How do you turn a great idea into a game design? What makes one design better than another? Why does a good design document matter, and how do you write one? This book answers these questions and stimulates your creativity!

Game design consists of four essential tasks: imagining a game, defining the way that it works, describing its internal elements, and communicating this information to others. This book examines each of these tasks and shows you not only what issues you will need to address in your design, but how to think about games and gameplay. After reading this book, you will have the tools you need to both design many kinds of games and to create a professional-quality game design document.

Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design will show you:

• The key design elements of every computer and video game, and how to think about them.

• How to write a high-concept document, a treatment, and a full design script.

• The essentials of user interface design and how to use them to define your game's look and feel.

• How to construct and balance your game's internal mechanics to make sure the game is both fun and fair.

• The relationship between interactivity and narrative, and how to write compelling stories.

• The unique design problems in each of the major game genres.

• How to design multi-player games to maximize player interaction and minimize cheating.