How to describe this book? And that playtesting is vital to know what the heck you just made and if it is actually “fun.” The author has many strong arguments and also very has high ideals when it comes to game designing. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Raph Koster is a veteran game designer who has been professionally credited in almost every area of the game industry. It has a personal but also very matter of fact tone that jumps right into the content. Amazon.in - Buy Theory of Fun for Game Design 2ed book online at best prices in India on Amazon.in. As the book shows, designing for fun is all about making interactive products like games highly entertaining, engaging, and addictive. A Theory of Fun for Game Design is an excellent, even foundational, read for anyone interested in creating experiences that challenge and engage minds, experiences that inspire learning, experiences that are – in Koster’s definition – fun. A Theory of Art for Game Design Then the whole thing falls into place. It seems to me quite plausible that play or certain kinds of games can be seen as highjacking the satisfaction that you would ideally be getting from an actual accomplishment in real-life, diverting your mastery and craft and intellectual stretching from th. Having said that, its basic premise is that all satisfying play is learning and I just don't buy that. It's just $6 in the Kindle store, or else I wouldn't have even bought it, but I regret it now in any case. Raph Koster, a rather celebrated game designer (and former creative head of Sony’s game department), tries to explain just exactly what video games are, and in the process of doing this takes on what he feels are common misconceptions about video games. He argues that the value in games must be found in that interaction and feedback loop and this is what sets games apart from, say, a book. This is not a how-to book: you will not get practical advice for being a better designer or designing a game within its pages. The bulk of the time at these meetings is devoted to playtesting of various prototypes but we also have about 15 minutes at the beginning of each meeting … This essay therefore develops an initial proposal for a working theory of game design. Helpful. This was a good book on the philosophy of video games. The book is not tactics but about the underlying theory of games: why some games have high retention and others are not. Buy Theory of Fun for Game Design 2 by Raph Koster (ISBN: 8580001179773) from Amazon's Book Store. Very nice book, easy to understand and with a lot of wonderful concepts about game design! November 6th 2004 My BIG takeaway from this theory is that games are essentially unknowable until they are played. "), but I enjoyed them, as they seem to illustrate the point of the text on the left pages a little more. While there are some things I would place into question, for the most part, the book d. This was a very good book. It’s short at only 279 pages, but only about half of those have text – sometimes not even a full page. A useful and communicable theory of game design is needed to help game designers and academics speak a common language, to legitimize the study of game design among other social sciences and to educate the next generation of game designers. About; Press; Excerpt; Cartoons; Resources "It's the best game design book I have ever read. This book, The Theory of Fun by Raph Koster came to me via Brent Schlenker, who claims this book to be a personal favorite. Jay Crossler Senior Software Engineer Serious Games & Game Design Lecture 2 : Course Book Review - Theory of Fun, Player Archetypes 2. It comes at the issue from a design perspective rather than a theoretical one, and its informal, personal tone combined with useful but comical illustrations make it a very accessible read. A must-read for gamers, casual gamers and designers of interactive digital environments. -- Ernest Adams, game designer "If you're interested in game design, get it and read it." However, everything it does cover is pretty meaty, if short. Games are about pattern matching, about special relationships, about exploring. Fun, Art, and Games The parts of the book that talk about games and art hold together cohesively from one end to the other. [...] If we perceive something as noise, it's most likely a failure of ourselves, not a failure of the universe.”, “That’s what games are, in the end. Summary: A good introductory text on game design that briefly covers a gamut of practical topics in game design, but doesn’t go into much depth on any one of them. It was disappointing and frustrating experience. Theory of Fun is a collection of musings and ideas on game design from a time when gaming was far more niche. As I mentioned the purpose of this book is to introduce, not dive fully into depth on any one of these topics, so I think it’s better to look at the source materials (he provides many recommendations for further reading) before accepting them at face value. I just wish the title of the book would reflect it. ), the difference between systems and aesthetics. This Book provides an clear examples on each and every topics covered in the contents … Koster talks about games as our desire for both repetition and challenge (and out of that, the pleasure of learning), the concept of "fun", and how games are formal systems that reward skills that are either primitive (shooting, speed, aiming) or questionable (gaining power, resolving issues with violence, concerns with status hierarchies). Raph Koster. I always thought sure, of course, but I found that Koster corrected some of my ideas about what is unique to games, in an engaging style. Released November 2013 . See why the book has become a game design classic. Well-considered and should be on every game developer's shelf. This book is about what psychological elements of video games capture peoples attention. Talk:A Theory of Fun for Game Design. Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster, 9781449363215, available at Book Depository with free delivery worldwide. His argument focuses on games needing to surpass just being about fun, as they'll never be considered a true medium until a designer can make a game about, say, loneliness, or other aspects of the human condition. Reviewed in Canada on October 11, 2017. A deeply researched treatise on video games. Start your free trial. 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