Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design

The book was great in condition and looked new and it came in fast like promissed.

As the global computer games industry becomes bigger business, and games are increasingly recognised as an art form, it seems surprising that the process of game design is so misunderstood. Books like Rollings and Adams on Game Design help clarify the process of game design, and as such are a vital step in clarifying game design, and providing guidance as to what that process entails.Rollings and Adams on Game Design (hereafter, `the book') covers in broad strokes the elements of game design, both in general terms, and in connection with specific genres. The book begins by identifying the common elements of games of all kinds, and then moves on to discussing the many different classes of game, and what they have in common. The first section, The Elements of Game Design, is an excellent treatment of the broad-strokes components of game design - a novice designer will find much to educate in this section, and even an experienced pro will find wisdom and opinion well worth the time and money. Topics such as narrative design and game balancing - often ignored - are dealt with in a generalised but comprehensive fashion, and as such this section also serves as an excellent introduction to the role of a game designer.The main body of the book is in the second section, which consists of individual chapters covering various game genres. Because no single standard for game genre exists, the choice of genres may raise some eyebrows with some people, but within the context of the book the genre choices are very sensible and provide a good framework.The quality of the genre chapters is variable, but generally of an excellent standard. Some are truly exceptional however, in particular that on Sports Games and the sub-section on Games for Girls contain information very hard to gain from another source. Chapters on Action, Strategy, Vehicle simulations and Construction/Management sims provide a solid discussion of the key features of these genres, although Action has been defined in such a way as to seem biased towards shooters and against platform games. It may have been worth considering these two largely divergent genres as separate forms - but to do so would have been to risk fragmenting the focused nature of the material.Chapters on Adventure Games, A-life and other minority pursuits are quite possibly the best summary of the forms available anywhere, and the chapter on online games (written with the assistance of Raph Koster) is a superb précis of a notoriously difficult to summarise area.There are some drawbacks, but mostly due to the generalised nature of the work. Because the book must cover everything, it necessarily covers everything briefly. Many of the chapters end when you are just beginning to get a taste for the details. As the authors note, an attempt to cover everything in detail would be the work of several volumes. Similarly, although much is said of the process of game mechanic design and game world abstraction, little is said of the process

Having read "Game Architecture and Design", which I consider the best game design book written, I was anxious for the follow-up from Andrew Rollings. I was not disappointed. Overall, this book covers unique material, but is aimed more toward the less experienced game designer. It's a great companion to his first book.I highly recommend both books, and I suggest reading this latest book, co-authored by Ernest Adams, first, and then follow-up with the larger, more advanced book co-authored by Dave Morris. Together, they provide a comprehensive guide to making fun, successful games.Scott Miller, CEO3D Realms

A very helpful insite into the key elements of game design. This is more thorough than any of the other game design books I've read.Nice to have a book about game design that does not go down the technical route and helps with the issues of trying to get the concept from the head into a good design whilst not losing the original plot.The section on multiplayer gaming is extremely useful and opened up the argument as to whether cheating should be allowed or not.All in all, its a great read... A worthy companion to Game Architecture and Design.