Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design

THE GUIDE TO GREAT VIDEO GAME DESIGN Want to learn how to design cutting edge video games? Need advice on how to improve your current game design? Then get ready to Level Up! Scott Rogers, the video game designer behind hits such as Pac-Man World, God of War(TM), the Maximo Series and SpongeBob SquarePants, shares his years of knowledge and experience with you on how to make video games great. Learn how to:

• Design what gamers want
• Write compelling narrative and lore
• Build game levels that tell stories and challenge players
• Structure your game design documents for success
• Pitch your game like the professionals
• Create an effective marketing plan

Level Up! 3rd Edition has been written with all levels of game designers in mind. Over 400 drawings illustrate game design concepts and common pitfalls, making Level Up! an indispensable guide for video game designers both 'in the field' and in the classroom. So what are you waiting for? Grab this book and prepare to Level Up!

Foreword xxiii
Introduction Press Start! xxv
No, You Can't Have My Job xxviii
Who is This Book For? xxx
Level 1 Welcome N00bs! 1
A (Somewhat) Brief History of Video Games 4
The Brave New World of Gaming: Mobiles, Online Distribution and Touchscreens 9
What's the Difference Between AAA and Indy? 10
Game Genres 11
Who Makes This Stuff? 14
Programmer 15
Artist 15
Designer 17
Producer 17
Tester 18
Composer 19
Sound Designer 21
Narrative Designer/Writer 22
Community Manager 23
Have You Thought About Publishing? 23
Product Manager 23
Creative Manager 23
Art Director 24
Technical Director 24
Marketing Team 24
And the Rest 25
Level 2 Ideas 27
Ideas: Where to Get Them and Where to Stick Them 27
Getting Ahead of the Game 30
What Do Gamers Want? 33
Brainstorming 34
Breaking Writer's Block 37
Why I Hate "Fun" 38
Level 3 Writing the Story 43
Once Upon a Time 44
Narrative Design 47
Anything is Gameplay 50
The Triangle of Weirdness 51
A Likely Story 53
Time to Wrap It Up 56
A Note About "Lore" 57
A Game by Any Other Name 59
Creating Characters Your Players Care About 61
Games Are About Everyone 66
A Few Pointers on Writing for Kids of All Ages 67
Writing for Licenses 68
Level 4 You Can Design a Game, but Can You Do the Paperwork? 71
The Game Design Document 73
Game Design Document (again) 74
Writing the GDD, Step 1: The One-Sheet 75
ESRB Ratings 77
The Core Loop 78
Unique Selling Points 79
Competitive Products 79
Writing the GDD, Step 2: The Ten-Pager 79
The Rule of Threes 81
The Ten-Pager Outline 81
Writing the GDD, Step 3: The Beat Chart 88
Writing the GDD, Step 4: The Game Design Document 90
Writing the GDD, Step 4 1: Now, Unlearn What You Have Learned 91
Writing the GDD, Step 5: Be Responsible 94
Writing the GDD, Step 6 - Other Game Genres 96
Role-Playing Games 96
Real-Time Strategy Games 97
First-Person Shooters 98
Battle Royale 99
Match Three Games 100
Sports Games 101
Level 5 The Three Cs, Part 1: Character 103
Who Do You Want to Be Today? 104
Personality: Do We Really Need Another Kratos? 105
Let's Get Personal 108
Using All the Parts 112
Games Without Characters 113
We Are Not Alone 114
When More Is More 117
Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood? 119
Finally, We Talk About Gameplay 121
Metrics for Other Player Types 124
Why Walk When You Can Run? 124
The Art of Doing Nothing 128
Might as Well Jump 129
Hoists and Teeters 133
What Goes Up Must Fall Down 134
Me and My Shadow 135
The Water's Fine or Is It? 136
Level 6 The Three Cs, Part 2: Camera 139
Get It Right: Camera Views 139
First-Person Camera 144
Virtual Reality 146
Third Person Camera 147
Giving Up Control 150
So, You've Decided to Let the Player Control the Camera 151
So, You've Decided Not to Let the Player Have Control over the Camera 152
So, You've Decided to Let Players Sometimes Have Control over the Camera 154
Two and a Half d 154
Isometric Camera 154
Top-Down Camera 156
AR Cameras 157
Special Case Cameras 157
Tunnel Vision 158
Camera Shot Guide 158
Camera Angle Guide 161
Camera Movement Guide 162
Other Camera Notes 165
Always Point the Camera to the Objective 166
Never Let the Character Get out of the Camera's Sight 166
Multiple-Player Cameras 167
Level 7 The Three Cs, Part 3: Controls 171
Control Is in Your Hand 172
You've Got the Touch 175
Dance, Monkey, Dance 177
Poetry in motion 180
All the right moves 182
Character or Camera Relative? 183
Shake, Rattle, and Roll 185
Level 8 Sign Language: UI, HUD, and Icon Design 189
How to Create UI 191
Heads Up! 192
Health Bar 193
Targeting Reticule 194
Ammo Gauge 195
Inventory 196
Score/Experience 196
Positive Messaging 197
Money/Resources 198
Radar/Map 198
Context-Sensitive Prompts 200
Timer 201
Player Name/Portrait 201
The Clean Screen 202
Iconography 203
Creating Icons for Mobile Games 206
Don't Get QTE 208
HUDs and Where to Stick 'Em 210
There Are Other Screens Than the HUD 211
Starting with the Start Screen 211
Let's Pause (Screen) for a Moment 213
Let Me Load (Screen) that For You 216
Getting in Control 217
What's the Score? 218
The Rest of the Stuff 219
A Final Word on Fonts 219
Game Over 220
Wrapping it up 221
Level 9 Everything I Learned About Level Design, I Learned from Level 9 223
The Top 10 Cliché Video Game Themes 226
The Name Game 232
Everything I Learned About Level Design, I Learned from Disneyland 234
Mapping the World 235
Foreshadowing 236
Goal Setting 237
Following Procedure 239
You've Got the Beat 240
Re-using Re-use 243
The Gary Gygax Memorial Mapping Section 243
Sandbox Play 246
Illusional Narrative 249
The Dave Arneson Memorial Mapping Section 250
Wrapping Up Mapping 261
Gray Matters 264
Let's Get Fighty 266
Leave the Training Level for Last 266
Levels without Characters 267
Level 10 The Elements of Combat 269
400 Quatloos on the Newcomer! 271
Put 'Em Up! 274
And a One and a Two 278
The Big Finish 280
Live by the Sword 282
Now You Have to Kiss Me 285
Let's Get Defensive 285
Dodging the Bullet 288
On Guarding 289
Watch Out! 289
State of the Art Bang Bang 293
The Best Gun for You 298
Run and Gun 302
Not Just Shooting 305
Dang it, Jones! Where Doesn't It Hurt? 309
Death: What Is It Good For? 311
Conflict Without Combat 313
Level 11 They All Want You Dead 317
Sizing Up the Enemy 319
Bad Behavior 320
How Rapid is Rapid? 324
Movement Style 327
Bring on the Bad Guys 329
I Love Designing Enemies 338
I Hate You to Pieces 340
Non-Enemy Enemies 342
How to Create the World's Greatest Boss Battle 343
Who's the Boss? 344
Size Matters 346
Location, Location, Location 350
Why Not to Create the World's Greatest Boss Battle 352
Level 12 The Nuts and Bolts of Mechanics 355
The Mechanics of Mechanics 355
Other Types of Mechanics 359
Match Three Mechanics 359
Racing Game Mechanics 361
Holy Death Trap! 362
What I Learned from Making Kids Cry 365
Time to Die 366
The Music of Mechanics 369
Chip Off the Old Block 372
A Nice Little Calm Spot 375
Riddle Me This 376
Puzzle Me That 380
Minigames and Microgames 382
Level 13 Now You're Playing with Power 385
Powering Up 385
"Love Thy Player" 392
Seriously "Love Thy Player" 394
More Wealth Than You Can Imagine! 395
High Score 398
Achievements 399
Money! Money! Money! 400
Souvenirs 403
Bonus Section about Bonus Features 404
How to Win at Losing 407
Level 14 Multiplayer-The More the Merrier 411
How Many Is the Right Number? 416
MMORPGS, or Hell Is Other People 417
Designing Multiplayer Levels 422
Planning Your Level 422
Mapping Your Level 423
Building Your Level 424
The Dirty Half Dozen 424
Level 15 Reality Check: VR, AR, XR, and Beyond 427
Designing for VR 431
Practically Unreal 433
The Many Worlds of Virtual Reality 435
Real Life, but Better 437
Augment This 439
The X Factor 440
Reality Is the Best Virtual World 441
The Happiest Places on Earth 442
Level 16 Everybody Wins: Monetization and Marketing 445
Back to Business 448
Cashing In 449
Money Is the Root of Something Something 451
Designing It In 455
Marketing: A Million Voices Yelling "Look at Me" 458
Catch and Release 459
Level 17 Some Notes on Music 463
Pitch Perfect Design 464
I Know It When I Hear It 465
Music with Style 466
And the Beat Goes On 467
Sounds Like a Game to Me 470
Orchestrating it all 474
Level 18 No One's Going to Watch Them Anyway 477
A Cut Above 478
How to Write a Screenplay in Eight Easy Steps 480
Finding Your Voice 483
Level 19 The Play's the Thing 487
Thinking in Systems 487
A Delicate Balancing Act 492
Emergence, Eschmergence 493
Up to the Test 494
Play's the Thing 495
Level 20 And Now the Hard Part 499
The Pitch 499
No One Cares About Your Stupid Little World 502
Who's Paying? 505
Video Games Is a Haaaard Business 507
When Reality Gets in the Way 507
Vertical or Horizontal? 510
Expectations of the Game Designer Position 513
What to Do for an Encore? 514
Level 21 Continue? 517
Bonus Level 1 The One-Sheet Sample 519
Bonus Level 2 The Ten-Page Design Document Sample 523
Page 1: Title Page 524
Page 2: Story and Gameplay 525
Page 3: Character(s) and Controls 526
Page 4: Gameplay Overview 527
Page 5: Gameplay Overview (continued) 528
Page 6: Gameplay Experience 529
Page 7: Mechanics and Modes 530
Page 8: Enemies and Bosses (If Applicable) 531
Page 9: Expandability and Replay 532
Page 10: Monetization 533
Bonus Level 3 Game Design Document Template 535
Cover 536
Your Game's Title 536
GDD Outline 537
Bonus Level 4 High-Concept Pitch Presentation 543
Slide 1: Title Page 543
Slide 2: Company Profile 544
Slide 3: Target Specs 545
Slide 4: Game Story 545
Slide 5: Game Features 546
Slide 6: Gameplay Summary 547
Slide 7: Gameplay Details 548
Slide 8: Monetization and Download Strategy 549
Slide 9: Production Specs 549
Bonus Level 5 Playtest Questionnaire 551
Bonus Level 6 Achievement Unlocked: Exactly Like Making Chili 553
Index 555