Game Design: Principles, Practice, and Techniques - The Ultimate Guide for the Aspiring Game Designer [Paperback]

Jim Thompson (Author), Barnaby Berbank-Green (Author), Nic Cusworth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0471968943 | ISBN-13: 978-0471968948 | Edition: 1

Practical, complete coverage of game design basics from design process to production

This full-color, structured coursebook offers complete coverage of game design basics, focusing on design rather than computer programming. Packed with exercises, assignments, and step-by-step instructions, it starts with an overview of design theory, then progresses to design processes, and concludes with coverage of design production.

Jim Thompson, Barnaby Berbank-Green, and Nic Cusworth (London, UK) are computer game designers and lecturers in animation and computer game design.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Take your first step into the exhilarating world of game design with this fully structured course book. Richly illustrated with screengrabs and artwork, step-by-step tutorials take you through all aspects of designing and developing dynamic computer games.

• Find out the conventions of gameplay; the principles of linear and sandbox games; how to create games for a variety of platforms; how to develop and animate characters, levels, and environments that will excite and engage players.
• Including practical exercises and assignments, information on the major software programs and game engines that will render your ideas a (virtual) reality, and advice on going pro, this unique book is your portal to the gaming industry.

About the Author

Jim Thompson is Course Leader for undergraduate and postgraduate Games Design at the University of Central Lancashire, the main provider of design education in the northwest of England. He is also a Director of his own games company.

Barnaby Berbank-Green has been a games designer for nearly 10 years and has worked on games such as "Sims 2 Mobile," "Need for Speed: Most Wanted," "System Rush," and many others.

Nic Cusworth has worked on a number of published projects as a lead designer, including the award-winning "Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus - Lost Episode" for cell phone, and the multimillion-selling "Croc" games for PlayStation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471968943
• ISBN-13: 978-0471968948
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #617,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As well thought out as a AAA game, September 18, 2007

By 

M. Hall (Brampton, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Game Design: Principles, Practice, and Techniques - The Ultimate Guide for the Aspiring Game Designer (Paperback)

Recently I started to entertain the idea for a game prototype I had in mind, since I was a bit green on the process I wanted to find a book that will cover the basics and make it all crystal clear for me. Unfortunately most books on the topic were severely out of date, unnecessarily complex or even too expensive to warrant a purchase. That's when I found Game Design: Principles, Practice, and Techniques and being recently published, it was an added bonus. This book not only takes the reader through the entire process of the production cycle, but it keeps everything light and entertaining with just the right balance of type and a wealth of colored illustrated pages, just the way I like it. And with illustrations on practically every page, it wasn't hard for a visual guy like me to read the book from cover to cover. (Why are there no programming books like this is beyond me)

Jim Thompson, Barnaby Berbank-Green, and Nic Cusworth keeps the book extremely consistent between the three of them, so well in fact that you won't realize when another author took over.

The book is broken up into 3 chapters; the first begins with a brief history in video games and takes you through the genres, styles and popular game mechanics used today, which are broken up with practical case studies.

The second chapter then moves unto elaborating on what you previously learnt and applying it to the real world. Everything from creating a game design document to gathering inspiration for concept art, level design and actually taking you through the process of creating a low poly solider from concept to completion. However keep in mind most of the topics are just the fundamentals to get you going, and rarely spans more than two pages since there's so much to cover, but it's all well written and flows like a gentle summer breeze. The third chapter then takes you through the pitching process, prototyping and a discussion on industry standard tools.

All in all it was a great book to read and money well spent, I've learnt quite a bit, and the only topics I wished they covered more was some programming and asset management, but as it stands the book still makes a great reference and resource.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely! Especially if you're a bit fuzzy on the process of taking a game from idea to prototype and beyond. Here's hoping for a 2nd edition expanding into more advanced discussions.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Much Information, October 9, 2009

By 

Jach - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Game Design: Principles, Practice, and Techniques - The Ultimate Guide for the Aspiring Game Designer (Paperback)

I had to get this book for a college course, and read it over a weekend. There's not really any insightful information in the book; if you're a gamer in any sense of the word you should be familiar with 80% of the material, and the other 20% can be learned through a small amount of Googling. The book goes over many different aspects of the game design industry, but because of that it never focuses on one specifically and suffers by being too shallow in everything. If you want to get into the industry, the best advice is to pick up a specialized book (if you're an artist, get something on Blender or Photoshop; programmer, pick a language (C/C++, Lua, Python) and find a book for that) and just dive in.

This is a good book to give Grandma if you want her to know kind of what you do for a living or what you're studying, but otherwise it's not very useful for someone interested in getting into game design.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars cool history, January 30, 2011

By 

Michael Fedor (Upland, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Game Design: Principles, Practice, and Techniques - The Ultimate Guide for the Aspiring Game Designer (Paperback)

If you like to read about the history of gaming or trying to understand your kids lingo then this is a great book. but if you have to pick up this book for a class and you been playing games since the 80's then you need to save your money.