Game Architecture and Design Gold Book,9781576104255

Game Architecture and Design Gold Book

by Rollings, Andrew

ISBN13: 9781576104255

ISBN10: 1576104257

Format: Paperback

Pub. Date: 1999-11-01

Publisher(s): Coriolis Group

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Summary

Dave Morris, the author of numerous role-playing game books, takes the reader through all the necessary game creation steps--from seeing a game idea on paper to actually implementing that idea. He and Rollings then teache design, architecture and management for PC, Macintosh, and UNIX platforms. The CD-ROM features a current version of Microsoft's DirectorX; Mac Sprockets (the Macintosh equivalent to DirectorX); and all source code developed in the book.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xvii
Game Design
First Concept	p. 3
The Shock Of The New	p. 3
Having The Idea	p. 4
Shaping The Idea	p. 8
The Treatment	p. 11
Taking Stock	p. 12
Getting It Down	p. 13
Feasibility	p. 13
Core Design	p. 19
What Is A Game?	p. 19
Games Aren't Everything	p. 21
Games Mean Gameplay	p. 22
Creating The Game Spec	p. 24
Example Game Spec	p. 32
Gameplay	p. 37
What Is Gameplay?	p. 38
Implementing Gameplay	p. 38
Interactivity	p. 53
Detailed Design	p. 59
The Designer's Role	p. 59
Design Documentation	p. 63
Using The Design Documents	p. 64
Fitting Design To Development	p. 67
Why Use Documents At All?	p. 71
Game Balance	p. 73
Player/Player Balance	p. 74
Player/Gameplay Balance	p. 77
Gameplay/Gameplay Balance	p. 81
A Game Balance Checklist	p. 97
Look And Feel	p. 101
Ambience	p. 101
Interface	p. 106
Storytelling	p. 109
The Sum Of The Parts	p. 120
Wrapping Up	p. 121
The Professionals	p. 122
The Future Of Game Design	p. 141
The Necessity Of Design	p. 141
Essentials Of Game Design	p. 145
The Future Of Design	p. 148
The Future Of Games	p. 151
The Way Forward	p. 159
Team Building And Management
Current Methods Of Team Management	p. 163
The Current Development Model	p. 163
Roles And Divisions	p. 179
Assigning Personnel	p. 179
Improving Morale And The Working Environment	p. 187
Spreading The Risk	p. 194
The Software Factory	p. 195
What Is A Software Factory?	p. 195
Why Use A Software Factory?	p. 197
Organizing A Software Factory	p. 202
Applying The Software Factory Structure And Methodology	p. 214
The Suitability Of A Software Factory	p. 219
The Final Word	p. 219
Milestones And Deadlines	p. 221
How Milestones Currently Work	p. 222
Fuzzy Milestones	p. 225
Milestones And Mini-Milestones	p. 227
When To Use Milestones	p. 228
Making Your Milestones Accurate	p. 228
Defining Milestones	p. 238
Procedures And "Process"	p. 249
Procedures	p. 250
"Process"	p. 261
Procedures: Where To Use Them?	p. 267
Source Control And Code Reviews: A Synergy	p. 272
The Importance Of Information Transmission	p. 277
Troubleshooting	p. 285
Risks	p. 290
The Future Of The Industry	p. 323
The State Of The Industry	p. 324
The New Model Developers	p. 334
The Online Revolution	p. 339
Survival of the Fittest	p. 341
Game Architecture
Current Development Methods	p. 345
The History Of Development Techniques	p. 347
The Present Day	p. 360
Initial Design	p. 369
The Beginning	p. 371
Hardware Abstraction	p. 372
The Problem Domain	p. 387
Thinking In Tokens	p. 389
Use Of Technology	p. 413
The State Of The Art	p. 416
Blue-Sky Research	p. 427
Reinventing The Wheel	p. 438
Use Of Object Technology	p. 443
Building Blocks	p. 451
Reusability In Software	p. 453
Initial Architecture Design	p. 495
The Birth Of An Architecture	p. 496
The Tier System	p. 503
Architecture Design	p. 513
Development	p. 521
The Development Process	p. 522
Code Quality	p. 525
Coding Priorities	p. 546
Debugging And Module Completion	p. 550
The Seven Golden Gambits And The Three Lead Balloons	p. 557
The Three Lead Balloons	p. 561
The Run-Up To Release	p. 563
Late Evaluation	p. 564
Late Localization	p. 575
Demos	p. 577
Playtesting	p. 579
Focus Groups	p. 582
The Web Site	p. 583
Getting Ready For The Gold Master	p. 584
Patches	p. 585
Postmortem	p. 589
Team Dynamics	p. 591
Concept	p. 594
Development	p. 602
Business Aspects	p. 606
The Postmortem Postmortem	p. 608
The Future Of Game Development	p. 609
Development In Context	p. 610
Future Development	p. 614
Small Is Beautiful Too	p. 621
Building The Team Of The Future	p. 622
New Directions In Development	p. 627
The Shape Of Things To Come?	p. 634
Appendixes
Sample Game Design Documents	p. 639
Bibliography And References	p. 723
Glossary	p. 727
Index	p. 729
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.