Books about Gameplay from Amazon.com

Game Development Essentials: An Introduction, 2nd Edition offers a thorough and insightful introduction to the game development industry, with industry updates that will keep readers current and well-prepared for a career in the field. The book begins with a highly informative chapter on the evolution of game development, providing a historical context for later chapters, and moves on to examine content creation and the concepts behind the development of story, character, environment, level design, user interface, and sound. With the same engaging writing style and examples that made the first edition so popular, this new edition features expanded coverage of today's hottest topics - such as next-generation platforms (Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii), level design, interface design, project management, serious games, game accessibility, and online social networks. New game-related technology, development techniques, and the latest research in the field make this an invaluable resource for anyone entering the exciting, competitive, ever-changing world of game development..
Price: $41.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book will introduce both aspiring and professional designers to the exciting and fast-paced world of gameplay system design. Designing successful next-generation console games has become an increasingly complicated business as gamers are demanding more features and more complexity in the games that they play. More than ever, game designers are faced with the challenge of balancing consumer expectations with strict marketing requirements, schedule deadlines and budget limitations. With a hands-on, practical approach, Game Development Essentials: Gameplay Mechanics will teach readers how to approach game design in an efficient way that will meet the objectives of the target audience, as well as the businesses that fund their development, by approaching game design as an interaction of various systems, instead of individual, unique but unrelated features. With an end goal of creating exciting, dynamic, and engaging games, this book will help readers navigate the options and make intelligent choices in their game design..
Price: $27.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In recent years, computer technology has permeated all aspects of life—not just work and education, but also leisure time. Increasingly, digital games are the way we play. This volume addresses the world of digital games, with special emphasis on the role and input of the gamer. In fifteen essays, the contributors discuss the various ways the game player interacts with the game. The first half of the book considers the physical and mental aspects of digital game play. The second section concentrates on other factors that influence play. Essays cover the full range of digital gaming, including computer and video games. Topics include several detailed investigations of particular, often controversial games such as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, as well as a consideration of the ways in which game-playing crosses socioeconomic, age, gender and racial lines. The concluding essays discuss scholars’ perceptions of digital media and efforts to frame them..
Price: $31.50 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book explores the lifecycle of digital games. Drawing upon a broad range of media studies perspectives with aspects of sociology, social theory, and economics, Aphra Kerr explores this all-pervasive, but under-theorized, aspect of our media environment.

Written as an introductory text for media and game students this book aims present an overview of industry and scholary work on who makes games, where they get made, what kind of media and cultural form they are, and who plays them and where.

The Business and Culture of Digital Games looks at:

- games as a new media form;

- the design, development and marketing of games;

- the use of games in public and private spaces.

Combining a theoretical and empirical analysis of the production, content and consumption of computer games, this book will be of interest to many students of media, culture and communication.

(20061010).
Price: $31.63 [Notify me when price goes down.]

What exactly is the elusive ingredient that makes a game worth playing? To create a great game you need passion, imagination, talent, a good understanding of game-play and design, experience, a dedicated team, good project management and lots of hard work. Every game developed is individual, but there are certain techniques and fundamentals that can be learnt to understand the creative process of game design, and those fundamentals will be discussed throughout this book. Covering the process of game design, the book builds up a set of techniques used by designers within the industry. It will show and tell, explaining how and why things are done the way they are, and will feature first-hand experiences, examples and case studies from the creators of successful games such as 'Lara Croft/Tomb Raider' and Peter Molyneux's 'Black and White'. Throughout the book an imaginary game "Jumping Jack" will be discussed, taking the reader through the process of developing a design from the initial idea through to the full-blown specification. Demonstration levels and the design documents will be included on the accompanying CD, and these documents can be used as templates for future designs.The book is divided into two parts. The first, Design DNA, discusses the components that make up a game design. The second part, Building the Design, describes the process of creating and formatting design documents. Using case studies and examples, the elements that create fun and absorbing game-play will be revealed. The book covers the range of major consoles such as PS2, Nintendo Gamecube, Xbox, Gameboy Advance and the PC, providing an insight into the different considerations a designer must be aware of for different platforms and producing cross-platform games..
Price: $63.23 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Conference on Fun and Games, held in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in October 2008.

The 17 revised full papers, presented together with 2 invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 36 submissions. The papers encompass the study of computer games, game development and experiences by researchers from social sciences, computing, electrical engineering, design, etc. Main focus is given to topics such as tightly-coupled embodied control of movement-sensitive mobile devices, hypercomputation and cultural computing, emerging gaming paradigms, concepts and platforms to support gaming, affective aspects of gaming, and finally to the notion of serious games to help provide cognitive or physiological training.

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Price: $64.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]