Gaming

Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design

WANT TO DESIGN YOUR OWN VIDEO GAMES? LET EXPERT SCOTT ROGERS SHOW YOU HOW!If you want to design and build cutting-edge video games but aren't sure where to start, then the THIRD EDITION of the acclaimed Level Up! is for you! Written by leading video game expert Scott Rogers, who has designed for the hits Pac-Man World, God of War, Maximo and SpongeBob SquarePants, this updated edition provides clear and well-thought-out examples that forgo theoretical gobbledygook with charmingly illustrated concepts and solutions based on years of professional experience. Level Up! 3rd Edition has been NEWLY EXPANDED to teach you how to develop marketable ideas, learn what perils and pitfalls await during a game's pre-production, production and post-production stages, and provide even more creative ideas to serve as fuel for your own projects including:* Developing your game design from the spark of inspiration all the way to production* Learning how to design the most exciting levels, the most precise controls, and the fiercest foes that will keep your players challenged* Creating games for console, mobile, and VR/AR/MR—including detailed rules for game play design and controls* Monetizing your game from the design up* Play test your game to get the best feedback from your playersLevel Up! 3rd Edition features all-new content, including two new chapters and even a brand-new chili recipe—making it the most indispensable guide for video game designers both “in the field” and the classroom. Foreword xxiiiIntroduction Press Start! xxvNo, You Can’t Have My Job xxviiiWho is This Book For? xxxLEVEL 1 WELCOME N00BS! 1A (Somewhat) Brief History of Video Games 4The Brave New World of Gaming: Mobiles, Online Distribution and Touchscreens 9What’s the Difference Between AAA and Indy? 10Game Genres 11Who Makes This Stuff? 14Programmer 15Artist 15Designer 17Producer 17Tester 18Composer 19Sound Designer 21Narrative Designer/Writer 22Community Manager 23Have You Thought About Publishing? 23Product Manager 23Creative Manager 23Art Director 24Technical Director 24Marketing Team 24And the Rest 25LEVEL 2 IDEAS 27Ideas: Where to Get Them and Where to Stick Them 27Getting Ahead of the Game 30What Do Gamers Want? 33Brainstorming 34Breaking Writer’s Block 37Why I Hate “Fun” 38LEVEL 3 WRITING THE STORY 43Once Upon a Time 44Narrative Design 47Anything is Gameplay 50The Triangle of Weirdness 51A Likely Story 53Time to Wrap It Up 56A Note About “Lore” 57A Game by Any Other Name 59Creating Characters Your Players Care About 61Games Are About Everyone 66A Few Pointers on Writing for Kids of All Ages 67Writing for Licenses 68LEVEL 4 YOU CAN DESIGN A GAME, BUT CAN YOU DO THE PAPERWORK? 71The Game Design Document 73Game Design Document (again) 74Writing the GDD, Step 1: The One-Sheet 75ESRB Ratings 77The Core Loop 78Unique Selling Points 79Competitive Products 79Writing the GDD, Step 2: The Ten-Pager 79The Rule of Threes 81The Ten-Pager Outline 81Writing the GDD, Step 3: The Beat Chart 88Writing the GDD, Step 4: The Game Design Document 90Writing the GDD, Step 4 1: Now, Unlearn What You Have Learned 91Writing the GDD, Step 5: Be Responsible 94Writing the GDD, Step 6 – Other Game Genres 96Role-Playing Games 96Real-Time Strategy Games 97First-Person Shooters 98Battle Royale 99Match Three Games 100Sports Games 101LEVEL 5 THE THREE CS, PART 1: CHARACTER 103Who Do You Want to Be Today? 104Personality: Do We Really Need Another Kratos? 105Let’s Get Personal 108Using All the Parts 112Games Without Characters 113We Are Not Alone 114When More Is More 117Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood? 119Finally, We Talk About Gameplay 121Metrics for Other Player Types 124Why Walk When You Can Run? 124The Art of Doing Nothing 128Might as Well Jump 129Hoists and Teeters 133What Goes Up Must Fall Down 134Me and My Shadow 135The Water’s Fine or Is It? 136LEVEL 6 THE THREE CS, PART 2: CAMERA 139Get It Right: Camera Views 139First-Person Camera 144Virtual Reality 146Third Person Camera 147Giving Up Control 150So, You’ve Decided to Let the Player Control the Camera 151So, You’ve Decided Not to Let the Player Have Control over the Camera 152So, You’ve Decided to Let Players Sometimes Have Control over the Camera 154Two and a Half d 154Isometric Camera 154Top-Down Camera 156AR Cameras 157Special Case Cameras 157Tunnel Vision 158Camera Shot Guide 158Camera Angle Guide 161Camera Movement Guide 162Other Camera Notes 165Always Point the Camera to the Objective 166Never Let the Character Get out of the Camera’s Sight 166Multiple-Player Cameras 167LEVEL 7 THE THREE CS, PART 3: CONTROLS 171Control Is in Your Hand 172You’ve Got the Touch 175Dance, Monkey, Dance 177Poetry in motion 180All the right moves 182Character or Camera Relative? 183Shake, Rattle, and Roll 185LEVEL 8 SIGN LANGUAGE: UI, HUD, AND ICON DESIGN 189How to Create UI 191Heads Up! 192Health Bar 193Targeting Reticule 194Ammo Gauge 195Inventory 196Score/Experience 196Positive Messaging 197Money/Resources 198Radar/Map 198Context-Sensitive Prompts 200Timer 201Player Name/Portrait 201The Clean Screen 202Iconography 203Creating Icons for Mobile Games 206Don’t Get QTE 208HUDs and Where to Stick ‘Em 210There Are Other Screens Than the HUD 211Starting with the Start Screen 211Let’s Pause (Screen) for a Moment 213Let Me Load (Screen) that For You 216Getting in Control 217What’s the Score? 218The Rest of the Stuff 219A Final Word on Fonts 219Game Over 220Wrapping it up 221LEVEL 9 EVERYTHING I LEARNED ABOUT LEVEL DESIGN, I LEARNED FROM LEVEL 9 223The Top 10 Cliché Video Game Themes 226The Name Game 232Everything I Learned About Level Design, I Learned from Disneyland 234Mapping the World 235Foreshadowing 236Goal Setting 237Following Procedure 239You’ve Got the Beat 240Re-using Re-use 243The Gary Gygax Memorial Mapping Section 243Sandbox Play 246Illusional Narrative 249The Dave Arneson Memorial Mapping Section 250Wrapping Up Mapping 261Gray Matters 264Let’s Get Fighty 266Leave the Training Level for Last 266Levels without Characters 267LEVEL 10 THE ELEMENTS OF COMBAT 269400 Quatloos on the Newcomer! 271Put ‘Em Up! 274And a One and a Two 278The Big Finish 280Live by the Sword 282Now You Have to Kiss Me 285Let’s Get Defensive 285Dodging the Bullet 288On Guarding 289Watch Out! 289State of the Art Bang Bang 293The Best Gun for You 298Run and Gun 302Not Just Shooting 305Dang it, Jones! Where Doesn’t It Hurt? 309Death: What Is It Good For? 311Conflict Without Combat 313LEVEL 11 THEY ALL WANT YOU DEAD 317Sizing Up the Enemy 319Bad Behavior 320How Rapid is Rapid? 324Movement Style 327Bring on the Bad Guys 329I Love Designing Enemies 338I Hate You to Pieces 340Non-Enemy Enemies 342How to Create the World’s Greatest Boss Battle 343Who’s the Boss? 344Size Matters 346Location, Location, Location 350Why Not to Create the World’s Greatest Boss Battle 352LEVEL 12 THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF MECHANICS 355The Mechanics of Mechanics 355Other Types of Mechanics 359Match Three Mechanics 359Racing Game Mechanics 361Holy Death Trap! 362What I Learned from Making Kids Cry 365Time to Die 366The Music of Mechanics 369Chip Off the Old Block 372A Nice Little Calm Spot 375Riddle Me This 376Puzzle Me That 380Minigames and Microgames 382LEVEL 13 NOW YOU’RE PLAYING WITH POWER 385Powering Up 385“Love Thy Player” 392Seriously “Love Thy Player” 394More Wealth Than You Can Imagine! 395High Score 398Achievements 399Money! Money! Money! 400Souvenirs 403Bonus Section about Bonus Features 404How to Win at Losing 407LEVEL 14 MULTIPLAYER—THE MORE THE MERRIER 411How Many Is the Right Number? 416MMORPGS, or Hell Is Other People 417Designing Multiplayer Levels 422Planning Your Level 422Mapping Your Level 423Building Your Level 424The Dirty Half Dozen 424LEVEL 15 REALITY CHECK: VR, AR, XR, AND BEYOND 427Designing for VR 431Practically Unreal 433The Many Worlds of Virtual Reality 435Real Life, but Better 437Augment This 439The X Factor 440Reality Is the Best Virtual World 441The Happiest Places on Earth 442LEVEL 16 EVERYBODY WINS: MONETIZATION AND MARKETING 445Back to Business 448Cashing In 449Money Is the Root of Something Something 451Designing It In 455Marketing: A Million Voices Yelling “Look at Me” 458Catch and Release 459LEVEL 17 SOME NOTES ON MUSIC 463Pitch Perfect Design 464I Know It When I Hear It 465Music with Style 466And the Beat Goes On 467Sounds Like a Game to Me 470Orchestrating it all 474LEVEL 18 NO ONE’S GOING TO WATCH THEM ANYWAY 477A Cut Above 478How to Write a Screenplay in Eight Easy Steps 480Finding Your Voice 483LEVEL 19 THE PLAY’S THE THING 487Thinking in Systems 487A Delicate Balancing Act 492Emergence, Eschmergence 493Up to the Test 494Play’s the Thing 495LEVEL 20 AND NOW THE HARD PART 499The Pitch 499No One Cares About Your Stupid Little World 502Who’s Paying? 505Video Games Is a Haaaard Business 507When Reality Gets in the Way 507Vertical or Horizontal? 510Expectations of the Game Designer Position 513What to Do for an Encore? 514LEVEL 21 CONTINUE? 517BONUS LEVEL 1 THE ONE-SHEET SAMPLE 519BONUS LEVEL 2 THE TEN-PAGE DESIGN DOCUMENT SAMPLE 523Page 1: Title Page 524Page 2: Story and Gameplay 525Page 3: Character(s) and Controls 526Page 4: Gameplay Overview 527Page 5: Gameplay Overview (continued) 528Page 6: Gameplay Experience 529Page 7: Mechanics and Modes 530Page 8: Enemies and Bosses (If Applicable) 531Page 9: Expandability and Replay 532Page 10: Monetization 533BONUS LEVEL 3 GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT TEMPLATE 535Cover 536Your Game’s Title 536GDD Outline 537BONUS LEVEL 4 HIGH-CONCEPT PITCH PRESENTATION 543Slide 1: Title Page 543Slide 2: Company Profile 544Slide 3: Target Specs 545Slide 4: Game Story 545Slide 5: Game Features 546Slide 6: Gameplay Summary 547Slide 7: Gameplay Details 548Slide 8: Monetization and Download Strategy 549Slide 9: Production Specs 549BONUS LEVEL 5 PLAYTEST QUESTIONNAIRE 551BONUS LEVEL 6 ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: EXACTLY LIKE MAKING CHILI 553Index 555

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