Game Magic: A Designer's Guide to Magic Systems in Theory and Practice

362 Pages·2014·5.155 MB·English

by  Jeff Howard

Computer Game Development H
o
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A Designer's Guide to Magic Systems in Theory and Practice
Game Magic: A Designer’s Guide to Magic Systems in Theory and
Practice explains how to construct magic systems and presents a com-
pendium of arcane lore, encompassing the theory, history, and structure of
magic systems in games and human belief. The author combines rigorous
scholarly analysis with practical game design advice in the form of a
magical recipe book (grimoire).
The book gives you an in-depth understanding of the history and structure
of magic to make your games richer and deeper. It shows how to set up G
tables of correspondences and spell components as well as how to write
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programming code integrating these components as part of game mechan-
ics. It also illustrates how to divide a simulated world into domains of M
influence (such as alteration, conjuration, and necromancy) and how to use
specific rule systems to simulate powers within these realms. E
Showing you how to weave compelling magic into your games, the book
M
is interspersed with examples that illustrate how to design and program
magic systems. Working examples are available for download on a
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supporting website.
G
Features
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• Helps you create richer, more engaging game magic by triangulating
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it in relation to fictive and occult magic
• Reveals the interconnectedness of game magic across various media
• Presents pseudocode examples of how to implement game magic
• Provides an extensible, open-source editor for creating your
own magic systems on a supporting website
K16365

JEFF HOWARD, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Game Development and Design
Dakota State University
Boca Raton London New York
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Version Date: 20140213
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Dedicated to Angela Behrends
and my parents, Lamar and Melissa Howard

Contents
List of Figures, xiii
List of Tables, xvii
Thanks, xix
The Author, xxi
Table of Recipes/Code Snippets, xxiii
Proverbs of Game Magic, xxvii
Epigraphs, xxix
Chapter 1 ◾ How to Use This Book 1
1.1 WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR? 2
1.2 A NOTE ON AUDIENCE, AND A SYMBOLIC KEY OF
INTENDED AUDIENCES 2
1.3 TRIANGULATING GAME MAGIC 3
1.3.1 The Controversy of Occult Magic and Role-Playing
Games 6
Chapter 2 ◾ Magic Systems in Theory and Practice 7
2.1 PUTTING THE MAGIC BACK IN MAGIC SYSTEMS 8
2.2 A HISTORY OF GAME MAGIC SYSTEMS 9
2.3 OCCULT MAGIC AND GAME MAGIC 10
2.4 MAGICAL GRAMMARS 10
2.5 RITUAL AND SYMBOLIC CORRESPONDENCES 11
2.6 RITUAL AND MULTIMODAL INPUT 12
2.7 RITUALS AS PUZZLES 17
vii
viii ◾ Contents
Chapter 3 ◾ From Exemplary Game Magic Systems to Code
Recipes 21
3.1 MAGIC SYSTEMS AND LANGUAGE 21
3.2 INTERACTIVE FICTION AND ENCHANTER 23
3.3 STEVE JACKSON’S SORCERY! AND GAMEBOOKS 26
3.4 MODERN MAGICAL IF 27
3.4.1 The Text-Based Rituals of Hadean Lands 36
3.5 FROM ROGUELIKES TO RECIPES 38
3.6 THE RUNES OF DUNGEON MASTER 53
3.7 SORCERIAN 55
3.8 THE INCANTATIONS OF WIZARDRY 56
3.9 THE MAGICAL SYLLABLES OF THE ULTIMA SERIES 57
3.10 SPELL REAGENTS IN THE ULTIMA SERIES 57
3.11 THE MAGICAL LANGUAGE AND WORLD
SIMULATION OF ULTIMA UNDERWORLD 59
3.12 ULTIMA VIII 61
3.13 LOOM AND MUSIC AS MAGIC 63
3.14 STONEKEEP 66
3.15 ARX FATALIS 67
3.16 USER-GENERATED MAGIC AND THE ELDER SCROLLS 69
3.17 THE VOID 70
3.18 THE LEGEND OF GRIMROCK 71
3.19 DISHONORED 73
3.20 MAGICKA 76
3.21 MAGICAL GESTURES 77
3.21.1 Early Gestural Interfaces: The Summoning and
Black & White 79
3.21.2 Galstaff 79
3.21.3 Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow 80
3.21.4 Deep Labyrinth 82
3.21.5 Fable: The Journey 83
3.21.6 Guidelines and Recipes for Gestural Magic Systems 83