Gameplay and design (Paperback)

What exactly is the elusive ingredient that makes a game worth playing? To create a great game you need passion, imagination, talent, a good understanding of game-play and design, experience, a dedicated team, good project management and lots of hard work. Every game developed is individual, but there are certain techniques and fundamentals that can be learnt to understand the creative process of game design, and those fundamentals will be discussed throughout this book.   Covering the process of game design, the book builds up a set of techniques used by designers within the industry. It will show and tell, explaining how and why things are done the way they are, and will feature first-hand experiences, examples and case studies from the creators of successful games such as ¿Lara Croft/Tomb Raider¿ and Peter Molyneux¿s ¿Black and White¿. Throughout the book an imaginary game "Jumping Jack" will be discussed, taking the reader through the process of developing a design from the initial idea through to the full-blown specification. Demonstration levels and the design documents will be included on the accompanying CD, and these documents can be used as templates for future designs.   The book is divided into two parts. The first, Design DNA, discusses the components that make up a game design. The second part, Building the Design, describes the process of creating and formatting design documents. Using case studies and examples, the elements that create fun and absorbing game-play will be revealed. The book covers the range of major consoles such as PS2, Nintendo Gamecube, Xbox, Gameboy Advance and the PC, providing an insight into the different considerations a designer must be aware of for different platforms and producing cross-platform games.

到底是什麼神秘的元素使得一個遊戲值得玩呢？要創造一個偉大的遊戲，你需要激情、想像力、才華、對遊戲玩法和設計的良好理解、經驗、一個專注的團隊、良好的專案管理和大量的辛勤工作。每個開發的遊戲都是獨特的，但有一些技巧和基本原則可以學習，以了解遊戲設計的創作過程，這些基本原則將在本書中討論。

本書涵蓋了遊戲設計的過程，逐步介紹了遊戲設計師在業界內使用的一套技術。它將展示和解釋為什麼以及如何進行這些事情，並將包括成功遊戲創作者如《古墓奇兵》和彼得·莫林紐的《黑與白》的第一手經驗、例子和案例研究。在整本書中，將討論一個虛構的遊戲《跳躍傑克》，帶領讀者從最初的想法到完整的規格開發設計的過程。附帶的光碟中將包含示範關卡和設計文件，這些文件可以用作未來設計的模板。

本書分為兩部分。第一部分《設計DNA》討論了構成遊戲設計的組件。第二部分《建立設計》描述了創建和格式化設計文件的過程。通過案例研究和例子，將揭示創造有趣和吸引人的遊戲玩法的要素。本書涵蓋了主要遊戲主機，如PS2、任天堂Gamecube、Xbox、Gameboy Advance和PC，提供了設計師在不同平台上必須考慮的不同因素以及製作跨平台遊戲的見解。