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Foreword | |
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About the Author | |
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Press Start! | |
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Acknowledgments: Everything I Learned about Writing a Book | |
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Welcome, N00bs! | |
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A Brief History of Video Games | |
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Game Genres | |
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Who Makes this Stuff? | |
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Programmer | |
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Artist | |
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Designer | |
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Producer | |
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Tester | |
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Composer | |
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Sound Designer | |
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Writer | |
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Have You Thought about Publishing? | |
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Product Manager | |
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Creative Manager | |
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Art Director | |
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Technical Director | |
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And the Rest . . . | |
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Level 1's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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Ideas 23 | |
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Ideas: Where to Get Them and Where to Stick Them | |
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What do Gamers Want? | |
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Why I Hate "Fun" | |
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Brainstorming | |
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Breaking Writer's Block | |
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Level 2's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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Writing the Story | |
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The Triangle of Weirdness | |
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Time to Wrap It Up | |
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Creating Characters | |
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A Few Pointers on Writing for Kids of All Ages | |
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Writing for Licenses | |
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Level 3's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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You Can Design a Game, But Can You Do the Paperwork? | |
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Writing the GDD, Step 1: The One-Sheet | |
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ESRB Ratings | |
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Writing the GDD, Step 2: The Ten-Pager | |
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The Rule of Threes | |
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Ten-Pager Outline | |
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The Game Design Document (and the Awful Truth about Writing Them) | |
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Gameplay Progression | |
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The Beat Chart | |
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Above All, Don't Be a Schmuck | |
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Level 4's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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The Three Cs, Part 1-Character | |
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Personality: Do We Really Need Another Badass? | |
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Let's Get Personal | |
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Finally, We Talk about Gameplay | |
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Why Walk When You Can Run? | |
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The Art of Doing Nothing | |
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Might as Well Jump | |
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Hoists and Teeters | |
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What Goes Up, Must Fall Down | |
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Me and My Shadow | |
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The Water's Fine… or Is It? | |
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Be Kind to Our Four-Legged Friends | |
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Using All of the Parts | |
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We Are Not Alone | |
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Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood? | |
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Level 5's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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The Three Cs, Part 2-Camera | |
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Get It Right: Camera Views | |
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First Person Camera | |
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Third Person Camera | |
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Giving Up Control | |
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So You've Decided to Let the Player Control the Camera | |
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So You've Decided to Not Let the Player Have Control Over the Camera | |
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So You've Decided to Let the Player Sometimes Have Control Over the Camera | |
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Two and a Half D | |
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Isometric Camera | |
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Top-Down Camera | |
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Special Case Cameras | |
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Tunnel Vision | |
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Camera Shot Guide | |
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Camera Angle Guide | |
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Camera Movement Guide | |
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Other Camera Notes | |
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Always Point the Camera to the Objective | |
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Never Let the Character Get Out of the Camera's Sight | |
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Multiple Player Cameras | |
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Level 6's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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The Three Cs, Part 3-Controls | |
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Dance, Monkey, Dance | |
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Character or Camera Relative? | |
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Shake, Rattle and Roll | |
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Level 7's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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Sign Language-HUD and Icon Design | |
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Health Bar | |
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Targeting | |
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Ammo Gauge | |
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Inventory | |
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Score | |
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Radar/Map | |
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Context-Sensitive Prompt | |
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The Clean Screen | |
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Icon Has Cheezburger? | |
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Don't Get QTE | |
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HUDs, and Where to Stick 'Em | |
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There Are Other Screens Than the HUD | |
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The Pause that Refreshes | |
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A Final Word on Fonts | |
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Level 8's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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Everything I Learned about Level Design, I Learned from Level 9 | |
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The Top 10 Clich� Video Game Themes | |
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The Name Game | |
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Everything I Learned about Level Design, I Learned from Disneyland | |
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The Beat Chart | |
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Re-using Re-use | |
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The Gary Gygax Memorial Mapping Section | |
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The Dave Arnenson Memorial Mapping Section | |
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Wrapping Up Mapping | |
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Illusional Narrative | |
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Gray Matters | |
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Leave the Training Level for Last | |
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Level 9's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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The Elements of Combat | |
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Quatloos on the Newcomer! | |
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Now You have to Kiss Me | |
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On Moving | |
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On Guarding | |
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State of the Art Bang Bang | |
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The Best Gun for You | |
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Run and Gun | |
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Not Just Shooting | |
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Dammit Jones, Where Doesn't It Hurt? | |
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Death: What is It Good For? | |
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Level 10's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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They All Want You Dead | |
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Bring on the Bad Guys | |
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I Love Designing Enemies | |
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I Hate You to Pieces | |
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Non-Enemy Enemies | |
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How to Create the World's Greatest Boss Battle | |
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Who's the Boss? | |
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Size Matters | |
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Location, Location, Location | |
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Why Not to Create the World's Greatest Boss Battle | |
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Level 11's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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The Nuts and Bolts of Mechanics | |
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Holy Death Trap! | |
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Time to Die | |
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The Music of Mechanics | |
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A Nice Little Calm Spot | |
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Riddle Me This | |
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A Short Word on Minigames and Microgames | |
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Level 12's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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Now You're Playing with Power. | |
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"Love Thy Player" | |
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More Wealth Than You Can Imagine! | |
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Level 13's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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Multiplayer-the More the Merrier | |
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How Many is the Right Number? | |
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MMORPGS, or Hell is Other People | |
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Level 14's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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Some Notes on Music | |
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Sounds Like a Game to Me | |
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Level 15's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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Cutscenes, or No One's Gonna Watch 'Em Anyway | |
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How to Write a Screenplay in Eight Easy Steps | |
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Level 16's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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And Now the Hard Part | |
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No One Cares about Your Stupid Little World | |
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Video Games is a Haaaard Business | |
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What to Do for an Encore? | |
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Level 17's Universal Truths and Clever Ideas | |
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Continue? | |
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The One-Sheet Sample | |
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The Ten-Page Design Document Sample | |
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Game Design Document Template | |
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The Medium-Sized List of Story Themes | |
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The Big List of Environments | |
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Mechanics and Hazards | |
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Enemy Design Template | |
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Boss Design Template | |
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High Concept Pitch Presentation | |
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Achievement Unlocked: Exactly Like Making Chili | |
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Index | |