Jesse schell game design lenses

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Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Anyone can master the fundamentals of game design—no technological expertise is necessary. The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses shows that the same basic principles of psychology that work for board games, card games and athletic games also are the keys to making top-quality video games.

Good game design happens when you view your game from many different perspectives, Anyone can master the fundamentals of game design—no technological expertise is necessary.

Good game design happens when you view your game from many different perspectives, or lenses. While touring through the unusual territory that is game design, this book gives the reader one hundred of these lenses—one hundred sets of insightful questions to ask yourself that will help make your game better. These lenses are gathered from fields as diverse as psychology, architecture, music, visual design, film, software engineering, theme park design, mathematics, writing, puzzle design, and anthropology.

Anyone who reads this book will be inspired to become a better game designer—and will understand how to do it. Get A Copy. Paperback , pages. More Details Other Editions Friend Reviews.

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Jan 23, Michael Burnam-Fink rated it it was amazing Shelves: games , On one level, this is a textbook about how to design a game.

On another level, this a work of love by someone who clearly understands why games are fun, and how to manage the tricky business of coordinating all the people required to build one. Jesse Schell breaks games down into their individual components, and explains how those can work together to reinforce an experience of fun.

The book is full of practical, folksy wisdom on managing artists, programmers, playtesters, and clients. A charmin On one level, this is a textbook about how to design a game. A charming, conversational book full of hard advice and useful ideas. A good read for anybody who loves games, and essential for somebody who plans to design one. Update: My giftee has read deeper into this book and shared some parts with me that I hadn't yet seen.

This book is sexist and misogynistic. I'll update with more details as soon as I have time I want to look into who else is responsible for publishing this material in support of the author , but, wow: those parts are terrible, poorly cited, and contain glaring problems such as "people are saying" weasel words.

I'm going to go ahead and say most reviewers here likely would not have given this boo Update: My giftee has read deeper into this book and shared some parts with me that I hadn't yet seen.

I'm going to go ahead and say most reviewers here likely would not have given this book a pass if it contained racism and antisemitism equivalent to the book's sexism, yet look at the star reviews with not a single mention of the outrageous sexism contained herein. Either those readers believe as the author does, without evidence, so they didn't notice, or they just don't care, which is frustrating and disturbing no matter how you slice it.

This book is used as a university textbook, and I cannot imagine seeing those sections in a classroom setting. Furthermore the table of contents for the offensive sections hasn't changed for 3rd edition, so the material is still there! If you search the reviews here for "gender" and "sexist," you'll see that there are red flags about one particular section, and I urge readers to talk back to that part of the book in your reviews and in your game design.

For future editions, it would be helpful if the section in question was handed over to someone else due to the author's limitations and the lack of needed citations, or else omitted entirely. I'm not sure if that lens permeates the entire book, but I sincerely hope not since this is the go-to book on game design, and otherwise looks to be well received.

A simple test readers and writers can use: Try reading the work with race substituted for gender. If you wouldn't say the thing about race -- if it sounds wrong -- don't say it about gender. Daniela Kazarian Michal, she didn't say he was racist. She just pointed out that there are things not just in the book about women that people don't notice are offe Michal, she didn't say he was racist.

She just pointed out that there are things not just in the book about women that people don't notice are offensive, when it would be pretty obvious if it was race instead of gender. For instance, once there was a paper about differences between white and POC brains and it was deemed racist, but people can say that men are better than women at logic because nature and it is ok.

I know Jesse doesn't mean to be sexist, he even gives talks about inclusion, the book just needs an update like society I haven't finished yet, so I don't know if she was refering to this part or there is more.

Portal vs verbal because women have lower spacial reasoning and get frustrated. People still believe in this so they just nod. Women want to be heroes too. Mythreyi Thanks for saying this Jessica. I recently got to the chapter of gender profiling and had to pause and look at reviews to see if I misinterpreted. It Thanks for saying this Jessica. It was quite shocking to see high ratings without anyone noticing that chapter's terrible conclusions. How frustrating Eva I got so mad when I had to read it for class, and was very relieved to find that my professor used that chapter as a jumping off point for discussion I got so mad when I had to read it for class, and was very relieved to find that my professor used that chapter as a jumping off point for discussion about the problems with it.

Jan 20, Graham Herrli rated it it was ok Shelves: design-related , game-design-and-gamification. This book contains some thought-provoking suggestions about game design, but it also contains enough empty truisms to become annoying. For example: "there were many decisions the designer made to lay it out, and these decisions made a significant impact upon the game experience" p.

The final paragraph of each chapter and subchapter could probably be omitted without removing any information from the book. And the number of typos was astounding. I sent Jesse Schell a list of nearly twenty t This book contains some thought-provoking suggestions about game design, but it also contains enough empty truisms to become annoying.

I sent Jesse Schell a list of nearly twenty to correct in e-books or reprintings. Their sheer volume made me a bit dubious of the depth of thought that went into the book. Some parts of it, especially the emotional ramblings toward the end, read like first drafts. The premise of the book intrigued me. Schell pulled together a collection of one hundred "lenses": ways looking at a game to see what needs to be changed about it. Some of these could be quite useful, although most don't need the surrounding context of the book to support them.

The book has a companion Deck of Lenses that might make a better purchase for anyone actually intending to use the lenses for a design. As a former professional juggler and former employee of Disney, Schell's perspective on the entertainment side of the industry was valuable, albeit somewhat trite. Although this step of clarification slows the process, it also means that we think about each detail more thoroughly p. One way of designing is to come up with the toy first and let that inspire the form of the game p.

Elements with few purposes should be merged p. This was a very proactive gesture and gave me considerable respect for his professional courtesy. Now that I own the deck, my earlier recommendation that the deck is likely more useful than the book still stands.

The deck also has the added merit of being beautifully illustrated and satisfyingly crisp. I think it's a good idea to publish the media in multiple formats like this; multiple entries into a world are something which Jesse Schell advocates convincingly for in his book. I've heard that Stephen Anderson also created a complementary deck of psychological principles to go with his Seductive Interaction Design.

Jun 25, George rated it really liked it Shelves: nonfiction. My crash course into game design continues. This book is an excellent resource for the whole process of making a game most of these lessons can also be used for software development in general.

My only problem is that some of the topics were covered too generally, but I understand that this is the on My crash course into game design continues. My only problem is that some of the topics were covered too generally, but I understand that this is the only way to do it without making it the size of Encyclopedia Britannica. The four star review is mostly because the writing style didn't sit well with me.

View all 3 comments. Apr 12, Kars rated it really liked it Shelves: non-fiction. I have mixed feelings about this book.

To start with the good: Schell takes a very holistic approach to game design. He's also plain spoken, demystifying a lot of the work that goes into making games. On the downside: the range of topics Schell covers in his effort to be holistic leads to some shallow treatments. His insistence on accessibility means things are sometimes dumbed down too much, assumptions aren't examined or in the worst cases arguments are based on questionable pseudoscience.

I I have mixed feelings about this book. I also found the insistence of turning everything into a lens tiresome. I personally find a list of things to keep in mind when designing unwieldy and ultimately unrealistic.

An approach that is at odds with the pragmatic tone of the rest of the book. In summary, I can't think of any game design book that covers this much ground, so it makes a great if hefty introduction to the field. However, each separate topic discussed herein is served better by other titles. Nov 15, Caroline Berg rated it it was amazing Shelves: non-fiction.

I figured it was about time I read this, having heard such great things about it from other game designers, and it is an excellent book. Honestly, anyone interested in going into game design, be it for board games, RPGs, or video games should spend some time reading this book. However, as great as it is, I still disagree with parts of it.

And to be fair, Schell does say in the book to question the knowle I figured it was about time I read this, having heard such great things about it from other game designers, and it is an excellent book.

And to be fair, Schell does say in the book to question the knowledge presented within. The parts that bothered me the most were Chapter 9, which portrays sexist stereotypes as to what games women play and why they play games and Chapter 23 which is unapologetically anti-solitaire gaming.

Schell says, "the single-player phenomenon appears to have been a temporary abnormality" - seriously? As an avid solo gamer across all platforms I find this to be a very extroverted way of looking at games. As long as there are introverts in the world, there will be solo games.

The rest of the chapter is about the differences between virtual architecture and real architecture. In a general, designers have more freedom to create in a virtual world, but run into troubles that come from working with non-real materials such as inconsistent unit sizes and making things look realistic in a third person or top down perspective.

Having spent a good deal of time on technical aspects of design, Schell turns to game aesthetics in his twentieth chapter. Schell holds that aesthetics are important to game design for multiple reasons, including providing a hook, increasing immersion, and just providing pleasure to the player That being said, unlike in many other mediums, technical limitations must be taken into account throughout the process and often the final aesthetic arises from quirks in the technology.

In this short chapter, Schell explores multiplayer games and why people like to play them. He provides five main reasons, all which may be designed for: competition, collaboration, meeting up, exploring our friends, and exploring ourselves. Though multiplayer experiences can fulfill many innate social needs through any of these methods, Schell cautions that adding multiplayer features make any game project significantly more complicated, and should be approached with care.

Because the gaming industry is becoming more attached to the internet, community management is becoming an increasingly important aspect of game design. Schell explores this topic in this chapter, drawing from social psychology and his experience with the massively multiplayer game ToonTown Online. To Schell, a strong community is beneficial to a game because it fulfills a social need for players and keeps more people interested in the world for a longer amount of time.

He then goes on to list tips for creating a good gaming community, with a particular focus on integrating different player types into the community and preventing bad behavior among players mainly through methods of indirect control. This chapter is useful for designers interested in keeping their team cohesive, productive, and in communication, with tips on how to achieve those ends. Chapter Twenty-Four is a primer on the technical writing that goes along with game design, from story overviews to concept art reviews to budgeting documents.

Schell explains to the reader that there is no single format for a master game design document, so it is up to each designer to ensure that the team receives documentation that keeps records in a clear and concise manner.

Following from the philosophy that the best games are tested through multiple iterations, chapter twenty five gets into the specific considerations of playtesting — that is, watching others play a game in order to see if it achieves the desired experience. Schell goes over tips on when and where a playtest should be held, whom it should be done by, and how to effectively evaluate testers without interrupting the experience.

The last part of the Elemental Tetrad to be treated, Schell spends this chapter exploring the issues that arise from Technology. There are two types of technology: foundational technology which make new kinds of experiences possible and decorational technology which just make existing experiences better Schell Schell gives multiple examples of games in order to distinguish the two before addressing the issues that come with trying to predict upcoming technologies.

In general, Schell advocated for determining what technology is needed to create a given game experience before trying to integrate a new system surrounded by hype i. This chapter explains the relationship between a game designer and the clients they will almost certainly have to work for at some point. In it, Schell provides tips for positive communication with those who may not understand the ins and outs of game design.

Generally, it is good to make the client feel as though they are part of the creative process in some capacity, even if their ideas do not end up getting implemented. Like the chapters immediately before it, this chapter provides tips for the business side of game design, namely refining a short, interesting pitch about the game to win over clients. In the last purely marketing chapter, Schell explains the economics of game design: who is involved with game production, what proportion of the proceeds go to each producer, and how to approach business situations.

The chapter includes a list of financial jargon to help would-be designers seem more capable in the boardroom One of the final chapters focuses around the transformative power of games, especially in a psychological and educational context. It begins with a discussion of the positive effects of games, which include emotional maintenance, social connection, and for some games reason to exercise He spends a great deal of time writing about the possible educational uses of games, especially for conveying facts in an interesting way, fostering problem solving, providing hands-on opportunities, and encouraging curiosity as students attempt to explore the system itself.

Schell indicates that games, taken independently, almost certainly do not encourage these behaviors, but that does not mean a designer ought to disregard these concerns. Instead, a designer needs to act responsibly and be aware of what impact they could be making.

This responsibility is the subject of the final chapter. The second to last chapter is a call to all would-be game designers to take their intended profession seriously. Though games may not cause harm on their own, there is always the potential that any medium will be dangerous in some capacity.

They are impactful, and a designer is responsible for much of this impact.