By Raph Koster
Author note: Will Wright (Foreword by way of)
Publish 12 months note: First released November 1st 2004 by way of Paraglyph Press
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Now in complete colour, the 10th anniversary edition of this vintage booklet takes you deep into the impacts that underlie sleek games, and examines the weather they percentage with conventional video games akin to checkers. on the center of his exploration, veteran online game dressmaker Raph Koster takes an in depth examine the concept that of enjoyable and why it's the main important point in any game.
Why do a little video games develop into uninteresting fast, whereas others stay enjoyable for years? How do video games function basic and strong studying instruments? even if you're a video game developer, devoted gamer, or curious observer, this illustrated, totally up-to-date variation is helping you know what drives this significant cultural strength, and evokes you to take it further.
You'll detect that:
• video games play into our innate skill to hunt styles and clear up puzzles
• such a lot profitable video games are outfitted upon a similar elements
• a bit extra women than men now play games
• Many video games nonetheless educate primitive survival skills
• Fictional dressing for contemporary video games is extra built than the conceptual elements
• actually inventive designers seldom use different video games for inspiration
• video games are commencing to evolve past their prehistoric origins
Ten years later retrospective (229):
Much of the hot fabric during this presentation has been included into this, the revised 10th anniversary variation. notwithstanding, there are a number of digressions. when you care to learn it, you'll find the slides right here: http://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/gdco12/Koster_Raph_ Theory_Fun_10.pdf and real video of the controversy the following: http://www.gdcvault.com/ play/1016632/A-Theory-of-Fun-10.
From final web page inside of this edition
Read or Download A Theory of Fun for Game Design (2nd Edition) (10th Anniversary Edition) PDF
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Additional info for A Theory of Fun for Game Design (2nd Edition) (10th Anniversary Edition)
Sample text
There are many ways we find fun in games, and I will talk about the others. But learning is the one I believe to be the most important. Fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles that makes games fun. * 40 41 Boredom is the opposite of learning. When a game stops teaching us, we feel bored. Boredom is the brain casting about for new information. It is the feeling you get when there are no new visible patterns to absorb. When a book is dull and fails to lead you on to the next chapter, it is failing to exhibit a captivating pattern.
When you watch kids learn, you see there’s a recognizable pattern to what they do. They give it a try once—it seems that kids can’t learn just by being taught. They have to make mistakes themselves. They push at boundaries to test them and see how far they will bend. They watch the same video over and over and over and over and over and over… 14 15 Seeing patterns in how kids learn is evidence of how pattern-driven our brains are. We pattern-seek the process of pattern-seeking! Faces may be the best example.
It’s logical and works on a basically mathematical level, assigning values and making lists. It’s kind of slow, even in those genius-IQ types. This is the sort of mind we measure when we take IQ tests. The second level of the brain is really slow. It’s integrative, associative, and intuitive. It links things that don’t make much sense. This is the part of the brain that packages things up and chunks them. This part of how we think isn’t something we can access directly—it doesn’t use words. It’s also frequently wrong.