Table of Contents

• Introduction
• 1 Games and Video Games
• 2 Designing and Developing Games
• 3 The Major Genres
• 4 Understanding Your Player
• 5 Understanding Your Machine
• 6 Making Money from Your Game
• Getting an Idea
• 8 Game Worlds
• 9 Creative and Expressive Play
• 10 Character Development
• 11 Storytelling
• 12 Creating the User Experience
• 13 Gameplay
• 14 Core Mechanics
• 15 Game Balancing
• 16 General Principles of Level Design
• 17 Design Issues for Online Gaming
• Glossary
• References
• Index

About the Author

Ernest Adams: 22-year veteran of the video game industry as programmer, producer, game designer and design consultant. Founder of the International Game Developers’ Association. Successful Pearson author (New Riders Games and Prentice Hall) since 2003.