Introduction to Game Systems Design

by Dax Gazaway

Overview

As games grow more complex and gamers expectations soar, the discipline of game systems design becomes ever more important. Game systems designers plan a games rules and balance, its characters attributes, most of its data, and how its AI, weapons, and objects work and interact. Introduction to Game Systems Design is the first complete beginners guide to this crucial discipline. Writing for all aspiring game professionals and gaming students—even those with absolutely no experience—leading game designer and instructor Dax Gazaway presents a step-by-step, hands-on approach to designing game systems with industry-standard tools. Drawing on his experience building AAA-level game systems (including games in the Star Wars and Marvel franchises), Gazaway covers all this, and more:

• Exploring the essentials of game design and its emerging subdisciplines
• Asking the essential questions at the heart of all design
• Getting started with modern game system design tools, including the spreadsheets most professionals now use
• Creating systems and data from a blank page
• Populating and quantifying a world of data into a game
• Tuning and balancing game systems
• Testing game systems and data
• Leveraging communication, psychology, and rewards within students' games
• Balancing game probability within systems

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780137440788
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	08/13/2021
Series:	Game Design
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	36 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Dax Gazaway was raised in a gamer family. His parents met in a Dungeons & Dragons group, and he was surrounded with games being played and made. From a very early age, Dax was fascinated by the numbers in games. He would pour over monster manuals and board game books, dissecting the rules to figure out how the systems worked.

Dax started in the video game industry in the late 1990s. During his tenure in the industry, Dax pioneered game system design at multiple independent and AAA studios, helping to refine and define the subdiscipline. In recent years, he has become a course director at Full Sail University, specializing in teaching new students the concepts and tools of the system designer. Dax has created new curriculum and multiple classes for system design students, and he teaches introduction to system design courses.

The following is a selection of Dax's game design credits:

• Star Wars: Obi-Wan, System and level designer
• Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter, System and level designer and QA liaison
• Star Wars: Bounty Hunter: System and level designer
• Gladius: System designer
• Syphon Filter franchise: Lead designer and system designer
• Spider Man 3: Lead system designer
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Lead system designer
• Guitar Hero franchise: System designer

In addition, Dax has been the studio lead system designer for Row Sham Bow Games and a system design consultant for multiple projects.

Table of Contents

Preface     xx

Chapter 1  Games and Players: Defined     1

Chapter 2  Roles in the Game Industry     23

Chapter 3  Asking Questions     31

Chapter 4  System Design Tools     43

Chapter 5  Spreadsheet Basics     51

Chapter 6  Spreadsheet Functions     89

Chapter 7  Distilling Life into Systems     109

Chapter 8  Coming Up with Ideas     119

Chapter 9  Attributes: Creating and Quantifying Life     133

Chapter 10  Organizing Data in Spreadsheets     145

Chapter 11  Attribute Numbers     157

Chapter 12  System Design Foundations     169

Chapter 13  Range Balancing, Data Fulcrums, and Hierarchical Design     195

Chapter 14  Exponential Growth and Diminishing Returns     215

Chapter 15  Analyzing Game Data     229

Chapter 16  Macrosystems and Player Engagement     245

Chapter 17  Fine-Tuning Balance, Testing, and Problem Solving     257

Chapter 18  Systems Communication and Psychology     279

Chapter 19  Probability     291

Chapter 20  Next Steps     341

Index     345