Basics of Game Design

xi

PREFACE

e video game industry has grown explosively over the past decade

and is now a major provider of home entertainment. Since the North

American release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in

1985, game industry revenues have also grown substantially and, ac-

cording to the marketing research company NDP Group, grossed

almost $20 billion in the United States in 2009. World sales are about

equivalent to US sales, so the game industry brought in approxi-

mately $40 billion worldwide in 2009. Even during the late economic

downturn, the game industry remains healthy nancially.

ere are many reasons why games have ...