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Foreword | |
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Introduction to the Second Edition | |
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Introduction | |
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What Players Want | |
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Why Do Players Play? | |
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Players Want a Challenge | |
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Players Want to Socialize | |
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Players Want a Dynamic Solitary Experience | |
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Players Want Bragging Rights | |
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Players Want an Emotional Experience | |
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Players Want to Explore | |
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Players Want to Fantasize | |
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Players Want to Interact | |
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What Do Players Expect? | |
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Players Expect a Consistent World | |
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Players Expect to Understand the Game-World's Bounds | |
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Players Expect Reasonable Solutions to Work | |
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Players Expect Direction | |
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Players Expect to Accomplish a Task Incrementally | |
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Players Expect to Be Immersed | |
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Players Expect Some Setbacks | |
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Players Expect a Fair Chance | |
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Players Expect to Not Need to Repeat Themselves | |
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Players Expect to Not Get Hopelessly Stuck | |
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Players Expect to Do, Not to Watch | |
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Players Do Not Know What They Want, but They Know When It Is Missing | |
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A Never-Ending List | |
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Interview: Sid Meier | |
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Brainstorming a Game Idea: Gameplay, Technology, and Story | |
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Starting Points | |
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Starting with Gameplay | |
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Starting with Technology | |
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Starting with Story | |
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Working with Limitations | |
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Odyssey: The Legend of Nemesis | |
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Damage Incorporated | |
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Centipede 3D | |
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The Suffering | |
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Embrace Your Limitations | |
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Established Technology | |
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The Case of the Many Mushrooms | |
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The Time Allotted | |
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If You Choose Not to Decide, You Still Have Made a Choice | |
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Game Analysis: Centipede | |
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Classic Arcade Game Traits | |
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Input | |
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Interconnectedness | |
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Escalating Tension | |
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One Person, One Game | |
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Focus | |
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Establishing Focus | |
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An Example: Winter Carnival Whirlwind | |
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The Function of the Focus | |
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Maintaing Focus | |
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Fleshing Out the Focus | |
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Changing Focus | |
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Sub-Focuses | |
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Using Focus | |
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Interview: Ed Logg | |
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The Elements of Gameplay | |
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Unique Solutions | |
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Anticipatory versus Complex Systems | |
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Emergence | |
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Non-Linearity | |
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Types of Non-Linearity | |
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Implementation | |
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The Purpose of Non-Linearity | |
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Modeling Reality | |
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Teaching the Player | |
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Tutorials | |
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Input/Output | |
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Controls and Input | |
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Output and Game-World Feedback | |
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Basic Elements | |
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Game Analysis: Tetris | |
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Puzzle Game or Action Game? | |
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Tetris as a Classic Arcade Game | |
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The Technology | |
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Artificial Intelligence | |
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Escalating Tension | |
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Simplicity and Symmetry | |
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Fifteen Years On, Who Would Publish Tetris? | |
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Artificial Intelligence | |
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Goals of Game AI | |
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Challenge the Player | |
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Not Do Dumb Things | |
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Be Unpredictable | |
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Assist Storytelling | |
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Create a Living World | |
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The Sloped Playing Field | |
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How Real Is Too Real? | |
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AI Agents and Their Environment | |
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How Good Is Good Enough? | |
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Scripting | |
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Artificial Stupidity | |
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Interview: Steve Meretzky | |
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Storytelling | |
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Designer's Story Versus Player's Story | |
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Places for Storytelling | |
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Out-of-Game | |
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In-Game | |
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External Materials | |
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Linear Writing Pitfalls | |
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Player Character Personality | |
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Game Stories | |
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Non-Linearity | |
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Working with the Gameplay | |
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The Dream | |
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Game Analysis: Loom | |
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Focused Game Mechanics | |
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User Interface | |
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The Drafts System | |
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Difficulty | |
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Story | |
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Loom as an Adventure Game | |
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Multi-Player | |
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Motivations | |
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The Forms | |
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Single System Multi-Player | |
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Online Multi-Player | |
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Design Considerations | |
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Playing to Strengths | |
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Protect Newbies | |
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Socialization | |
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Development Issues | |
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Playtesting and User Feedback | |
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A World of Their Own | |
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Interview: Chris Crawford | |
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Getting the Gameplay Working | |
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The Organic Process | |
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Too Much Too Soon | |
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Keep It Simple | |
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Building the Game | |
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Core Technology | |
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Incremental Steps | |
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A Fully Functional Area | |
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Going Through Changes | |
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Programming | |
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When Is It Fun? | |
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Game Analysis: Myth: The Fallen Lords | |
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Use of Technology | |
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Game Focus | |
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Storytelling | |
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Hard-Core Gaming | |
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Multi-Player | |
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A Cohesive Whole | |
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Game Development Documentation | |
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Document Your Game | |
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Concept Document, Pitch Document, or Proposal | |
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Competitive Analysis | |
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Design Document | |
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Flowcharts | |
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Story Bible | |
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Script | |
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Art Bible | |
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The Game Minute | |
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Storyboards | |
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Technical Design Document | |
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Schedules and Business/Marketing Documents | |
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No Standard Documentation | |
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The Benefits of Documentation | |
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Interview: Jordan Mechner | |
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The Design Document | |
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The Writing Style | |
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The Sections | |
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Table of Contents | |
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Introduction/Overview or Executive Summary | |
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Game Mechanics | |
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Artificial Intelligence | |
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Game Elements: Characters, Items, and Objects/Mechanisms | |
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Story Overview | |
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Game Progression | |
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System Menus | |
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One Man's Opinion | |
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Inauspicious Design Documents | |
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The Wafer-Thin or Ellipsis Special Document | |
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The Back-Story Tome | |
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The Overkill Document | |
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The Pie-in-the-Sky Document | |
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The Fossilized Document | |
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A Matter of Weight | |
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Getting It Read | |
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Documentation Is Only the Beginning | |
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Game Analysis: The Sims | |
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Abdicating Authorship | |
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Familiar Subject Matter | |
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Safe Experimentation | |
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Depth and Focus | |
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Interface | |
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Controlled Versus Autonomous Behavior | |
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A Lesson to Be Learned | |
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Designing Design Tools | |
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Desired Functionality | |
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Visualizing the Level | |
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The Big Picture | |
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Jumping into the Game | |
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Editing the World | |
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Scripting Languages and Object Behaviors | |
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Us Versus Them | |
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The Best of Intentions | |
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A Game Editor for All Seasons | |
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Interview: Will Wright | |
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Level Design | |
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Levels in Different Games | |
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Level Separation | |
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Level Order | |
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The Components of a Level | |
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Action | |
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Exploration | |
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Puzzle Solving | |
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Storytelling | |
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Aesthetics | |
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Balancing It All | |
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Level Flow | |
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Elements of Good Levels | |
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Players Cannot Get Stuck | |
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Sub-Goals | |
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Landmarks | |
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Critical Path | |
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Limited Backtracking | |
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Success the First Time | |
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Navigable Areas Clearly Marked | |
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Choices | |
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A Personal List | |
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The Process | |
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Preliminary | |
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Conceptual and Sketched Outline | |
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Base Architecture/Block Out | |
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Refine Architecture Until It Is Fun | |
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Base Gameplay | |
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Refine Gameplay Until It Is Fun | |
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Refine Aesthetics | |
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Playtesting | |
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Process Variations | |
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Who Does Level Design? | |
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Collaboration | |
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Game Analysis: Grand Theft Auto III | |
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Believable Game-World | |
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A Living City | |
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Actions and Consequences | |
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Storytelling | |
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Playtesting | |
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Finding the Right Testers | |
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Who Should Test | |
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Who Should Not Test | |
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When to Test | |
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How to Test | |
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Guided and Unguided Testing | |
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Balancing | |
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Your Game Is Too Hard | |
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The Artistic Vision | |
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Interview: Doug Church | |
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Conclusion | |
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Art | |
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The Medium | |
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The Motive | |
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Sample Design Document: Atomic Sam | |
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Overview | |
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Game Mechanics | |
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Artificial Intelligence | |
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Game Elements | |
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Story Overview | |
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Game Progression | |
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Bibliography | |
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Sample Design Document: The Suffering | |
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Introduction | |
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Game Mechanics | |
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Resources | |
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NPCs | |
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Gameflow | |
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Maps | |
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Menus | |
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Glossary | |
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Selected Bibliography | |
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Index | |