The Art of Game Design, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER TWO

The Designer Creates an Experience

FIGURE2.1

I already know the ending /

it’s the part that makes your face implode /

I don’t know what makes your face implode /

but that’s the way the movie ends.

—They Might Be Giants, Experimental Film

Of the innumerable effects, or impressions, of which the heart, the intellect, or the soul is susceptible, what one shall I, on the present occasion, select?

—Edgar Allen Poe, The Philosophy of Composition

In Chapter 1, we established that everything begins with the game designer and that the game designer needs certain skills. Now it is time to begin talking about what a game designer uses ...