Synopses & Reviews
Want to design your own video games? Let expert Scott Rogers show you how!If you want to design and build cutting-edge video games but aren’t sure where to start, then the SECOND EDITION of the acclaimed Level Up! is for you! Written by leading video game expert Scott Rogers, who has designed the hits Pac Man World, Maximo and SpongeBob Squarepants, provides clear and well-thought out examples that forgo theoretical gobbledygook with charmingly illustrated concepts and solutions based years of professional experience.
Level Up! Second Edition has been NEWLY EXPANDED to teach you how to develop marketable ideas, learn what perils and pitfalls await during a game’s pre-production, production and post-production stages. Level Up! Second Edition provides even more creative ideas to serve as fuel for your own projects including:
· Develop your game design from the spark of inspiration all the way to production
· Learn how to design the most exciting levels, the most precise controls, and the fiercest foes that will challenge your players
· Create games for mobile and console systems – including detailed rules for touch and motion controls
· Monetize your game from the design up
· Write effective and professional design documents with the help of brand new examples
Level Up! Second Edition is NEWLY EXPANDED with all-new content, an introduction by David “God of War” Jaffe and even a brand-new chili recipe –making it an even more indispensable guide for video game designers both “in the field” and the classroom.
Grab your copy of Level Up! Second Edition and let’s make a game!
Synopsis
Update to include:Expansion on themes
Touch and touch screen controls
AR enabled games & incorporating real-world camera in to your game
Motion controls
Designing an app icon
Real world level design
Voice over for games and much more…
Level Up! covers the entire video game creation process. Readers will learn how to develop marketable ideas, learn what perils and pitfalls await them during a game’s pre-production, production and post-production stages. Rogers’ also provides creative ideas to serve as fuel for the reader’s own projects from game theme and environments to gameplay mechanics.
Inside, video game industry veteran Scott Rogers provides clear and well-thought out examples that forgo theoretical gobbledygook with charmingly illustrated concepts and solutions based on Rogers’ years of professional experience. Level Up! is the “Understanding Comics” of video game design – an indispensable guide for video game designers both “in the field” and the classroom.
Topics covered include:
- Understanding what gamers want
- Compelling character design
- Working with player actions
- Techniques for non-human characters
- Camera techniques – the camera as a character
- Designing UI and HUD
- Beautiful level design
- What games designers can learn from theme parks
- Combat, puzzles and game mechanics
- Fun and UNFUN
- How to make the world’s greatest Boss battle (and why not to do it)
and tons more – including the business of design, creating design documents, the pitch and more.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
Press Start! 1
If You Are Anything Like Me 1
No, You Can’t Have My Job 3
Who Is This Book For? 4
Why a Second Edition? 6
LEVEL 1 Welcome, N00bs! 7
A Brief History of Video Games 10
The Brave New World of Gaming: Mobiles, Online Distribution, and Touchscreens 14
Game Genres 16
Who Makes This Stuff ? 17
Programmer 18
Artist 19
Designer 20
Producer 20
Tester 21
Composer 22
Sound Designer 23
Writer 23
Have You Thought about Publishing? 25
Product Manager 25
Creative Manager 25
Art Director 26
Technical Director 26
Marketing Team 26
And the Rest 26
LEVEL 2 Ideas 29
Ideas: Where to Get Them and Where to Stick Them 30
Getting Ahead of the Game 32
What Do Gamers Want? 35
Brainstorming 36
Breaking Writer’s Block 38
Why I Hate “Fun” 40
LEVEL 3 Writing the Story 43
Once Upon a Time 43
The Triangle of Weirdness 50
A Likely Story 52
Time to Wrap It Up 55
A Game by Any Other Name 56
Creating Characters Your Players Care About 58
A Few Pointers on Writing for Kids of All Ages 62
Writing for Licenses 62
LEVEL 4 You Can Design a Game, but Can You Do the Paperwork? 65
Writing the GDD, Step 1: The One-Sheet 68
ESRB Ratings 69
Unique Selling Points 70
Competitive Products 70
Writing the GDD, Step 2: The Ten-Pager 71
The Rule of Threes 72
The Ten-Pager Outline 73
Page 1: Title Page 73
Page 2: Game Outline 73
Page 3: Character 74
Page 4: Gameplay 75
Page 5: Game World 76
Page 6: Game Experience 76
Page 7: Gameplay Mechanics 77
Page 8: Enemies 79
Page 9: Multiplayer and Bonus Materials 80
Page 10: Monetization 80
Writing the GDD, Step 3: Gameplay Progression 81
Writing the GDD, Step 4: The Beat Chart 82
Writing the GDD, Step 5: The Game Design Document (and the Awful Truth about Writing It) 85
Writing the GDD, Step 6: Above All, Don’t Be a Jerk 89
LEVEL 5 The Three Cs, Part 1: Character 93
Who Do You Want To Be Today? 94
Personality: Do We Really Need Another Kratos? 96
Let’s Get Personal 98
Using All the Parts 102
Games Without Characters 103
We Are Not Alone 104
When More Is More 107
Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood? 109
Finally, We Talk About Gameplay 111
Metrics for Non-Characters 114
Be Kind to Our Four-Legged Friends 114
Why Walk When You Can Run? 114
The Art of Doing Nothing 119
Might as Well Jump 120
Hoists and Teeters 124
What Goes Up Must Fall Down 125
Me and My Shadow 126
The Water’s Fine or Is It? 127
LEVEL 6 The Three Cs, Part 2: Camera 131
Get It Right: Camera Views 132
First Person Camera 136
Third Person Camera 138
Giving Up Control 142
So You’ve Decided to Let the Player Control the Camera 142
So You’ve Decided Not to Let the Player Have Control over the Camera 144
So You’ve Decided to Let Players Sometimes Have Control over the Camera 145
Two and a Half D 145
Isometric Camera 146
Top-Down Camera 148
AR Cameras 149
Special Case Cameras 149
Tunnel Vision 150
Camera Shot Guide 150
Camera Angle Guide 153
Camera Movement Guide 154
Other Camera Notes 157
Always Point the Camera to the Objective 158
Never Let the Character Get out of the Camera’s Sight 159
Multiple-Player Cameras 159
LEVEL 7 The Three Cs, Part 3: Controls 163
Control Is in Your Hand 164
You’ve Got the Touch 167
Dance, Monkey, Dance 169
Character or Camera Relative? 175
Shake, Rattle, and Roll 177
LEVEL 8 Sign