Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design

516 Pages·2012·10.07 MB·English

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Copyright Information
Please note that the following characters are copyrighted to the following corporations:
Tennis for Two—This work is in the public domain in Ico © 2001 Sony Computer Entertainment
the United States because it is a work of the United Doom © 1993 id software
States Federal Government under the terms of Title Darksiders © 2010 THQ
17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code. Syndicate © 1993 Electronic Arts
Space Invaders © 1978 Taito Corporation Supreme Commander © 2007 THQ
Galaxian © 1979 Namco Warriors © 1979 Vectorbeam
Star Wars Arcade © 1983 Atari Inc. Castle Wolfenstein © 1981 Muse Software
TM
PAC-MAN & © 1980 NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. GoldenEye 007 © 1997 Nintendo
Space Panic © 1980 Universal LittleBigPlanet © 2008 Sony Computer Entertainment
Popeye Arcade © 1982 Nintendo Europe
Pitfall! and Pitfall Harry © 1982 Activision Playstation Dual Shock controller © 1998 Sony
Dark Castle © 1986 Silicon Beach Software Computer Entertainment
Donkey Kong and associated characters © 1981 XBOX 360 controller © 2005 Microsoft
Nintendo World of Warcraft © 2004 Blizzard Entertainment
Mario Bros. © 1983 Nintendo Dragon’s Lair © 1983 Cinematronics
Super Mario Bros., Mario, World 1-1, Super Mario Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja © 1988 Data East
Bros. Theme © 1985 Nintendo Mortal Kombat © 2009 Warner Brothers Interactive
Ghost n’ Goblins © 1985 Capcom Entertainment
Mega Man © 1987 Capcom Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, Haunted Mansion, Pirates
Mario 64 © 1996 Nintendo of the Caribbean, Peter Pan’s Flight and
Crash Bandicoot © 1996 Sony Computer associated characters, Pirate’s Lair © 2010 Walt
Entertainment Disney Company
Wizard of Oz and associated characters © 1939 Prince of Persia © 2010 Ubisoft
Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer Kratos © 2010 Sony Computer Entertainment of
Monty Python and the Holy Grail and associated America
characters © 1975 Solid Snake © 1987 Konami
Star Wars and associated characters © 1977 Marcus Fenix © 2006 Epic Games
Lucasfi lm Ltd Gauntlet © 1985 Atari Games
Robocop © 1987–1998 Orion (MGM) Pictures Spider-Man, Rhino © 2010 Marvel Entertainment/Walt
Maximo vs Army of Zin © 2004 Capcom Disney Company
Maximo: Ghost to Glory © 2002 Capcom Bioshock and associated characters © 2007 2K
Team Fortress 2 and associated characters © 2007 Games 2007
Valve Corporation Demolition Man and associated characters © 1993
Laura Croft © 1996 Eidos Interactive Warner Brothers
Batman © 2010 DC comics Earthworm Jim © 1994 Virgin Interactive
Resident Evil 2 and associated characters © 1998 Master Chief © 2001 Microsoft Game Studios
Capcom Holst, the Planets—Mars Bringer of War, copyright
Army of Two © 2008 Electronic Arts unknown
All other characters displayed within this book are created by Scott Rogers and cannot be
reproduced without his permission. © 2010 Scott Rogers
Dude with Sword, Dude with Sword 832, Relic Relic Raider © 2010 Scott Rogers
Raider, Farm Wars © 2010 Scott Rogers Die Zombie Die © 2010 Scott Rogers
The Mighty Bedbug, Grave Robber © 2005 Scott Farm Wars © 2010 Scott Rogers
Rogers The Mighty Bedbug © 2005 Scott Rogers
Dude with Sword © 2010 Scott Rogers Grave Robber © 2005 Scott Rogers
Dude with Sword 2 © 2010 Scott Rogers
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T
LeveI Up!

The Guide to Great Video

Game Design

Scott Rogers

A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
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This edition first published 2010
© 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Registered office
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom
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ISBN 978-0-470-68867-0
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Set in 10 on 12pt Swiss721BT-Light by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited
Printed in the US by RR Donnelley
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To Brenda Lee

who always thought this would make a great book.

I love you.

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Publisher’s Acknowledgments
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the
following:
Editorial and Production
VP Consumer and Technology Publishing Director: Michelle Leete
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Associate Publisher: Chris Webb
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Contents
Foreword by Danny Bilson xiii

About the Author xiv

Press Start! xv

Acknowledgments: Everything I Learned about Writing a Book xxi

Level 1 Welcome, N00bs! 1

A Brief History of Video Games 4

Game Genres 9

Who Makes this Stuff? 12

Programer 12

Artist 13

Designer 14

Producer 15

Tester 16

Composer 17

Sound Designer 18

Writer 19

Have You Thought about Publishing? 19

Product Manager 20

Creative Manager 20

Art Director 21

Technical Director 21

And the Rest . . . 21

Level 1’s Universal Truths and Clever Ideas 22

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viii Contents
Level 2 Ideas 23

Ideas: Where to Get Them and Where to Stick Them 24

What do Gamers Want? 28

Why I Hate “Fun” 30

Brainstorming 31

Breaking Writer’s Block 34

Level 2’s Universal Truths and Clever Ideas 36

Level 3 Writing the Story 37

The Triangle of Weirdness 44

Time to Wrap It Up 48

Creating Characters 50

A Few Pointers on Writing for Kids of All Ages 54

Writing for Licenses 54

Level 3’s Universal Truths and Clever Ideas 56

Level 4 You Can Design a Game, But Can You Do the Paperwork? 57

Writing the GDD, Step 1: The One-Sheet 60

ESRB Ratings 60

Writing the GDD, Step 2: The Ten-Pager 62

The Rule of Threes 63

Ten-Pager Outline 64

The Game Design Document (and the Awful Truth about Writing Them) 72

Gameplay Progression 76

The Beat Chart 77

Above All, Don’t Be a Schmuck 79

Level 4’s Universal Truths and Clever Ideas 81

Level 5 The Three Cs, Part 1—Character 83

Personality: Do We Really Need Another Badass? 85

Let’s Get Personal 88

Finally, We Talk about Gameplay 92

Why Walk When You Can Run? 95

The Art of Doing Nothing 99

Might as Well Jump 100

Hoists and Teeters 104

What Goes Up, Must Fall Down 105

Me and My Shadow 106

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