Chris Crawford on Game Design

ISBN: 0131460994
EAN: 2147483647

Year: 2006
Pages: 248

Authors: Chris Crawford

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Main Page
Table of content
Copyright
About the Author
About the Technical Reviewers
Tell Us What You Think
Introduction
Chapter 1. Definitions, Definitions
Chapter 2. Some Milestone Games
Old-Style Games
Board Wargames
Other Non-Computer Games
Videogames
Computer Games
Chapter 3. Play
History of Play
Play Is Metaphorical
Play Must Be Safe
Play Need Not Be Exotic
The Fun Factor
Chapter 4. Challenge
Challenge Necessitates Rules
The Point Is the Challenge, Not the Goal
Dimensions of Challenge
Challenge and Identity
Chapter 5. Conflict
Mars, Venus, and Conflict
Dimensions of Conflict
Directness of Conflict
Intensity of Conflict
Intensity and the Evolution of Taste
Chapter 6. Interactivity
History
Other Attributes of the Computer
So What Is Interactivity?
Is More Interactivity Better?
How Do We Measure Interactivity?
Low-Interactivity Entertainment Designs
Process Intensity Versus Data Intensity
Chapter 7. Creativity: The Missing Ingredient
How Serious Is the Problem?
Where Does Creativity Come From?
How to Get Creative
A Tyrannosaurus Rex for Ideas
The Politics of Innovation
Chapter 8. Common Mistakes
Obsession with Cosmetics
Incremental Accretive Design
Chapter 9. The Education of a Game Designer
Get a Degree
Education Versus Schooling
Chapter 10. Games I d Like to Build
Galilean Relativity
Napoleonic Cavalry
Napoleon in Space
Attack of the Cellular Automata
Volkerwanderung
Third-World Dictator
Lies
Spies
The Wheels of Commerce
Corporate Politics
Evolution
The Self-Modifying Game
Mooser-Gooser
So What Does All This Mean?
Chapter 11. Storytelling
Adventure Games
Backstory
Cut Scenes
Integrated Cut Scenes
Here Come the Academics
Role-Playing Games
The Real Problem
Tackling the Problem
Chapter 12. Random Sour Observations
Massively Multiplayer Monsters
Licensed Games
New Input Devices
The Sims
Short-Term Thinkers
Everybody s a Game Designer
Hollywood Envy
Young Males
Sleaze
Chapter 13. Tanktics
Map
Calculating Line of Sight
Planning Moves
Initial Programming
Enter the KIM-1
Input and Output
Linguistic Input
Sound Effects
Showing It Off
Porting
Production, Marketing, and Sales
Avalon-Hill
Fade Away
Results
Chapter 14. Legionnaire
A Record-Setting Blunder
Disruption
Terrain
Sales
First Draft Design
Conclusions
Chapter 15. Wizard
VCS Technology
Designing the Game
Asymmetric Combat
Lines of Sight (LOS)
Disposition and Conclusion
Chapter 16. Energy Czar
Chapter 17. Scram
Input Structures
Oh Yes, It Was Supposed to Be a Game, Wasn t It?
Coda
Chapter 18. Eastern Front (1941)
The Scrolling Map
The Combat System
AI
Tuning
Conclusion
Chapter 19. Gossip
AI
Implementation Woes
Conclusions
Chapter 20. Excalibur
Camelot
The Interpersonal Subgame
Diplomacy
The Strategic Map
The Battle Subgame
Overall Course of Play
The Manual
Conclusions
Chapter 21. Balance of Power
The UnWar Game
Early Efforts
The Rubber Map
Thank You, National Enquirer
Research
Building the Map
Memory Headaches
Making It a Game
Publisher Woes
I Get by with a Little Help from the Press
The Wheel of Fortune
Chapter 22. Patton Versus Rommel
To Hell with Grids
Geometric AI
Chapter 23. Siboot
A Lesson for Designers
First Draft Proposal
The First Proposal
Design Essays
Economies
Intransitive Combat Relationships
The Inverse Parser
The Display
Interstitial Stories
The Novella
Conclusions
Chapter 24. Guns Butter
Designing the World
Building Provinces
Adding Mountains, Deserts, and Forests
Naming Names
First-Person Firing Squad
The Economic System
Combat
Faces
The Ideas Behind the Game
Results
Chapter 25. Balance of the Planet
Values
Implementing a Value System
The Politics of the Game
Higher Levels of Play
Balancing the Equations
Artwork
Schedule Hassles
Results
Chapter 26. Patton Strikes Back
Simple Rules
Clean User Interface and Strong Visual Presentation
Explain the History
Color Hassles
Anti-Piracy
Results
Chapter 27. Themes and Lessons
People, Not Things
Faces
Gameplay Help
Language
Art Over Money
The Harsh Realities of Business
Chapter 28. Old Fart Stories
Early Sound and Music
An Early Multiplayer Game
Getting a Job
E.T.
Alan Kay
Lost in the Shuffle
International Sales
The Locked File Cabinet
Bill Carris
Marketing Wisdom
The Dragon Speech
The Great Pratfall
A More Serious Pratfall
Problems of Decentralization
The Unrevenged Review
Failed Humor
The Sins of Youth
Corporate Politics
Blinded by Your Own Equipment
Thinking Big
The CGDC
Glossary
Index
Index SYMBOL
Index A
Index B
Index C
Index D
Index E
Index F
Index G
Index H
Index I
Index J
Index K
Index L
Index M
Index N
Index O
Index P
Index Q
Index R
Index S
Index T
Index U
Index V
Index W