Rules of Play: Game Design FundamentalsGain a deeper understanding of games and game design through 18 pioneering frameworks—with examples from board games, computer games, video games, and more. As pop culture, games are as important as film or television—but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games. Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like “play,” “design,” and “interactivity.” They look at games through a series of 18 “game design schemas,” or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance. Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design. |
Contents
| 11 | |
Core Concepts | 28 |
Design | 42 |
Systems | 129 |
56 | 151 |
Defining Digital Games | 169 |
RULES PLAY CULTURE 100 | 220 |
PLAY | 298 |
Other editions - View all
Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals Katie Salen Tekinbas,Eric Zimmerman No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
action activity Arcade game ball behavior Board game Breakout Brian Sutton-Smith challenge chapter character cheating Chess choice Chutes and Ladders cognitive frame complex Computer game concept conflict Console game context core mechanic create cultural rhetoric cutscenes cybernetic decision decision tree defined definition dice digital games elements emergent example experiential explore focus FOON formal structure formal system forms frame game design game experience game play game players game rules game system game theory game world game's Games as Cultural goal grid idea implicit rules interaction kind look lusory attitude magic circle meaning meaningful play metagame move narrative play outcome pieces play a game play community players take pleasure points random relationships represent result role role-playing games roll schema score screen sense simulation social play space of possibility SPORK story Sutton-Smith Tetris Tic-Tac-Toe tion transformative turn uncertainty understanding video games Virtua Fighter wargame winning