Steps
  24. Chapter 13. Range Balancing, Data Fulcrums, and Hierarchical Design
    1. Range Balancing
    2. Data Fulcrums
    3. Hierarchical Design
    4. Further Steps
  25. Chapter 14. Exponential Growth and Diminishing Returns
    1. Linear Growth
    2. Exponential Growth
    3. Further Steps
  26. Chapter 15. Analyzing Game Data
    1. Overview Analysis
    2. Next-Level Deep Analysis
    3. Practicing Data Analysis
    4. Comparison Analysis
    5. Canaries
    6. Further Steps
  27. Chapter 16. Macrosystems and Player Engagement
    1. Macrosystem Difficulty Adjustment
    2. Balancing Combinations
    3. Further Steps
  28. Chapter 17. Fine-Tuning Balance, Testing, and Problem Solving
    1. Balance
    2. Performing Playtests
    3. Solving Problems
    4. Further Steps
  29. Chapter 18. Systems Communication and Psychology
    1. Games as Conversations
    2. Word Meanings
    3. Noise
    4. Reciprocity
    5. Reward Expectations
    6. Further Steps
  30. Chapter 19. Probability
    1. Basic Probability
    2. Mapping Probability
    3. Measuring Luck in a Game
    4. Further Steps
  31. Chapter 20. Next Steps
    1. Practice
    2. Analyze Existing Games
    3. Play New Games
    4. Modify Existing Games
    5. Work on Your Game
    6. Keep Learning
  32. Index
3.144.86.138