Players Making Decisions, 2nd Edition

Players Making Decisions, 2nd Edition

by Zach Hiwiller
Released November 2019
Publisher(s): New Riders
ISBN: 9780136500018

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Book description

Game designers today are expected to have an arsenal of multi-disciplinary skills at their disposal in the fields of art and design, computer programming, psychology, economics, composition, education, mythology–and the list goes on. How do you distill a vast universe down to a few salient points?

 

Players Making Decisions brings together the wide range of topics that are most often taught in modern game design courses and focuses on the core concepts that will be useful for students for years to come. A common theme to many of these concepts is the art and craft of creating games in which players are engaged by making meaningful decisions. It is the decision to move right or left, to pass versus shoot, or to develop one's own strategy that makes the game enjoyable to the player. As a game designer, you are never entirely certain of who your audience will be, but you can enter their world and offer a state of focus and concentration on a task that is intrinsically rewarding.

 

This detailed and easy-to-follow guide to game design is for both digital and analog game designers alike and some of its features include:

 

  • A clear introduction to the discipline of game design, how game development teams work, and the game development process

  • Full details on prototyping and playtesting, from paper prototypes to intellectual property protection issues

  • A detailed discussion of cognitive biases and human decision making as it pertains to games

  • Thorough coverage of key game elements, with practical discussions of game mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics

  • Practical coverage of using simulation tools to decode the magic of game balance

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Contents at a Glance
  5. Table of Contents
  6. Dedication
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. About the Author
  9. Preface
    1. Who Is This Book For?
    2. How Is This Book Organized?
  10. Part 1: Getting Started
    1. 1. What Is a Game Designer?
      1. Responsibilities of a Game Designer
      2. Attributes of a Game Designer
      3. Make Things
      4. Cultivate Your Gardens
      5. On Ontology and Dogma
      6. Formalism
      7. Summary
    2. 2. Problem Statements
      1. Defining the Problem
      2. Low-Hanging Fruit
      3. Functional Fixedness
      4. Brainstorming
      5. Summary
    3. 3. Development Structures
      1. Production Methodologies
      2. Scope
      3. Summary
    4. 4. Starting Practices
      1. Analog Games
      2. Theme and Mechanics
      3. Next Steps
      4. Designing for Others
      5. Opening Questions
      6. Summary
  11. Part 2: Prototypes and Playtesting
    1. 5. Paper Prototyping Development Techniques
      1. Software and Materials
      2. Art
      3. Cards
      4. InDesign Data Merge
      5. Summary
    2. 6. Playtesting
      1. Playtesting Goals
      2. Playtesting Benefits
      3. Listening to Feedback
      4. Finding Playtesters
      5. Iterating
      6. Summary
    3. 7. Scientific Playtesting
      1. Designers Making Decisions
      2. Sampling
      3. The Testing Environment
      4. Keep Playtesters Talking
      5. Scientific Testing
      6. Self-Playtesting
      7. Summary
    4. 8. Prototypes and Intellectual Property
      1. Do I Need an NDA?
      2. Ideas and Value
      3. Summary
  12. Part 3: Meaningful Decisions
    1. 9. Flow and the Fundamental Game Design Directive
      1. Game Flow
      2. Interest Curves
      3. Learning Curves
      4. Individual Differences
      5. Summary
    2. 10. Decision-Making
      1. Player Agency
      2. Anatomy of a Choice
      3. Less-Interesting Decision-Making
      4. More-Interesting Decision-Making
      5. Summary
    3. 11. Randomness
      1. Completely Random Games
      2. Completely Skill-Based Games
      3. Fairness and Mitigating Randomness
      4. Summary
    4. 12. Goals
      1. How Players Determine Game Goals
      2. Criteria for Goals
      3. Solving Goal Problems
      4. Summary
  13. Part 4: Describing Game Elements
    1. 13. Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics (MDA)
      1. What Are Games About?
      2. MDA
      3. More Dynamics
      4. Summary
    2. 14. Milieu
      1. What Is Milieu?
      2. Polish
      3. Player Types
      4. Motivation
      5. Milieu as Design Focus
      6. Summary
    3. 15. Rules and Verbs
      1. Rules
      2. Qualities of Rules
      3. Types of Rules
      4. Verbs
      5. Summary
    4. 16. Balance
      1. Symmetry
      2. Self-Balancing Mechanisms
      3. Progression and Numeric Relationships
      4. Balance Heuristics
      5. Summary
    5. 17. Feedback Loops
      1. Positive Feedback Loops
      2. Negative Feedback Loops
      3. Feedback Loops in Action
      4. Fixing Problems
      5. Summary
    6. 18. Puzzle Design
      1. What Is a Puzzle?
      2. Possibility Space
      3. Breadcrumbs
      4. Features of Ineffective Puzzles
      5. Types of Puzzles
      6. Other Puzzle Types
      7. Summary
  14. Part 5: Game Theory and Rational Decision-Making
    1. 19. Equilibria in Normal-Form Games
      1. The Prisoner’s Dilemma
      2. Solving Games Using Strict Dominance
      3. Using (and Abusing) Dominance
      4. Zero-Sum Games
      5. Stag Hunt and Coordination
      6. Determining Nash Equilibria in a Larger Matrix
      7. Mixed Strategies
      8. Stag Hunt Redux
      9. Summary
    2. 20. Sequential and Iterated Games
      1. Game Trees
      2. Promises and Commitment Problems
      3. Iterated Games
      4. Experimenting with Strategies
      5. Successful Strategies
      6. Summary
    3. 21. Problems with Game Theory
      1. Rational Actors
      2. The Dollar Auction
      3. The “Guess Two-Thirds” Game
      4. Second-Price Auctions
      5. Summary
    4. 22. Marginal Decision Analysis
      1. Marginal Nuggets
      2. Balance on Margins
      3. Summary
  15. Part 6: Human Behavior in Games
    1. 23. Behaviorism and Schedules of Reinforcement
      1. Operant Conditioning
      2. Schedules of Reinforcement
      3. Anticipation and Uncertainty
      4. Ethical and Practical Concerns
      5. Summary
    2. 24. Learning and Constructivism
      1. Historic Approaches
      2. Novices and Experts
      3. Cognitive Load
      4. Expertise Reversal Effect
      5. Split-Attention Effect
      6. Tutorials and Learning Design
      7. Summary
    3. 25. Motivation
      1. Two Types of Motivation
      2. What’s the Problem with Rewards?
      3. Self-Determination Theory and Challenges
      4. Competition and Motivation
      5. Personality
      6. Other Motivation Effects
      7. Summary
    4. 26. Human Decision-Making
      1. Mental Shortcuts
      2. Attribution Errors
      3. Misunderstanding Randomness
      4. Anchoring and Priming
      5. Understanding Value
      6. Loss
      7. Availability and Estimation
      8. Overconfidence
      9. Summary
    5. 27. Attention and Memory
      1. Attention
      2. Memory
      3. Helping with Memory Limitations
      4. Perception
      5. Summary
  16. Part 7: Game Design Tools
    1. 28. Documentation and Written Communication
      1. The Game Design Document
      2. The GDD Creation Process
      3. References
      4. Documentation for Tabletop Games
      5. States and Flowcharts
      6. Summary
    2. 29. Probability
      1. Probability Is Counting
      2. Adding Die Rolls
      3. Example: The H/T Game
      4. Being Careful
      5. Summary
    3. 30. Spreadsheets for Simulation
      1. Why Use Spreadsheets?
      2. Basics
      3. Formulas
      4. Goal Seek and Solver in Excel
      5. One-Way Data Tables
      6. Summary
    4. 31. Monte Carlo Simulation
      1. Answering Design Questions
      2. Hot Hand
      3. Monty Hall
      4. Once Around the Board
      5. Martingale Betting
      6. Summary
    5. 32. Presenting Ideas
      1. The Thesis
      2. Text on Slides
      3. Data-Ink
      4. Do Not Waste Time
      5. Documentation
      6. Acquiring Images
      7. Example: State of Mobile Games 2014
      8. Risk
      9. Risk Analysis
      10. Pitch Questions
      11. Summary
  17. Part 8: The Game Design Business
    1. 33. Metrics
      1. Profit and Loss
      2. Metrics
      3. Cash Flow
      4. Summary
    2. 34. Personal Care and Development
      1. Life in AAA
      2. Independence
      3. Tabletop
      4. Personal Care
      5. Market Luck
      6. Summary
      7. Conclusion
  18. Appendix A. Ludography
    1. Digital Games
    2. Board, Card, Tabletop, and Physical Games

Product information

  • Title: Players Making Decisions, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s): Zach Hiwiller
  • Release date: November 2019
  • Publisher(s): New Riders
  • ISBN: 9780136500018