In some ways game designers might feel like the Rodney Dangerfield’s of the software design world — they don’t get no respect. But they can have the last laugh, with an industry that has grown into a media leader. From a design standpoint there is much good here, with products that are engaging, require problem solving, can have complex storylines, but with intuitive user interfaces. Good games don’t require lengthy user manuals or training courses. And the The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses
I skimmed much of the book — I’m not really looking for a new career as a game designer. But it is also loaded with some real gems. The section on brainstorming offers 15 tips including write everything down (no bad ideas) and post ideas on the walls (because people tend to remember things better with the additional of spatial reference.) Use a spiral development process with lots of prototyping. And design the game with elements that build strong communities — foster friendships, create shared property, have events, force dependence on each other. All of these design practices aimed at building an engaging experience for users that creates value (aka profit) for the company — not a bad goal for educational or business software either. Perhaps a good title for an enterprise software course would be something like “think like a game designer.” It could certainly make the weekly time sheet application less of a chore!
Amazon.com: The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses (9780123694966): Jesse Schell: Books
He also approaches each aspect as a good designer would, providing not just bare facts but also captivating stories to set the mood and provide context, and adds charts, tables, drawings, and cartoons to capture the essence of his subjects and to illustrate them, figuratively and literally, from many different perspectives…The book is also intensely practical, giving some of the best advice on how to harness your own subconscious I’ve ever read…It’s a marvelous tour de force, and an essential part of anyone’s game design library.”–Noah Falstein, Game Developer, January 2009
Spiral model – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The spiral model is a software development process combining elements of both design and prototyping-in-stages, in an effort to combine advantages of top-down and bottom-up concepts.
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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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