Level up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design, 2nd Edition

  • 8h 16m
  • Scott Rogers
  • John Wiley & Sons (UK)
  • 2014

Want to design your own video games? Let expert Scott Rogers show you how!

If you want to design and build cutting-edge video games but aren’t sure where to start, then the SECOND EDITION of the acclaimed Level Up! is for you! Written by leading video game expert Scott Rogers, who has designed the hits Pac Man World, Maximo and SpongeBob Squarepants, this updated edition provides clear and well-thought out examples that forgo theoretical gobbledygook with charmingly illustrated concepts and solutions based on years of professional experience.

Level Up! 2nd Edition has been NEWLY EXPANDED to teach you how to develop marketable ideas, learn what perils and pitfalls await during a game’s pre-production, production and post-production stages, and provide even more creative ideas to serve as fuel for your own projects including:

  • Developing your game design from the spark of inspiration all the way to production
  • Learning how to design the most exciting levels, the most precise controls, and the fiercest foes that will keep your players challenged
  • Creating games for mobile and console systems – including detailed rules for touch and motion controls
  • Monetizing your game from the design up
  • Writing effective and professional design documents with the help of brand new examples

Level Up! 2nd Edition is includes all-new content, an introduction by David “God of War” Jaffe and even a brand-new chili recipe –making it an even more indispensable guide for video game designers both “in the field” and the classroom.

About the Author

After discovering that game designers have more fun, Scott Rogers embarked on a 20-year (and counting) career as a video game designer, author, educator, and cartoonist.

He has helped design many awesome and successful video games that you might have played, including Pac-Man World, the Maximo series, God of War, the Drawn to Life series, and Darksiders. In addition to the first edition of this book, Scott wrote Swipe This! The Guide to Great Touchscreen Game Design and is the creator of the superhero comic book Bedbug. Scott is an adjunct professor for USC's prestigious School of Interactive Media and when he's not doing all that other stuff, he creates happiness for guests around the world as a Principal Imagineer for Walt Disney Imagineering.

In this Book

  • Foreword
  • Press Start!
  • Welcome, N00bs!
  • Ideas
  • Writing the Story
  • You Can Design a Game, but Can You Do the Paperwork?
  • The Three Cs, Part 1—Character
  • The Three Cs, Part 2—Camera
  • The Three Cs, Part 3—Controls
  • Sign Language—HUD and Icon Design
  • Everything I Learned about Level Design, I Learned from Level 9
  • The Elements of Combat
  • They All Want You Dead
  • The Nuts and Bolts of Mechanics
  • Now You're Playing with Power
  • Multiplayer—The More the Merrier
  • Everybody Wins—Monetization
  • Some Notes on Music
  • Cutscenes, or No One's Gonna Watch ‘Em Anyway
  • And Now the Hard Part
  • Continue?
  • The One-Sheet Sample
  • The Ten-Page Design Document Sample
  • Game Design Document Template
  • The Medium-Sized List of Story Genres
  • Game Genres
  • The Big List of Environments
  • Mechanics and Hazards
  • Enemy Design Template
  • Boss Design Template
  • High-Concept Pitch Presentation
  • Achievement Unlocked—Exactly like Making Chili
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