Index
10 minutes of sustained attention, 162
“30 Seconds of Fun,” 70
80/20 Rule, The
Legend of Zelda, 64
WOW (World of Warcraft), 64
A
Abe and Zac, relationship to time and money, 122
accomplishment
ARCS, 200
attention, 200
confidence, 200
fiero, 200
fulfillment, 200
pleasure, 200
relevance, 200
satisfaction, 200
sense of, 200
accuracy and speed, tradeoff between, 178
Aces High; Jokers Wild, 6
Addiction Pathways, rewards, 130
Advance Organizers
cutscenes, 168
Hype, 168
loading screen, 168
menus, 168
adventure games, 85
advertising, using to capture attention, 102
aesthetics as focus in flow, 80
Affordance Cues
HCI (Human-Computer Interaction), 170
HUD (heads-up display), 170
illustration, 171
My Horse game, 170
alien world, survival of, 140
Altderfer, Clayton, 154
Alternate Reality games, 98
anchoring recency bias, 174
Animal Crossing, 10
animation workload, including in pillars, 86
arcade games, coin crunchers in, 32
ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction), 200
artificial intelligence, 154
A/Symmetric Play and Synchronicity, 4
attention, sustaining for 10 minutes, 162
attention of players, capturing, 102
Attention vs. Perception, 132
attributes, 100
availability heuristic, 174
Axelrod, Robert, 42
B
Backward Induction, 28
Balancing and Tuning, 134
balancing games, 152
Bartle’s Player Types
Achievers (Diamonds), 8
Acting On, 8
Explorers (Spades), 8
Interacting With, 8
Killers (Clubs), 8
Socializers (Hearts), 8
behavior of actors, 30
Behaviorism, 50
Big 5 psychological system
Agreeableness, 58
Conscientiousness, 58
Extraversion, 58
Neuroticism, 58
Openness to Experience, 58
Billiards as game of skill, 32
black box testing, 108
bombs, relationship to risk assessment, 114
Brainstorming Methods. See also Prototyping
freethinking, 66
physical techniques, 66
structured techniques, 66
word bubbles, 66
Brooks, Fred, 106
The Buster Principle, 172
C
Call of Duty: Zombies, 94
Cardinal Payoffs, 40
casual games, 85
character design, including in pillars, 86
character development, supplementing, 76
Chess
positive feedback loops in, 14
as symmetric game, 4
choices, difficulty of, 54
chunking, process of, 22
circular chain of supremacy, 46
Civilization, 38
Cognitive Biases
anchoring, 174
availability heuristic, 174
confirmation bias, 174
framing, 174
negativity bias, 174
recency bias, 174
coin crunchers, 32
Colossal Cave Adventure, 126
combat design, including in pillars, 86
communicative details, 136
confirmation bias, 174
consequences, lack in fantasy play, 96
Consumer Surplus
F2P (Free-to-Play) models, 68
pricing games, 68
Cooperative vs. Oppositional, 10
Core Gameplay Loop
“30 Seconds of Fun,” 70
elements, 70
Halo games, 70
prototyping, 70
repetition, 70
scope, 70
Super Mario Bros., 70
creativity
cognitive, 82
emotional, 82
flow, 82
forms of, 82
methods, 82
Croft, Laura, 102
crossword puzzles, 44
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, 80
cutscenes, starting games with, 168
D
Dark Souls, 18
Dead Space, 78
Deadly Premonition, 18
Death Race 2000, 30
decision making, process of, 198
demand. See Supply and Demand
Demon’s Souls, 18
design, simplicity in, 146
Design by Committee. See also Environmental Storytelling; Experience Design
best practices, 74
common vision, 74
diagram, 75
vs. leadership, 74
team positions, 74
The Design of Everyday Things, 170
Details
communicative, 136
presentational, 136
DM (Dungeon Master), 4
Dodgeball, positive feedback loops in, 14
Dominant Strategy
accidental, 176
deliberate, 176
emergent, 176
Donkey Kong, iteration in, 94
DOOM, emotions related to, 48
dopamine and music, 192
Doubling and Halving, 138
Dresher, Melvin, 42
Dunbar’s Number, 52
Dungeons and Dragons, 16
Dyson, Freeman, 42
E
Economies of Scale
Eve Online, 140
microeconomics, 140
M.U.L.E., 140
ecosystem of games, 100
Einstein’s theory of relativity, 204
Ekman, Paul, 48
emotional output, 30
DOOM, 48
focusing on, 78
HUD (heads-up display), 48
interest curves, 48
L.A. Noire, 48
maintaining command of, 192
enjoyment, creating feelings of, 192
Environmental Storytelling. See also Design by Committee
character development, 76
world building, 76
ERG (Existence, Relatedness, and Growth), 154
Errors Players Make
performance, 142
Errors Without Punishment, 144
Experience Design. See also Design by Committee
creating tension, 78
Dead Space, 78
focusing on emotions, 78
focusing on players, 78
vs. game design, 78
experiences
on rails, 160
sandbox, 160
Extensive Form, 28
F
F2P (Free-to-Play) models, 68
faces, using to capture attention, 102
Fairness
in game design, 12
Rabin’s model of, 12
fantasy play, lack of consequence, 96
Farmville, loss aversion in, 152
fast, cheap, good
prototyping, 106
sacrifices, 106
Feedback Loops
negative, 14
positive, 14
fiero, relationship to accomplishments, 200
Fitts’ Law
combat and targeting, 178
speed and accuracy, 178
task of pointing, 178
UI (user interface), 178
fixed rewards, 164
Flood, Merrill, 42
Flow. See also gameplay
aesthetics, 80
beginning levels of play, 80
in creativity, 82
individual concentration, 80
mastery phase, 80
phases of gameplay, 80
task management, 80
flow charts, using in brainstorming, 66
fluid navigation pillar, 86–87
“fog of war,” 56
football, negative feedback loops in, 14
Four Keys to Fun, Lazzaro’s, 22, 24
Four Ways to Be Creative, 82
FPSs (first person shooters), 32, 85
free rider problem, 60
freethinking, 66
fun. See Koster’s Theory of Fun; Lazzaro’s Four Keys to Fun
Fundamental Attribution Error, 180
G
Game design vs. Experience Design, 78
game ecosystem, 100
game elements
attributes, 100
objects, 100
states, 100
game experience, 100
action, 85
adventures, 85
casual, 85
FPSs (first person shooters), 85
MMO/MMORPG, 85
niches, 85
overview, 84
puzzles, 85
RPGs (roleplaying games), 85
RTS (real-time strategy), 85
simulations, 85
sports, 85
strategy, 85
action games, 86
animation workload, 86
branching storyline, 87
character design, 86
combat design, 86
crafting, 87
creating tension, 86
exploration, 87
illustration, 87
perspective, 86
using, 86
world design, 86
game state, information about, 20, 56
game structure, information about, 20
Crates, 88
Free Health, 88
murder, 88
Stealing, 88
gameplay. See also Flow
asymmetric, 4
beginning levels of, 80
flow, 80
vs. living, 58
mastery phase, 80
phases, 80
repetition, 70
symmetric, 4
synchronous, 4
task management, 80
games. See also Metagames
balancing, 152
casual, 85
classification, 56
concealed structure of, 56
of imperfect information, 56
iteration of, 36
as low-risk learning tools, 22
of memory, 32
Sequential, 28
Simultaneous, 28
of skill, 32
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
Bodily-Kinesthetic, 16
Interpersonal, 16
Intrapersonal, 16
Linguistic-Verbal, 16
Logical-Mathematical, 16
Musical, 16
Naturalistic, 16
Spatial, 16
genres of games. See Game Genres
Gestalt
art examples, 90
Closure/Reification, 90
Continuance, 90
Figure-Ground, 90
Invariance, 90
mathematical example, 90
Proximity/Common fate, 90
Similarity, 90
skill free, 90
story aspect, 90
Symmetry, 90
Golden Ratio
applying to UI (user interface), 182
value of, 182
good, relationship to fast, 106
gratification
extrinsic motivation, 188
fun and immersion, 188
instant vs. delayed, 188
griefer
mitigating behavior of, 184
vs. Samaritan, 184
Griefing, 184
guns and wands, impact of, 96
H
Halo games, 30 Seconds of Fun in, 70
Halving and Doubling, 138
Hardin, Garrett, 54
Hick’s Law
choices, 146
simplicity in design, 146
House Rules. See also rules
guidelines, 92
suggestions, 92
Howard’s Law of Occult Game Design, 18
HUD (heads-up display)
affordance cues, 170
emotional expressions, 48
Huizinga, Johan, 26
human actions, assigning reasons for, 180
human emotion. See emotions
Hype
advance organizer, 168
down side, 186
expectations, 186
as marketing terminology, 186
“nocebo,” 186
I
Imbalance in games, fixing, 152
inattentional blindness, 132
Infocom games, 172
Information. See also Transparency
amount of, 20
complete, 56
game state, 20
game structure, 20
imperfection, 20
incomplete, 56
nature of, 20
perfection, 20
Intelligences, Gardner’s Multiple, 16
Interest Curve
creating, 148
emotions, 48
guidelines, 148
vs. Learning Curve, 150
rectifying deviations, 148
Iteration. See also repetition in gameplay
Call of Duty: Zombies, 94
Donkey Kong, 94
game concept, 95
Metroid, 94
The Street Fighter series, 94
tower defense games, 94
Iyengar, Sheena, 146
J
Jo-Ha-Kyu, 194
Joker as wildcard, 6
Jones, Gerard, 96
K
Kahneman and Tversky’s “Outbreak,” 175
Killing Monsters, 96
Kim, Scott, 44
Kivetz, Ran, 50
Kleenex test, 108
Koffka, Kurt, 90
Kohler, Wolfgang, 90
Koster’s Theory of Fun, 22
clicking, 190
consistency of interface, 190
Doubling and Halving, 190
interface qualities, 190
simplicity of interface, 190
L
L.A. Noire, 48
lag, impact on gameplay, 4
The Law of Occult Design, 18, 20
Easy Fun, 24
feeling of winning, 24
hard Fun, 24
People of Fun, 24
Serious Fun, 24
leadership vs. Design by Committee, 74
Learning Curve
describing, 150
feedback loops, 150
vs. Interest Curve, 150
relationship to working memory, 206
setting goals, 150
steep vs. shallow, 150
teaching tasks, 150
learning tools, games as, 22
load testing, 108
loading screen, designing for advance organizer, 168
Loss Aversion
Farmville, 152
fixing imbalance, 152
nerfing, 152
Sword of Power, 152
M
Macroeconomics, 140
Magic Circle, 26
Magic Wand, 96
main character, story arc of, 120
Making Moves, 28
Mario Kart, negative feedback loops in, 14
Marvel vs. Capcom, tuning, 134
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
artificial intelligence, 154
complexity of conflicts and choices, 154
concerns about, 154
esteem, 154
fear, 154
love and belonging, 154
physiological, 154
self-actualization, 154
simulations, 154
MDA: Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics, 30
memory
Learning Curve, 206
vs. skill, 32
menus, starting games with, 168
Metagames. See also games
Alternate Reality, 98
Easter Eggs, 98
The Gathering, 98
World of Warcraft, 98
Metroid, iteration in, 94
microeconomics, 140
Minimax and Maximin, 34
Min/Maxing
powergaming, 156
rules lawyer, 156
twinking, 156
MMO, threats in, 158
MMO/MMORPGs, 85
money and time, 122
Monopoly, feedback loops, 14
Morgenstern, Oskar
Rational Self-Interest, 28
Zero-Sum Games, 208
Zero-Sum strategies, 36
Motokyo, Zeami, 194
movement
communicating sense of, 194
using to capture attention, 102
moves, making, 28
MUD (multi-user dungeon), 8
M.U.L.E., 140
murder trope, 88
Music and Dopamine, 192
Musical Chairs, 16
My Horse game, 170
N
Nash Equilibrium
Minimax and Maximin, 34
Players, 36
Prisoner’s Dilemma, 42
negative feedback loops, 14
negativity bias, 174
NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), 18
niche games, 85
“nocebo,” relationship to Hype, 186
Norman, Donald, 170
O
Objects, 100
Occult Game Design, Howard’s Law of, 18
O.C.E.A.N., 58
on rails vs. sandbox experiences, 160
oppositional vs. cooperative, 10
optimizing vs. satisficing, 198–199
Ordinal Payoffs, 40
“Outbreak,” 175
Outcomes: Pareto Optimality, 38
P
Pacing
beginning, 194
break, 194
feeling of movement, 194
Jo-Ha-Kyu, 194
movement impetus, 194
rapid, 194
suspense, 194
tempo, 194
tension, 194
threat, 194
Paper Prototyping. See also Prototyping
advantages, 104
drawbacks, 104
flow, 104
play testing, 104
Pareto Optimality
Dominant Strategy, 38
Pareto’s Principle
Legend of Zelda, 64
WOW (World of Warcraft), 64
Payoffs
balancing, 40
Cardinal, 40
maximizing, 40
motivations, 40
Normal Form tables, 40
Ordinal, 40
perception vs. attention, 132
perspective, including in pillars, 86
Phi, representing golden ratio with, 182
pillars. See Game Pillars
play space, exploration of, 164
black box, 108
Kleenex test, 108
load testing, 108
Quality Assurance, 108
white box, 108
being kind to, 172
capturing attention of, 102
errors made by players, 142
focusing on, 78
griefing, 184
pleasure, creating feelings of, 192
Poker, Deuces wild in, 6
Pong as symmetric game, 4
Pool
as game of skill, 32
negative feedback loops in, 14
positive feedback loops, 14
power weapons, relationship to risk assessment, 114
powergaming, 156
presentational details, 136
Press, William, 42
Prisoner’s Dilemma
balancing payoffs in, 40
chart, 43
described, 42
Forgiving, 42
Nice condition, 42
Non-Envious condition, 42
rational decision, 42
Retaliating, 42
Tragedy of the Commons, 42
Problem-Solving Approaches, 196
acting it out, 213
adding unexpected element, 212
almost solving and repeating, 212
approaching from other side, 213
brainstorming, 211
check existing solutions, 213
check for neutrality, 214
combining unexpected elements, 212
defining problem space, 211
drawing pictures, 210
explaining to non-experts, 213
finding patterns, 210
finding weakest link, 214
following money, 211
getting help, 213
making flowchart, 211
making lists, 210
making tables, 210
measuring in numbers, 214
proving impossibility of solving, 212
rewording problems, 211
simplifying elements, 213
solving in parts and combining, 212
solving opposite problem, 213
solving similar problems, 211
stepping back, 212
strength from weakness, 214
thinking out loud, 213
trying solutions, 214
turn numbers into words, 214
ultimatums/dichotomies/negatives, 214
working backward, 210
writing in numbers, 214
Problem-Solving Obstacles
assumptions, 110
functional fixedness, 110
irrelevant information, 110
mental sets, 110
problem statement
common vision, 72
communicating, 72
defining, 72
focusing, 72
narrowing scope, 72
testing, 72
Prototyping. See also Brainstorming Methods; Paper Prototyping
data collection, 112
process, 112
and testing, 112
psychological filters, 174
Punishment
Lives/Game Over/continue, 158
permadeath, 158
wither, 158
puzzles
described, 85
development, 44
Q
Quality Assurance testing, 108
R
Rabin’s model of fairness, 12
random conditioning, 164
rational self-interest, 28, 40
recency bias, 174
Red Light, Green Light, 16
repetition in gameplay, 70. See also Iteration
Resident Evil, 30
rewards
and addiction pathways, 130
expectation of players, 50
fixed, 164
providing, 14
variable, 164
Risk Assessment
bombs, 114
designing scenarios, 114
power weapons, 114
practicing, 114
principle of, 114
triangularity, 114
Rock, Paper, Scissors
circular chain of supremacy, 46
Normal Form table, 40
symbolic gestures, 46
tabletop card games, 46
winning, 46
as Zero-Sum Game, 208
RPGs (roleplaying games)
description, 85
memory vs. skill, 32
Pareto Optimality, 38
positive feedback loops in, 14
RTS (real-time strategy), 85
Rubik’s Cube, 16
rules, 30, 92. See also House Rules
rules lawyer, relating to Min/Maxing, 156
Rules of Play, 26
S
Salen, Katie, 26
Sandbox vs. On Rails, experiences, 160
Satisficing vs. Optimizing, 198–199
Scavenger Hunts, 16
Schell, Jesse
The Art of Game Design, 100
risk assessment, 114
Sequential games, 28
sex, using to capture attention, 102
simplicity in design, 146
Simultaneous games, 28
skill free, relationship to Gestalt, 90
skill vs. memory, 32
Skinner Box
goal-gradient effect, 50
variable ratio, 50
Social Ties
active, 52
passive, 52
Dunbar’s Number, 52
effectiveness, 52
social mechanics, 52
Solitaire, 16
solving problems. See Problem-Solving Methods
Space Invaders, 194
Spatial Awareness
Agoraphobic Spaces, 202
Cathedral Effect, 202
Claustrophobic Spaces, 202
deep and complex worlds, 202
Defensible Spaces, 202
impact on human psyche, 202
Lighting Design, 202
Prospect-Refuge, 202
speed and accuracy, tradeoff between, 178
sports games, 85
states, 100
storytelling, environmental, 76
strategy games
Civilization, 38
described, 85
The Street Fighter series, iteration in, 94
Sudoku, 44
Super Mario Bros., Core Gameplay Loop, 70
as economic component, 116
providing in games, 116
surprise
of synergy, 118
using to capture attention, 102
symmetric gameplay, 4
Synergy
combining mechanics, 118
crafting system, 118
excitement of, 118
in games, 118
surprise of, 118
T
Tasks, teaching, 150
teaching tasks, 150
Ten Minutes of Sustained Attention, 162
tension, creating, 78
testing. See Play Testing
Tetris
fairness in, 12
time dilation, 204
Theme
finding, 120
main character’s story arc, 120
relationship to narrative, 120
specifying, 120
targeting, 120
threats in MMO, 158
Three Laws of Usability, 190
Tic-Tac-Toe
Koster’s Theory of Fun, 22
Nash Equilibrium, 36
Time and Money, 122
Time Dilation
play testing games, 204
Tetris, 204
Tomb Raider, 102
Tragedy of the Commons. See also Volunteer’s Dilemma
communism, 54
government control, 54
Nash Equilibrium, 36
shared resource, 55
solutions, 54
theory, 54
Transparency. See also Information
involuntary, 56
voluntary, 56
triangularity, visualizing, 114
tropes. See Game Tropes
Tucker, Albert, 42
tuning and balance, 134
twinking, relating to Min/Maxing, 156
U
UCD (User-Centered Design)
ISO keys to, 124
personas, 124
scenarios, 124
use cases, 124
Urminsky, Oleg, 50
V
Van Vugt, Mark, 54
VandenBerghe’s Five Domains of Play
Adventurousness, 58
Agreeableness, 58
Artistic Interest, 58
Conscientiousness, 58
degree of detail, 58
Emotionality, 58
Extraversion, 58
Imagination, 58
Intellect, 58
Liberalism, 58
Neuroticism, 58
Openness to Experience, 58
Variable Rewards
exploration of play space, 164
random conditioning, 164
victory, thrill of, 24
video games, cooperative play in, 10
vocabulary of games, 100
Volunteer’s Dilemma. See also Tragedy of the Commons
vs. free rider problem, 60
payoff matrix, 60
von Ehrenfels, Christian, 90
von Neumann, John
Minimax and Maximin, 34
Rational Self-Interest, 28
Zero-Sum Games, 208
Zero-Sum strategies, 36
W
Wands and guns, impact of, 96
Wayfinding
birth canals, 126
breadcrumbs, 126
Colossal Cave Adventure, 126
as environmental puzzle, 126
landmarks, 126
lighting, 126
process, 126
weenies, 126
well-structured paths, 126
Wertheimer, Max, 90
white box testing, 108
wild card
designating, 6
Joker as, 6
winning, feeling of, 24
word bubbles, using in brainstorming, 66
Words with Friends, 4
work in progress, balancing, 138
world building, 76
world design, including in pillars, 86
WOW (World of Warcraft), 64, 98
z
Zac and Abe, relationship to time and money, 122
Zero-Determinant Strategy, 42
Zero-Sum Game
with Cardinal Payoffs, 40
Poker, 208
Rock, Paper, Scissors, 208
solving, 208
Zero-Sum strategies, 28
Zheng, Yuhuang, 50
Zimmerman, Eric, 26
Zubek, Robert, 30