Making Great Games: An Insider's Guide to Designing and Developing the World's Greatest Video Games

Abstract

Look around. Increasingly, video games are becoming more and more a part of the fabric of our day-to-day lives. The debate regarding what should be considered the world’s first video game continues, but since the medium’s inception some time in the middle of the twentieth century, video games have continued to march forward and defy predictions as to their role in our society and our lives. The ‘hard-core’ gamer population has continued to grow, pouring more and more of their dollars into console titles and Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). Games on Facebook have brought an entirely new, enthusiastic demographic into the fold. Legions of stay-at-home moms have discovered and e MBraced casual games. Services like Xbox Live have broadened the experience and potential of games andhavemade real-timehead-to-headcompetition, collaborative play, and large-scale interactions like those found in Microsoft Game Studio’s1 vs. 100commonplace. In addition to dedicated game consoles, video games are played on mobile phones, iPads, portable game devices, online through services like Facebook and MySpace, and, of course, the personal computer.