Game Design

How the basic concepts of economics—including markets, institutions, and money—can be used to create and analyze economies based on virtual goods.In the twenty-first-century digital world, virtual goods are sold for real money. Digital game players happily pay for avatars, power-ups, and other game items. But behind every virtual sale, there is a virtual economy, simple or complex. In this book, Vili Lehdonvirta and Edward Castronova introduce the basic concepts of economics into the game developer's and game designer's toolkits. Lehdonvirta and Castronova explain how the fundamentals of economics—markets, institutions, and money—can be used to create or analyze economies based on artificially scarce virtual goods. They focus on virtual economies in digital games, but also touch on serious digital currencies such as Bitcoin as well as virtual economies that emerge in social media around points, likes, and followers. The theoretical emphasis is on elementary microeconomic theory, with some discussion of behavioral economics, macroeconomics, sociology of consumption, and other social science theories relevant to economic behavior.Topics include the rational choice model of economic decision making; information goods versus virtual goods; supply, demand, and market equilibrium; monopoly power; setting prices; and externalities. The book will enable developers and designers to create and maintain successful virtual economies, introduce social scientists and policy makers to the power of virtual economies, and provide a useful guide to economic fundamentals for students in other disciplines.

How filling life with play-whether soccer or lawn mowing, counting sheep or tossing Angry Birds-forges a new path for creativity and joy in our impatient ageLife is boring: filled with meetings and traffic, errands and emails. Nothing we'd ever call fun. But what if we've gotten fun wrong? In Play Anything, visionary game designer and philosopher Ian Bogost shows how we can overcome our daily anxiety; transforming the boring, ordinary world around us into one of endless, playful possibilities.The key to this playful mindset lies in discovering the secret truth of fun and games. Play Anything, reveals that games appeal to us not because they are fun, but because they set limitations. Soccer wouldn't be soccer if it wasn't composed of two teams of eleven players using only their feet, heads, and torsos to get a ball into a goal; Tetris wouldn't be Tetris without falling pieces in characteristic shapes. Such rules seem needless, arbitrary, and difficult. Yet it is the limitations that make games enjoyable, just like it's the hard things in life that give it meaning.Play is what happens when we accept these limitations, narrow our focus, and, consequently, have fun. Which is also how to live a good life. Manipulating a soccer ball into a goal is no different than treating ordinary circumstances- like grocery shopping, lawn mowing, and making PowerPoints-as sources for meaning and joy. We can "play anything" by filling our days with attention and discipline, devotion and love for the world as it really is, beyond our desires and fears.Ranging from Internet culture to moral philosophy, ancient poetry to modern consumerism, Bogost shows us how today's chaotic world can only be tamed-and enjoyed-when we first impose boundaries on ourselves.

Do you love gaming? Do you have ideas for games of your own and want to learn how to produce them professionally? Longtime game designer Justin Gary has the answers you seek. After twenty years in the gaming industry, creating such games as Solforge, Ascension, and the World of Warcraft Miniatures Game, Justin is now sharing all his secrets in Think Like a Game Designer. Best of all, Justin’s secrets are really simple, practical, and common sense steps you can take yourself. Justin will walk you through each step and provide exercises for you to formulate your own game concepts and bring them to fruition. In Think Like a Game Designer, you will learn how • Overcome mental blocks to great creative work • Understand players’ emotional reactions and evoke the right ones • Brainstorm ideas and then refine them into useable ones • Follow the six steps of the core design loop for successfully designing a game • Capitalize on the excitement of Big Moments in a game • Get a job in the game industry and get your games published • Remove the grind of gaming or use it to your advantage • Integrate monetization into your designs • Deliver an enjoyable experience to your players so your game stands the test of time Whether you want to create video games, board games, or just discover how a true creative mind works, it’s all here in Think Like a Game Designer. It’s time to take the first step toward your game designer dream. Are you game? WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT JUSTIN GARY AND THINK LIKE A GAME DESIGNER “Every journey starts with a single step, and if your desired journey is to become a game designer, I can think of no better fi rst step than reading and doing the exercises in Justin’s book. Justin has managed to capture and communicate the process for designing games starting from the blank sheet of paper all the way to thousands of fans playing your game.” — Jordan Wiesman, Creator of Shadowrun and BattleTech, and Founder of WizKids game studio “Justin Gary went from world champion The Gathering pro-tour competitor to award-winning game designer and then to multi-million-dollar CEO. He has a lot to teach and you can fi nd that wisdom clearly articulated in these pages.” — Peter Adkinson, Founder of Wizards of the Coast and Owner of Gen Con, the largest tabletop gaming convention in North America “Think Like a Game Designer should be on the shelf of anyone interested in game design, or even just in playing games. Plus, even people with no interest in games will learn valuable lessons about innovation, marketing, and how games motivate their players.” — Ethan Mollick, Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Wharton School of Business “Justin Gary has crafted a fun book that takes the essentials of game design and presents them in a light, personable format that anyone can understand. If you are new to game design, this is a great way to get started!” — Jesse Schell, CEO, Schell Games and Author of The Art of Game Design “Straightforward and relentlessly practical, this book efficiently guides you through the key steps involved in designing and publishing a game.

What explains the massive worldwide success of video games such as Fortnite , Minecraft , and Pokémon Go ? Game companies and their popularity are poorly understood and often ignored from the standpoint of traditional business strategy. Yet this industry generates billions in revenue by thinking creatively about digital distribution, free-to-play content, and phenomena like e-sports and live streaming. What lessons can we draw from its major successes and failures about the future of entertainment?One Up offers a pioneering empirical analysis of innovation and strategy in the video game industry to explain how it has evolved from a fringe activity to become a mainstream form of entertainment. Joost van Dreunen, a widely recognized industry expert with over twenty years of experience, analyzes how game makers, publishers, and platform holders have tackled strategic challenges to make the video game industry what it is today. Using more than three decades of rigorously compiled industry data, he demonstrates that video game companies flourish when they bring the same level of creativity to business strategy that they bring to game design. Filled with case studies of companies such as Activision Blizzard, Apple, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Microsoft, Nexon, Sony, Take-Two Interactive, Tencent, and Valve, this book forces us to rethink common misconceptions around the emergence of digital and mobile gaming. One Up is required reading for investors, creatives, managers, and anyone looking to learn about the major drivers of change and growth in contemporary entertainment.