A Playful Production Process: For Game Designers
- Length: 408 pages
- Edition: 1
- Language: English
- Publisher: The MIT Press
- Publication Date: 2021-10-12
- ISBN-10: 0262045516
- ISBN-13: 9780262045513
- Sales Rank: #26433 (See Top 100 Books)
How to achieve a happier and healthier game design process by connecting the creative aspects of game design with techniques for effective project management.
This book teaches game designers, aspiring game developers, and game design students how to take a digital game project from start to finish—from conceptualizing and designing to building, playtesting, and iterating—while avoiding the uncontrolled overwork known among developers as “crunch.” Written by a legendary game designer, A Playful Production Process outlines a process that connects the creative aspects of game design with proven techniques for effective project management. The book outlines four project phases—ideation, preproduction, full production, and post-production—that give designers and developers the milestones they need to advance from the first glimmerings of an idea to a finished game.
Cover Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Foreword by Amy Hennig Introduction Phase One: Ideation—Making Ideas 1. How to Begin 2. Blue Sky Thinking Brainstorming Automatism Other Blue Sky Thinking Techniques Designers, Spreadsheets, and the Power of the List 3. Research Research on the Internet Image Research Don’t Neglect the Library Field Trips Interviews Shadowing Research Notes 4. Game Prototyping: An Overview Game Mechanics, Verbs, and Player Activities Three Kinds of Prototyping Every Game Developer Is a Game Designer 5. Making a Digital Game Prototype Choosing and Using a Game Engine Choosing an Operating System and a Hardware Platform Build Your Prototype as a Toy, Not a Game The Importance of Sound for Digital Game Prototypes Playtesting and Iterating on a Digital Prototype How Many Digital Prototypes Should We Make? When to Follow Where a Prototype Leads Ideation Deliverable: Prototype Builds Masterpiece Syndrome The Emotional Side of Prototype Playtests 6. Communication as a Game Design Skill Communication, Collaboration, Leadership, and Conflict The Most Basic Communication Skills Sandwiching Respect, Trust, and Consent 7. Project Goals Experience Goals Writing Down Your Experience Goals Design Goals Taken Together, Experience Goals and Design Goals Give Us Our Project Goals Repertoire and Growth Considering the Possible Audience for Our Game Becoming a Developer for a Specialized Game Platform Advice about Forming Your Project Goals 8. The End of Ideation How Long Should the Ideation Phase Last? Some Final Advice about Prototyping A Summary of the Ideation Deliverables Phase Two: Preproduction—Designing by Doing 9. Gaining Control of the Process The Assembly Line and Waterfall Making Something New Planning during Preproduction Mark Cerny and Method The Value of Preproduction 10. What Is a Vertical Slice? The Core Loop The Three Cs Sample Levels and the Blockmesh Design Process The Size and Quality of Vertical Slice Sample Levels The Beautiful Corner The Challenge and Reward of the Vertical Slice 11. Building a Vertical Slice Work from a Prototype Create an Early Sequence from the Game—but Don’t Make the Very Beginning Yet Iterate on the Core Elements of Your Game Commit to a Game Engine and Hardware Platform Practice Good Housekeeping Start to Add Debug Functions Fail Early, Fail Fast, Fail Often Work in the Same Physical Space or Together Online Save and Categorize Your Design Materials Be Guided by Your Project Goals When to Modify Your Project Goals What We Are Doing by Building the Vertical Slice Preproduction Cannot Be Scheduled Conventionally Timeboxing 12. Playtesting The Designer’s Model, the System Image, and the User’s Model Affordances and Signifiers Playtesting for Legibility and Experience Best Practices for Playtesting Running Regular Playtests Evaluating Playtest Feedback “I Like, I Wish, What If …?” Playtesting for Designers and Artists 13. Concentric Development Why the Universe Is Organized into Hierarchies—a Fable What Is Concentric Development? Implement Primary Mechanics First until They Are Complete Implementing Secondary Mechanics and Tertiary Mechanics Concentric Development and Design Parameters Test Levels Polish as You Go Don’t Use Defaults Polish Can Be Punk Concentric Development, Modularity, and Systems Iteration, Evaluation, and Stability Concentric Development Helps Us Manage Our Time The Switch to Concentric Development Concentric Development and the Vertical Slice Concentric Development and Agile Maximizing the Amount of Work Not Done The Pace of Concentric Development 14. Preproduction Deliverable—The Vertical Slice Delivering a Build of the Vertical Slice Supporting the Vertical Slice with Other Materials Learning about Scope from the Creation of the Vertical Slice Playtesting the Vertical Slice Focus Testing Our Game’s Title and Early Key Art 15. Against Crunch 16. Story Structure for Game Designers Aristotle’s Poetics Freytag’s Pyramid Game Structures Mirror Story Structure Stories and Gameplay Are Fractal The Components of Story How to Improve the Stories in Your Games When in Doubt … 17. Preproduction Deliverable—The Game Design Macro Making a Map for Full Production Why Use a Game Design Macro? The Game Design Macro and Our Project Goals The Two Parts of a Game Design Macro The Game Design Overview The Game Design Macro Chart The Rows and Columns of the Game Design Macro Chart A Game Design Macro Chart Template Player Goal, Design Goal, and Emotional Beat An Example of the Relationship between Player Goal, Design Goal, and Emotional Beat The Advantages of a Game Design Macro The Game Design Macro Is Set in Stone Is the Game Design Macro a Game Design Bible? 18. Writing a Game Design Macro Chart The Granularity of the Macro Chart Sequencing the Game Design Macro Chart Making the Macro Chart Complete Micro Design Nonlinear Games and the Game Design Macro Chart Example Game Design Macros 19. Scheduling Simple Scheduling How Many Person-Hours Do We Have to Make Our Game? The Simplest Schedule Simple Schedule Information for Each Task Scoping with a Simple Schedule Tracking a Project Using a Simple Schedule The Burndown Chart Deciding What Can Be Cut Rescheduling in a Burndown Chart Burndown Charts Create an Atmosphere of Trust and Respect 20. Milestone Reviews When to Run Milestone Reviews Internal and External Milestone Reviews Holding a Milestone Review The Pixar Braintrust What Makes a Good Note? What Should the Presenting Game Developers Do during a Milestone Review? Presenting to Project Stakeholders Emotional Aspects of the Milestone Review Process 21. The Challenge of Preproduction Committing to a Design Canceling a Project if Preproduction Doesn’t Go Well Onward into Full Production A Summary of the Preproduction Deliverables Phase Three: Full Production—Building and Discovering 22. The Character of Full Production Presenting the Vertical Slice and Game Design Macro Working through Your Task List Changing Gears in the Transition from Preproduction to Full Production Checking In on Your Project Goals Stand-Up Meetings The Milestones of Full Production What Order Should a Game Be Built In? Game Feel and Juiciness Focuses for Full Production When to Take a Risk during Full Production 23. Types of Testing Informal Playtesting Design-Process Testing QA Testing Automated Testing Public-Facing Testing 24. Preparing for a Formal Playtest Formal Playtesting at Naughty Dog A Formal Playtesting Practice for Everyone Preparing a Formal Playtest Script Preparing a Formal Playtest Survey Preparing for an Exit Interview Devising Exit Interview Questions Focus Testing Our Game’s Title, Key Art, and Logo Design Preparing for the Day of the Formal Playtest 25. Running a Formal Playtest Formal Playtesting in an Informal Environment Finding Playtesters Finding a Location, Arranging a Time, and Deciding a Playtest Coordinator Preparing the Location The Arrival of the Playtesters Immediately before the Playtest Starts The Play Session The Debrief Session Clearing Up after the Playtest Analyzing the Playtest Results Acting on the Feedback Received from a Formal Playtest Dealing with Difficult Feedback Going into the Next Round of Formal Playtesting 26. Game Metrics Game Metrics at Naughty Dog Implementing Metrics in Your Game Metrics Data and Consent Testing Metrics Data Systems Visualizing Metrics Data Game Metrics Implementation Checklist The Opportunities and Limits of Game Metrics 27. The Alpha Phase and Bug Tracking A Simple Bug Tracking Method 28. The Alpha Milestone Features and Content Being Feature Complete Being Game Sequence Complete A Good Onboarding Sequence by Alpha The Role of the Alpha Milestone Choosing a Game Title at Alpha Summarizing the Alpha Milestone The Milestone Review That Takes Place at Alpha 29. Stubbing Things In What Is a Stub? Stubs in Videogames An Example Stub Object Process Stubs and Functionality Stubbing in Content versus Concentric Development 30. Reaching the Audience for Our Game Make a Marketing Plan Make a Website and Press Kit for Your Game, and Contact the Press Running a Social Media Campaign for Your Game Working with Social Media Influencers Integrating Game Development with Professional Marketing 31. The Beta Milestone What’s Needed for the Beta Milestone Completeness and the Beta Milestone The Beta Phase, Concentric Development, and Game Health Credits and Attribution The Challenge of Reaching the Beta Milestone Summarizing the Beta Milestone The Milestone Review That Takes Place at Beta Phase Four: Postproduction—Fixing and Polishing 32. The Postproduction Phase How Long Should Postproduction Take? Bug Fixing Polishing Balancing The Character of Postproduction Mobility of Viewpoint Postproduction Waves 33. The Release Candidate Milestone What Is Needed for a Release Candidate? From Release Candidate to Gold Master Releasing the Game 34. The Certification Process The Certification Process Timeline Passing and Failing Cert Updating Games after Passing Cert Content Ratings 35. Unexpected Game Design Types of Unexpected Game Design 36. After We’ve Finished Releasing a Game The Post-Project Review Resting at the End of a Project Post-Project Blues The Next Project R&D Starting with Some Direction When to Leave a Team Back to the Beginning Epilogue Appendix A: The Four Phases, Milestones, and Deliverables of the Playful Production Process Appendix B: Transcription of Figure 7.1 Appendix C: Game Design Macro for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (detail) from Figure 18.2 Acknowledgments References Index
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