The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology

Description

The Game Design Reader is a one-of-a-kind collection on game design and criticism, from classic scholarly essays to cutting-edge case studies. A companion work to Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman's textbook Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, The Game Design Reader is a classroom sourcebook, a reference for working game developers, and a great read for game fans and players.Thirty-two essays by game designers, game critics, game fans, philosophers, anthropologists, media theorists, and others consider fundamental questions: What are games and how are they designed? How do games interact with culture at large? What critical approaches can game designers take to create game stories, game spaces, game communities, and new forms of play?Salen and Zimmerman have collected seminal writings that span 50 years to offer a stunning array of perspectives. Game journalists express the rhythms of game play, sociologists tackle topics such as role-playing in vast virtual worlds, players rant and rave, and game designers describe the sweat and tears of bringing a game to market. Each text acts as a springboard for discussion, a potential class assignment, and a source of inspiration. The book is organized around fourteen topics, from The Player Experience to The Game Design Process, from Games and Narrative to Cultural Representation. Each topic, introduced with a short essay by Salen and Zimmerman, covers ideas and research fundamental to the study of games, and points to relevant texts within the Reader. Visual essays between book sections act as counterpoint to the writings.Like Rules of Play, The Game Design Reader is an intelligent and playful book. An invaluable resource for professionals and a unique introduction for those new to the field, The Game Design Reader is essential reading for anyone who takes games seriously.


Contents:

Foreword
Warren Spectorx
Preface
Katie Salen and Eric Zimmermanxvi
interstitial: How to Win "Super Mario Bros"
Topic Essays by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman1
The Player Experience3
The Rules of a Game9
Gaming the Game15
The Game Design Process21
Player and Character27
Games and Narrative33
Game Communities39
Speaking of Games45
Game Design Models53
Game Economies59
Game Spaces65
Cultural Representation71
What is a Game?77
What is Play?83
interstitial: Cosplay
Texts: Bibliography91
Chart of Texts and Topics93
interstitial: Urban Invasion
Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon (1955)
Johan Huizinga96
The Definition of Play: The Classification of Games (1962)
Roger Caillois122
Shoot Club: The DOOM 3 Review (2004)
Tom Chick156
interstitial: Collateral Romance
Construction of a Definition (1990)
Bernard Suits172
I Have No Words & I Must Design (1994)
Greg Costikyan192
The Cabal: Valve's Design Process for Creating Half-Life (1999)
Ken Birdwell212
interstitial: Urban Games
Semiotic Domains: Is Playing Video Games a "Waste of Time?" (2003)
James Gee228
The Evil Summoner FAQ v1.0: How to Be a Cheap Ass (2001)
Mochan268
Play and Ambiguity (2001)
Brian Sutton-Smith296
A Theory of Play and Fantasy (1972)
Gregory Bateson314
"Complete Freedom of Movement": Video Games as Gendered Play Spaces (1998)
Henry Jenkins330
interstitial: DDR Step Charts
Formal Abstract Design Tools (1999)
Doug Church366
Game Theory (1992)
William Poundstone382
Games and Design Patterns (2005)
Staffan Bjork and Jussi Holopainen410
Tools for Creating Dramatic Game Dynamics (2005)
Marc LeBlanc438
Game Analysis: Centipede (2001)
Richard Rouse III460
interstitial: Indie Game Jam
Unwritten Rules (1999)
Stephen Sniderman476
Beyond the Rules of the Game: Why Are Rooie Rules Nice? (1983)
Linda Hughes504
Changing the Game (1978)
Bernard DeKoven518
The Design Evolution of Magic: The Gathering (1993 | 2004)
Richard Garfield538
interstitial: Blast Theory
Eyeball and Cathexis (1983)
David Sudnow558
Frames and Games (1983)
Gary Alan Fine578
Bow, Nigger (2004)
always_ black602
Cultural Models: Do You Want to Be the Blue Sonic or the Dark Sonic? (2003)
James Gee610
interstitial: Red vs. Blue
Interaction and Narrative (2000 | 2005)
Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern642
Game Design as Narrative Architecture (2004)
Henry Jenkins670
Adventure as a Video Game: Adventure for the Atari 2600 (1983-84)
Warren Robinett690
Eastern Front (1941) (2003)
Chris Crawford714
interstitial: Serious Games
The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat (1990)
F. Randall Farmer and Chip Morningstar728
Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs (1996)
Richard Bartle754
Declaring the Rights of Players (2000)
Raph Koster788
Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier (2001)
Edward Castronova814
interstitial: Painstation
Coda: Piercing the Spectacle (2005)
Brenda Laurel866
interstitial: Le Parkour
Interstitial Credits872
Index876
Final Word
Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman