If playing video games is so much fun, how much fun would it be to make them? Designing video games is a very demanding career, but it is also incredibly exhilarating. From the necessary education to the daily routines, take a detailed look inside what it takes to win as a video game designer.

A revealing guide to a career as a video game designer written by acclaimed journalist Daniel Noah Halpern and based on the real-life experiences of legendary designer Tom Cadwell of Riot Games—required reading for anyone considering a path to this profession. Becoming a Video Game Designer takes you behind the scenes to find out what it’s really like, and what it really takes, to become a video game designer. Gaming is a $138 billion-dollar entertainment industry, and designers are the beating heart. Long-form journalist Daniel Noah Halpern shadows top video game designer Tom Cadwell to show how this dream job becomes a reality. Cadwell is head of design at Riot Games, the company behind award-winning blockbuster games like League of Legends, which has an active user base of 111 million players. Creating a massive multiplayer online game takes years of visionary R&D—it is a blend of art and science. It is also big business. Learn the ins and the outs of the job from Cadwell as well as other designers, including Brendon Chung, acclaimed founder of Blendo Games. Successful designers must be creative decision makers and also engineers and collaborators. Gain professional wisdom by following Tom’s path to prominence, from his start as a passionate gamer to becoming one of the most revered designers in the business.

Since the 1950s, video games have become a billion dollar industry. Find out what it takes to have a successful career as a video game designer—and if it’s the right job for you.

To create a great video game, you must start with a solid game design: A well-designed game is easier to build, more entertaining, and has a better chance of succeeding in the marketplace. Here to teach you the essential skills of player-centric game design is one of the industry’s leading authorities, who offers a first-hand look into the process, from initial concept to final tuning. Now in its second edition, this updated classic reference by Ernest Adams offers a complete and practical approach to game design, and includes material on concept development, gameplay design, core mechanics, user interfaces, storytelling, and balancing. In an easy-to-follow approach, Adams analyzes the specific design challenges of all the major game genres and shows you how to apply the principles of game design to each one. You’ll learn how to: Define the challenges and actions at the heart of the gameplay. Write a high-concept document, a treatment, and a full design script. Understand the essentials of user interface design and how to define a game’s look and feel. Design for a variety of input mechanisms, including the Wii controller and multi-touch iPhone. Construct a game’s core mechanics and flow of resources (money, points, ammunition, and more). Develop appealing stories, game characters, and worlds that players will want to visit, including persistent worlds. Work on design problems with engaging end-of-chapter exercises, design worksheets, and case studies. Make your game accessible to broader audiences such as children, adult women, people with disabilities, and casual players. “Ernest Adams provides encyclopedic coverage of process and design issues for every aspect of game design, expressed as practical lessons that can be immediately applied to a design in-progress. He offers the best framework I’ve seen for thinking about the relationships between core mechanics, gameplay, and player—one that I’ve found useful for both teaching and research.” — Michael Mateas, University of California at Santa Cruz, co-creator of Façade

Learn the mechanics that take your game from an idea to a playable product. Do you aspire to be a game designer but aren’t sure where to begin? Tabletop Game Design for Video Game Designers guides you through your initial attempts to design game mechanics. It goes beyond simple description and definition to explore in detail the issues that designers grapple with for every game they create. Learning to design tabletop games builds a solid foundation for game designers and provides methods that can be applied towards creating paper prototypes of computer-targeted games. Presented in a step-by-step format, Tabletop Game Design for Video Game Designers helps the reader understand how the game design skills that are acquired through creating tabletop games can be used when designing video games. Fully playable games accompany every topic so you can truly understand and experience each component that goes into game creation. Tabletop Game Design for Video Game Designers includes: Simple, highly focused games that can be played, analyzed, improved, and/or modified in conjunction with a particular topic in the book. Integrated game design exercises, chapter learning objectives, and in-text sidebars to provide further examples to apply directly to your game creation process. A companion website (www.funmines.com) which includes: "print & play" tabletop games, links to online games, game design resources, and articles about designing and developing games.

Many aspiring game designers have crippling misconceptions about the process involved in creating a game from scratch, believing a "big idea" is all that is needed to get started. But game design requires action as well as thought, and proper training and practice to do so skillfully. In this indispensible guide, a published commercial game designer and longtime teacher offers practical instruction in the art of video and tabletop game design. The topics explored include the varying types of games, vital preliminaries of making a game, the nuts and bolts of devising a game, creating a prototype, testing, designing levels, technical aspects, and assessing nature of the audience. With practice challenges, a list of resources for further exploration, and a glossary of industry terms, this manual is essential for the nascent game designer and offers food for thought for even the most experienced professional.

"Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design" is the ultimate handbook for gamers of all levels. Whether you're a casual player or a seasoned pro, this book has something for everyone. With detailed guides on popular games, tips and tricks to improve your skills, and insights into the gaming industry, you'll be able to take your gaming to the next level. Learn how to master your favorite games with step-by-step instructions and expert advice. Discover new games and genres to explore, and get insider knowledge on the latest gaming trends. From PC to console to mobile gaming, this book covers it all. But "Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design" isn't just about playing games – it's also about building a community around your passion. Find out how to connect with other gamers, join online communities, and even start your own gaming channel or stream. Packed with valuable information and entertaining anecdotes, "Guide to Gaming" is a must-read for anyone who loves gaming.

Describes situations in which math is used in video game design.

Chapters include: - Get Ready for Action - Game Designer on the Job - The High-Speed Evolution of Electronic Games - Game Designer in Training - The Players Who Bring Games to Life - Kids Ask, Game Designers Answer - Virtual Apprentice: Game Designer for a Day. Each accessible book includes: - A behind-the-scenes look at the featured industry - Profiles of working professionals that offer an inside peek at what they do - Reality Check sidebars to help readers decide if this is the job for them - Find Out More and Check It Out sidebars for further research - A Day in the Life activity list that details a typical day on the job - Q&As between real-life kids and pros - A Count Me In journal feature for readers to track their activities. With a lively tone, dynamic look, and plenty of full-color and black-and-white photographs, the Virtual Apprentice books are the perfect starting point for young adults beginning their career exploration.

You too can learn to design and develop classic arcade video games like Pong, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Scramble. Collision detection, extra lives, power ups, and countless other essential design elements were invented by the mostly anonymous designers at the early pioneering companies that produced these great games. In this book you’ll go step by step, using modern, free software tools such as Unity to create five games in the classic style, inspired by retro favorites like: Pong, Breakout, Space Invaders, Scramble, and Pac-Man. All the source code, art, and sound sources for the projects are available on the companion files. You'll discover the fun of making your own games, putting in your own color graphics, adjusting the scoring, coding the AI, and creating the sound effects. You'll gain a deep understanding of the roots of modern video game design: the classics of the ’70s and ’80s. Features: Uses Unity, C#, Blender, GIMP, and Audacity to make five fun classic games 4-color throughout with companion files that include source code, art, and full projects (also available for downloading from the publisher by emailing proof of purchase to info@merclearning.com) Includes historical anecdotes direct from one of the fabled Atari coin-op programmers Detailed step-by-step instructions, dozens of exercises, and rules of classic game design Contains unique insights on applying classic game design concepts to modern games.