Worldbuilding for Game Designers
Our modern world is dominated by giant media companies, and increasingly they don’t so much sell story, characters or gameplay as they do their setting. Fictional worlds are big business and represent big value to companies and audiences alike, and they are increasingly expected and demanded by both. As yet, however, the art of building worlds has only been taught to writers of novels or films. The same worlds are frequently used across different modes of media, but successfully adapting them to games or building them for this purpose requires a specific approach.

Unlike all other artforms, games mandate participation, with the audience stepping into the world of the game and taking on the roles that the rules and pieces demand of them. Likewise, whenever an audience engages with a fictional world they are inherently playing a game of make‑believe and imagining themselves within a different context. This makes worldbuilding and gaming a perfect match, with each element giving more power to the other. This book unlocks exactly how the two disciplines are entwined and work together and how a designer can harness that synergy to the best effect.

This text is composed of short, focussed chapters that explain every step of building a compelling world, from getting your first ideas to moving towards publication. It also provides a deeper understanding of the how and why of world creation and why worlds have so much power over us as players and as people.

Features:

  • Covers every step of world creation from getting ideas to seeking publication

  • Comprehensive analysis of the field

  • Inspirational tricks to break blocks or find new angles

  • Practical exercises at the end of every chapter

  • Simple and accessible material for every kind of game or game designer

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Worldbuilding for Game Designers
Our modern world is dominated by giant media companies, and increasingly they don’t so much sell story, characters or gameplay as they do their setting. Fictional worlds are big business and represent big value to companies and audiences alike, and they are increasingly expected and demanded by both. As yet, however, the art of building worlds has only been taught to writers of novels or films. The same worlds are frequently used across different modes of media, but successfully adapting them to games or building them for this purpose requires a specific approach.

Unlike all other artforms, games mandate participation, with the audience stepping into the world of the game and taking on the roles that the rules and pieces demand of them. Likewise, whenever an audience engages with a fictional world they are inherently playing a game of make‑believe and imagining themselves within a different context. This makes worldbuilding and gaming a perfect match, with each element giving more power to the other. This book unlocks exactly how the two disciplines are entwined and work together and how a designer can harness that synergy to the best effect.

This text is composed of short, focussed chapters that explain every step of building a compelling world, from getting your first ideas to moving towards publication. It also provides a deeper understanding of the how and why of world creation and why worlds have so much power over us as players and as people.

Features:

  • Covers every step of world creation from getting ideas to seeking publication

  • Comprehensive analysis of the field

  • Inspirational tricks to break blocks or find new angles

  • Practical exercises at the end of every chapter

  • Simple and accessible material for every kind of game or game designer

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Worldbuilding for Game Designers

Worldbuilding for Game Designers

by Steve Dee
Worldbuilding for Game Designers
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Worldbuilding for Game Designers

Worldbuilding for Game Designers

by Steve Dee

Overview

Our modern world is dominated by giant media companies, and increasingly they don’t so much sell story, characters or gameplay as they do their setting. Fictional worlds are big business and represent big value to companies and audiences alike, and they are increasingly expected and demanded by both. As yet, however, the art of building worlds has only been taught to writers of novels or films. The same worlds are frequently used across different modes of media, but successfully adapting them to games or building them for this purpose requires a specific approach.

Unlike all other artforms, games mandate participation, with the audience stepping into the world of the game and taking on the roles that the rules and pieces demand of them. Likewise, whenever an audience engages with a fictional world they are inherently playing a game of make‑believe and imagining themselves within a different context. This makes worldbuilding and gaming a perfect match, with each element giving more power to the other. This book unlocks exactly how the two disciplines are entwined and work together and how a designer can harness that synergy to the best effect.

This text is composed of short, focussed chapters that explain every step of building a compelling world, from getting your first ideas to moving towards publication. It also provides a deeper understanding of the how and why of world creation and why worlds have so much power over us as players and as people.

Features:

  • Covers every step of world creation from getting ideas to seeking publication

  • Comprehensive analysis of the field

  • Inspirational tricks to break blocks or find new angles

  • Practical exercises at the end of every chapter

  • Simple and accessible material for every kind of game or game designer

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781032862293
Publisher: CRC Press
Publication date: 06/01/2025
Series: CRC Press Guides to Tabletop Game Design
Pages: 298
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Steve Dee has worked in games for thirty years as a designer, writer, editor, journalist, consultant, organizer and educator. He has won five ENnie awards for RPG design, most recently for CHEW: The Roleplaying Game and won Best Non-Digital Game at the 2024 Freeplay Awards for The Score. His card game There's Been A Murder has sold over 100,000 copies and been translated into three languages. He is the president of Tin Star Games.

Table of Contents

Part One: General Principles, 1.     Worlds Must Be Built to Purpose, 2.     Setting Exists To Communicate Mechanics, 3.     Worlds and Games Are Built On Narratives, 4.     World Building is Character Building, 5.     Astrology not Astronomy, 6.     Realism and Believability, 7.     Keep Asking Questions, 8.     Question Everything, 9.     Reality is Your Muse, 10.  Keeping Asking People, 11.  Rigidly Defined Areas of Doubt and Uncertainty, 12.  Embodiment and Anthropology, Part Two: Breaking Ground, 13.  Extrinsic and Intrinsic Worldbuilding, 14.  Start Small and End Small, 15.  Go Big and Go Home, 16.  The Richard Scarry Interrogative, 17.  Gods and Monsters, 18.  The Map is not the Territory, 19.  Genesis and the Bible, 20.  Top Down…, 21.  …and Bottom Up, 22.  The Spongebob Technique, 23.  Good vs Evil and Other Popular Brands, 24.  Psychographics and Psychodrama, 25.  Plot Armour and Railroading, Part Three: Developing Your World, 26.  Never Say Never Again, 27.  Pipe and How To Lay It, 28.  The Slice of Life, 29.  Signs and Signifiers, 30.  Synecdoche and Statistics, 31.  A Game Is A Map, 32.  Teaching and Example, 33.  The Jimmy Olsen Blues, 34.  The Ray Arnold Principle, 35.  Filling the Fractal, 36.  Borrowing, Stealing and Appropriating, 37.  Lawyers, Puns and Money

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