Players Making Decisions ─ Game Design Essentials and the Art of Understanding Your Players

This is the first introductory game design textbook that's 100% focused on practical application and the needs of today's game students, reflects the field's most authoritative research, and includes detailed coverage of player decision-making. Written by long-time game designer Zack Hiwiller, department chair for Full Sail University's pioneering Game Design degree program,Game Design: Beyond Platforms brings together reliable information on the topics most widely covered in modern game design classes. Hiwiller focuses on knowledge that will be useful for years to come, not tips and tricks that will become obsolete long before students can use them. He addresses the needs of both digital and analog game designers, and offers many references as jumping-off points for further exploration and learning. Coverage includes:

• A clear introduction to the discipline of game design, what game designers actually do, and how they fit into game development teams and the game development process
• A full section on prototyping and playtesting, from paper prototypes to intellectual property protection issues
• A detailed discussion of cognitive biases and human decision making as it pertains to games - an important discipline largely ignored in game design texts
• Thorough coverage of key game elements, with practical discussions of game mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics
• Practical coverage of using simulation tools to decode the magic of game balance
• A full section on the game design business, and how to create a sustainable lifestyle within it

Zack Hiwiller is a game designer, educator, and writer living in Orlando, Florida. He is a department chair for the Game Design degree program at Full Sail University and does consultant work for many large and small companies. Previously, in addition to independent projects, he was a designer at Gameloft and Electronic Arts. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master’s degree in Modeling and Simulation from the University of Central Florida. His writings at hiwiller.com have been reposted by Kotaku, GameSetWatch, and others and have reached over two million readers.