Game Design Essentials

Chapter 1: The Game Jam: Make a real game…right now!
The Game Jam
     Modifying the Game Jam
     Best Practices
The Game Engine
     Game Engine History
     Unreal Versions
     Installing the Unreal Engine
     Game Design Fundamentals: Character Movement and Abilities
     Game Design Fundamentals: Axis Direction in 3D Game Engines
Making Our Game
     The Third-Person Platformer
     Game Design Fundamentals: Graphics
     Game Design Fundamentals: Constructivism
Testing The Game
     Game Design Fundamentals: Bugs
Publishing The Game
     Unreal 4 Publishing Directions
     Common Build Problems
     Problems running your game?
Packaging in Unreal 5
     Game Design Fundamentals: The Post-Mortem
     Game Design Fundamentals: Going with the Grain
Congratulations!

Chapter 2: After the Game Jam: Game Design Basics
From Penny Arcades to Video Games
     Game Design Fundamentals: The Birth of the Game Designer
     Game Design Fundamentals: Iteration
Video Games and the Personal Computer
     Game Design Fundamentals: Level Design
What is Fun?
What is a Game?
     Sports Games: Not True Games?
     Game Design Fundamentals: The Magic Circle
More Basic Ludology
Practical Application
Conclusion

Chapter 3: Game Design Preproduction: The Paper Design Phase
Introduction
Why Do We Document?
Different Types of Documents
The Pitch Document
Out Next Game: Filling in The Pitch Document
     Game Design Fundamentals: Making 2D Maps
Patrick’s Time Travel Adventure
Game Overview
Overhead Map
Gameplay Summary
Visual References
The Completed Pitch Document
     Game Design Fundamentals: Design Documents Aren’t Contracts
     Game Design Fundamentals: When to Use a Larger GDD
Conclusion

Chapter 4: Game Design Production, Part 1: The Whitebox
Introduction
Setting Up Your Map
     Game Design Fundamentals: How Big?
Scale: Don’t Build a World for Giants!
Revising Your Whitebox as You Build
Optional: The Unreal Landscape Tool
Designing Effective Game Environments
     Game Design Fundamentals: Landmarks
     Design Fundamentals: Avoiding The “Trackless Forest”
     Game Design Fundamentals: Paths
Completing the Whitebox
Conclusion

Chapter 5: Scripting and Programming Basics
Introduction
Getting Started with Scripting and Programming
     Introducing Unreal Blueprint – Events and Actions
     Game Design Fundamentals: Pseudo-Code
The Mighty Trigger
Variables and Evaluating Conditions: If This, Do That!
What About Other Programming Languages?
Conclusion

Chapter 6: The First Prototype
Introduction
Getting The Key
Making the Key Blueprint
     Game Design Fundamentals: Service to the Player
The Key-Door System: Some Game Development Fakery
     Game Design Fundamentals: Thinking in Systems
     Game Design Fundamentals: How Open Should a Game Be?
Conclusion

Chapter 7: The MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
Introduction
Reviewing Our Completed Systems
Our Combat System: Historical Perspective
Using A Test Map
Making The Blueprints
Char_Monster
     Char_Monster’s Viewport
     Char_Monster’s Event Graph
BP_Sword
     BP_Sword’s Viewport
     The Event Graph of BP_Sword
     Game Design Fundamentals: Arrays
     Level Placement
     Creating A Winning Condition
     Implementing
Conclusion

Chapter 8: Environment Art Basics
Introduction
Understanding Visuals – The Visual Language
The Visual Actors
Contrast and Affinity
     Game Design Fundamentals: Contrast and Affinity
Exploring Contrast and Affinity in the King’s Castle
Kit Bashing
     Game Design Fundamentals: The Beautiful Corner
Pass One: Basic Structure
Pass Two: Props
Pass Three: Lighting and Smaller Details
     Game Design Fundamentals: Using Editors Efficiently
Job Complete? Maybe.
Conclusion

Chapter 9: User Interface Design
Introduction
     Game Design Fundamentals: UI Design Basics
     Game Design Fundamentals: UX Basics
The UI and UX Design of the Sample Game
Creating a UI Widget
Displaying A Game Widget to the Screen
Changing Fonts
Dynamically Changing UI Text
Solving the UX Problem
Constructing the Journal
Conclusion

Chapter 10: Refining Combat
Introduction
Creating More Interesting Gameplay
     Game Design Fundamentals: Basic Actions and Strategic Actions
Implementing New Gameplay
     Game Design Fundamentals: The Dot Product
Setting Up the Dot Product
Implementing the Critical Hit
Tweaking the Monster Movement Behavior and Game Rules
     Game Design Fundamentals: Second-Order Consequences
Fixing the Monster’s Rotation
Experimenting with Level Design
     Game Design Fundamentals: Using the Z-Axis
Even More Design Iteration?
Conclusion

Chapter 11: Spreadsheets and Procedural Design
Introduction
Designing A Simple Procedural System for PowerUps
Creating the Blueprints
Creating the Actor Blueprint
Creating a Simple Material
Creating The Spreadsheet and Data Table
     Game Design Fundamentals: Spreadsheet Formulas
Manipulating Data Tables in Blueprints
Evaluating What Is Happening So Far
Testing and Observing Results
Placing a Power-Up Manually
     Game Design Fundamentals: Hand Crafted versus Procedural Design
Conclusion

Chapter 12: Game Audio Basics
Introduction
Implementing Footsteps for the Player
     Game Design Fundamentals: Audio Files
Creating an Environment Loop
Setting Up an Unreal Sound Cue
Placing Sounds and Manipulating Them in a Sound Cue
     Game Design Fundamentals: Spatialization
Setting Up Other Game Sounds
Game Pickup Sounds
User Interface Sounds
Sounds for Combat
Implementing Game Music
Game Design Fundamentals: Stems and Music Implementation
Conclusion

Chapter 13: Polish
Introduction
Adding Particle Effects
Adding a Post Process Volume
     Game Design Fundamentals: The Uncanny Valley
Revisiting Particle Effects
Conclusion

Chapter 14: Playtesting, Data Gathering, and Quality Assurance
Introduction
     Game Design Fundamentals: The Inner Voice
Collecting Feedback
     Game Design Fundamentals: Likert Scales and Thematic Analysis
Quality Assurance and Bug Reporting
Creating a Good Bug Report
Other Information in Bug Reports
     Game Design Fundamentals: Regression Testing
Bug Reporting Software
Further Exploration: Software Development Methodology
Improving the Sample Game
Applying the Data
Conclusion

Chapter 15: Publishing Games
Introduction
Getting Your Game Out There
Publishing to Itch.IO
Publishing to Steam
Publishing on Home Game Consoles
Marketing And the Problem of Discovery
Don’t Worry and Make Things
Conclusion

Afterword

References

Appendix A: Documentation Examples
Game Pitch Document:
Full Game Design Document Example

Index

• Instructors Resources
• Powerpoint