Creating Games : Mechanics, Content, and Technology

Williams College Professor Morgan McGuire takes his games very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he has written a book about it. ... While teaching his game design class, McGuire couldn't find a book that covered this, so he called up his colleague Professor Chad Jenkins at Brown, and they co-wrote the book to help other people design games. It combines scientific theories about rule systems with more practical advice about the process of designing a game. -- L452The Berkshire Eagle , November 2008Apply Game Design as a Science for Public Policy to Rescue Economy, Planet: They are a. Read more... Abstract: Williams College Professor Morgan McGuire takes his games very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he has written a book about it. ... While teaching his game design class, McGuire couldn't find a book that covered this, so he called up his colleague Professor Chad Jenkins at Brown, and they co-wrote the book to help other people design games. It combines scientific theories about rule systems with more practical advice about the process of designing a game. -- L452The Berkshire Eagle , November 2008Apply Game Design as a Science for Public Policy to Rescue Economy, Planet: They are a Williams College Professor Morgan McGuire takes his games very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he has written a book about it. ... While teaching his game design class, McGuire couldn't find a book that covered this, so he called up his colleague Professor Chad Jenkins at Brown, and they co-wrote the book to help other people design games. It combines scientific theories about rule systems with more practical advice about the process of designing a game. -- L452The Berkshire Eagle, November 2008Apply Game Design as a Science for Public Policy to Rescue Economy, Planet: They are all subject to analysis as games: scenarios where intelligent agents (players) seek to maximize their payoff (win) under a set of rules. Although some seem like fun and others like work, an understanding of each instance informs the others, and insights for any improve how we both work and play. -- Morgan McGuire, Infinite Connection, April 2009The writing is friendly and just casual enough that the authors' personalities come through. The book is engaging, clear, and well focused. The text combines a general survey of each topic with occasional asides offering specific and well-chosen detail. This combination gives the book a sense of confident authority. . . .This ambitious, wide-ranging book succeeds in giving its readers a broad overview of many topics that contribute to contemporary video game design. For someone who has never worked in the field, this book will give a general understanding of how a game is designed, the working of a modern studio, the roles of different departments and the people in them, the tools they use, and the technical issues that are important to them. The exercises at the end of each chapter enhance the book's value as a course textbook. With its wealth of information on many subjects important to game design, the book

Creating Games offers a comprehensive overview of the technology, content, and mechanics of game design. It emphasizes the broad view of a games team and teaches you enough about your teammates' areas so that you can work effectively with them. The authors have included many worksheets and exercises to help get your small indie team off the ground.

Special features:

• Exercises at the end of each chapter combine comprehension tests with problems that help the reader interact with the material
• Worksheet exercises provide creative activities to help project teams generate new ideas and then structure them in a modified version of the format of a game industry design document
• Pointers to the best resources for digging deeper into each specialized area of game development
• Website with worksheets, figures from the book, and teacher materials including study guides, lecture presentations, syllabi, supplemental exercises, and assessment materials

This textbook covers technology, content and mechanics of game design as well as the role of each member of a development team. McGuire and Jenkins cover the programming languages, software development, artificial intelligence, low-level machine models, machine vision, graphics, networking and control systems that go into the making of commercial video games, offering interactive exercises and worksheets at the end of each chapter to reinforce these elements Front Cover 1 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Table of Contents 8 Front Matter 16 Chapter 1 26 Chapter 2 34 Chapter 3 58 Chapter 4 84 Chapter 5 116 Chapter 6 136 Chapter 7 164 Chapter 8 186 Chapter 9 210 Chapter 10 240 Chapter 11 274 Chapter 12 296 Chapter 13 312 Chapter 14 330 Chapter 15 350 Chapter 16 380 Chapter 17 420 Chapter 18 446 Chapter 19 476 Back Matter 486 Back Cover 552 Content: Front Cover Title Page Copyright Table of Contents Front Matter Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Back Matter Back Cover