Game Design Workshop, 3rd Edition

Chapter 1

The Role of the Game Designer

The game designer envisions how a game will work during play. She creates the objectives, rules, and procedures; thinks up the dramatic premise and gives it life; and is responsible for planning everything necessary to create a compelling player experience. In the same way that an architect drafts a blueprint for a building or a screenwriter produces the script for a movie, the game designer plans the structural elements of a system that, when set in motion by the players, creates the interactive experience.

As the impact of digital games has increased, there has been an explosion of interest in game design as a career. Now, instead of looking to Hollywood and dreaming of writing the next block-buster, ...