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Reddit mentions of Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences

Sentiment score: 20
Reddit mentions: 26

We found 26 Reddit mentions of Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences. Here are the top ones.

Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences
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Release dateFebruary 2013
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Found 26 comments on Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences:

u/Rexutu · 27 pointsr/gamedesign

I recommend Tynan Sylvester's book "Designing Games" (you can get a 7-day free trial of the e-book on Amazon). A lot of people will recommend A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell but I personally felt it lacked substance. For the more philosophical aspects of the craft, here are some talks that I think are valuable 1 2 3
4 5 (hopefully ordered in a somewhat logical progression).

Another thing -- find out what kind of games you want to make, find out who makes that kind of game (a few examples: Jonathan Blow for puzzle games, Raph Koster and Project Horseshoe for MMOs, Tom Francis for whatever the fuck he makes, etc. -- and "kind" does not necessarily mean genres), and study what those people have to say, figuring out what you agree with and disagree with. Standing on others' shoulders is the easiest way to get good and the best path toward making games of true quality.

u/MerlinTheFail · 20 pointsr/gamedev

In terms of design, A book of lenses is definitely a fantastic pick. I also read through: Engineering experiences, this helped me a lot design-wise. Also, of course, Game programming patterns is a must read for any programmer.

u/noeda · 9 pointsr/roguelikedev

The Baconist

(there's no bacon in this game despite the name: I originally was going to make a roguelike about stretching a really long bacon across the dungeon but it's going in a different direction now)

It can be played here: https://submarination.space/baconist132/index.html

Screenshot of one of the unfinished puzzles: https://submarination.space/baconist/puzzle.png

(move with vikeys or numpad or WASD or mouse)

This is a puzzle game where you need to solve puzzles. Right now that means you push boulders like in a sokoban because I haven't got around to implementing actual interesting mechanics yet.

Since past two weeks I've managed to lay down the most important technical foundations:

  • Performance has been slightly improved (still crappy on browser but it's playable; the game can be compiled to native version that runs in a terminal and it's way better in there).
  • Field of view now works more sensibly when you look through portals.
  • Your character can still remember parts of a level that have been seen before (they are shaded darker)
  • I now have a system that makes it fairly easy to design the entire dungeon (I essentially just have a giant text file that's interpreted and turned into world).

    My roguelike can also display animated things. I made my water look like all fancy and animated, a lot like in Brogue but I soon realized this is probably going to be a problem if I use water in puzzles and it has to stand out well from surroundings and look consistent. Sometimes boring-looking things are better. Overall my game has lots of flat colors.

    At this point my concerns are about designing the game mechanics themselves (as opposed to technical challenges).

    Pushing boulders gets boring quickly. I have some unfinished code that would add chain chomp -like enemies to the game and the puzzles would be about how to go around them or neutralize their threat. And I have a sketchbook where I threw in bunch of more ideas. My thinking is to implement wacky ideas and seeing what works. I also have a book on game design I'm going through, trying to educate myself what kind of (puzzle) game would be fun to play.

    I guess this is not really a roguelike. It's a puzzle game and the entire world right now is hand-crafted. There are no random elements to this game whatsoever. But I think that's fine.
u/TynanSylvester · 8 pointsr/gamedev
  1. I made a video and posted it on Reddit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV6wyeZ7458 There's no trick to it, you just have to make something that looks unique and interesting.

  2. You don't need to invest any money for soundtrack or voice before you've made any income. One exception would be a Kickstarter video soundtrack - but you can get music free or from sites like shockwavesound.com for really cheap.

    Spend money when the concept is a bit proven.

    Of course, this is all deep in the future; you have to make a good game first. Be sure to test with playtesters and watch how they play, using a proper test protocol. <plug :D>My book talks about this kind of thing: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1449337937 </plug>
u/mflux · 8 pointsr/gamedesign

The citybound guy has been putting out daily blog posts of his city sim game programming. Wildly ambitious: http://blog.cityboundsim.com/

Not directly city game design but I highly recommend Rimworld creator's book Designing Games: Engineering Experiences for game design. I've emailed him a few times and he's very responsive and forthcoming with his wisdom.

I'm designing a city game myself right now. My theory on these games is that while they are experience engines in the sense that, for example, Sim City triggers your emotions with poverty, wealth, crime, health -- SC tends to be more like gardening: you plant seeds, water them, and see what comes out and much of the enjoyment of playing the game comes from that.

As far as programming goes, I went with a custom entity component system and am using an off the shelf engine (Unreal) to avoid the hard work of optimizing drawing tons of stuff (and lights) on screen.

u/SteelPC · 8 pointsr/RimWorld

Tynan I am a huge fan of Rimworld as well as your book which everyone should check out

Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences https://www.amazon.com/dp/1449337937/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_wh1XBbJFPD7ZB


If you don't mind, any hint on what is next for you? Any glimpse at what your next endeavor might be?

u/HealPlzDev · 7 pointsr/gamedesign

I really enjoyed Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences by Tynan Sylvester. (The dude behind Rimworld.)

He gives you a lot to think about without ever coming off as pretentious or preachy.

u/RodeoMonkey · 6 pointsr/gamedev

Tynan Sylvester also wrote my favorite book on game design, which touches on emergence quite a bit. He has a simple, but good definition: "Emergence is when simple mechanics interact to create complex situations." Title is appropriate, Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences

https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-Experiences/dp/1449337937/

u/TheJeizon · 4 pointsr/RimWorld

I picked up your book recently. I think this discussion just pushed it to the top of my reading list. More insight on how hidden mechanics lead to in game results vs. human perceptions/internal thought process will be good.

Keep on coding man, great game.

u/annihilatron · 4 pointsr/RimWorld

one of the things in his book is that a game should be a story that the player has some hand in (paraphrasing, a lot)

the tornado doesn't do squat for that. It's a cool concept but it doesn't tell a story, it doesn't interact with the player, and there's no sense of reward or difficulty in preventing it / countering it / recovering for it.

It's very much just a "YOU'RE SCREWED" stamp on the colony and you have to find a way to fix it.

u/wizardU2032 · 4 pointsr/gamedesign

The best book by someone who's been commercially successful is Designing Games, by Tynan Sylvester of Rimworld: https://smile.amazon.com/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-Experiences/dp/1449337937/

It is the best at actually applying all of the navelgazing people tend to do when talking about game design and art and theory and so forth towards actually creating compelling structures and content for games.

u/Ponzel · 3 pointsr/gamedev

Since you mentioned Rimworld: Tynan, the creator of Rimworld has a gamasutra post and a book about how he designs games. (Spoiler: It's all about the story experienced by the player).

I can tell you about the thought process for my colony simulator:

  1. I want to have a prototype as fast as possible, so the system should be as simple as possible.
  2. The focus of the game are the colonists, their personality and their emotions when something good or bad happens.

    Therefore I only have a couple (~10) resources that are not even items on the map, but are simply counted in the UI, like in a strategy game. If you're looking for inspiration, you can download it for free on the website.

    For your game, I think you could first think about what the focus is in your game. Do you want the player to spend more time managing resources, handling colonists, building stuff, or defending the colony? Then plan around your focus. Hope this helps you :)
u/KenFlorentino · 3 pointsr/gamedev

Fellow enterprise developer turned manager here. Me and my cohort are about to release our first title. It was developed using .NET/C#.

AMA. :)

I'll start with the questions you have above.

Assuming you already have a solid foundation in OOP, Design Patterns, some basic RDBMS, etc, you actually already have 60% of what you need. Code is code.

The other 40% depends on the type of game you are making. 2D? Basic algebra. 3D? Now it gets tougher on the math (though thankfully today's engines do most of the heavy lifting for you, but you still need to understand what is used for what).

Doing multi-player? Now networking is the tricky part because you are likely to use some sort of UDP communication layer and all the REST/SOAP you learned at work, while still useful for managing latency-agnostic stuff like player lists, matchmaking requests and such, won't cut it for real-time multi-player games. Writing solid "netcode" that delivers a great experience at 60+ FPS requires some creativity in managing perception (extrapolation and interpolation when latency is present) and fault-tolerant algorithms. It is no fun when you get a headshot in an FPS, see it happen, but your opponent runs away, apparently unscathed.

As far as graphics, I solved that one easily... I had a friend join my project who was the graphics guy. I provided the framework for doing the graphics and turned that area over to him. He went above and beyond though and learned shaders and added all sorts of special effects.

Meanwhile, I focused my energy on the game engine, networking layers, AWS cloud stuff, matchmaking and lots of behind the scenes stuff.

The other thing I did was read as much as possible about Game Design. I ordered a dozen books from Amazon, including my absolute favorite Designing Games by Tynan Sylvester, the developer of RimWorld (link: https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-Experiences/dp/1449337937).

Hope that helps!



u/Kenark · 3 pointsr/gamedesign

I highly recommend Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences.

It's a hard to describe book but it's worth a read. For one, he defines a video game as a series of mechanics to interact with one another to create an experience. Something unique to our medium. Storytelling through mechanics interacting with one another and creating a fiction within your own head.

The game he's creating right now, Rimworld, applies that concept and simulates a living breathing colony with pawns that have likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. They have jobs they want to do, will do it if they have to or certain jobs they won't do at all. You set a list of priorities for your colony and let things play out with no (practical) way of controlling individual pawns directly.

They also simulate relationships within the game and the pawns will remember interactions with one another. They will dislike one another if they're insulted and they'll break if a loved one dies. They'll visit the graves of people who died years/seasons ago.

All these mechanics interact with each other to create a story in your head that's different with every colony you start. That kind of storytelling is unique to our medium, he says. So that's how I can best describe the first half of the book.

The second half of the book is more about the iterative process of creating the game itself. Creating iterative loops where you add in features, polish and then loop again until release. It's a more complex half to describe shortly but just as important as the design process itself.

u/Kinrany · 2 pointsr/MUD

I'll hop on the game design book recommendation bandwagon and suggest Designing Games. It's less popular, but much more useful IMO.

u/ActiveCarpet · 2 pointsr/ludology

This video examines the history of creativity in game design, the evolution of genres, and how game designers can be creative in the future. It combines Raph Koster's GDC talk about practical creativity, with insights from books as varied as Tynan Sylvesters designing games, to Micheal Sellers Advanced game design, to suggest that the key to the future of creativity in video games is understanding our past.

​

Raph Kosters GDC talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyVTxGpEO30

Tynan Sylvester's Designing games https://www.amazon.ca/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-Experiences/dp/1449337937

Erin Hofmman's Gdc Talk Precision of Emotion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP-LNRtwpb8

Gdc talk Design in Detail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJhpMmVLMZQ

​

There are About 25 other links in the description of the video as well, all pertaining to the history and future of game design

u/nmaxcom · 1 pointr/RimWorld

Yes, plenty others are charging for DLC's and upgrades (erjemHOI4jrem). Here it's not exactly the same but.. more or less (read down).

Still, something doesn't quite fit. Bear with me.

Back in 2013 they raised 200k$ on Kickstarter with something that worked already:
> The game already exists, and the testers are already having good experiences with it. We've got a small crew of testers on the Ludeon forums sharing their experiences with the game. Take it from them, not from me.

Indeed, the game was already looking solid.. Even if graphically speaking we're looking at a Prison Architect copy&paste, which I don't think anyone mind, not even the guys from Prison Architect which is pretty cool, but still worth mentioning that no much innovation went there. What I mean by that is that most of the hard work (genre, game mechanics, plot and so on) was long done.

So that cash, an already big and thriving community, a kickstarter success and Steam Greenlit... All of that before ending 2013. So in that situation you already know what you are facing, what you'll need to change and so on. And since then, it's been selling at 30$.

According to steamdb.info (I don't know the reliability but doesn't seem crazy numbers) they have sold about 700k copies.

They do have developed 3 DLC's. For 170$, 15$ and 370$ aprox. The most expensive one says:

> This DLC gives you the right to enter a name and character backstory into the game, with skills, appearance, and special work requirements. In addition, your character will appear as the leader of another faction!
>
> Write yourself as an interplanetary detective, an entrepreneur, an ex-artist, or anything else you can think of. Players will recruit, command, and fight you for all time!
>
> [...]

The actual game dev has been very scarce in these years, for everything that I mentioned this game has going for it.

Anyhow, I do like this game. I like it a lot. I'm making it clear because after giving facts some people may get the wrong idea. It's not about thrashing it, quite the contrary.

I think the guy nailed it in terms of the game itself (BTW he actually has a pretty good book on game design) but with all that money and all that time, maybe (and of course here I can only talk out of my ass because can't know) he hasn't managed the growth well and/or he hasn't allied with someone to do it.

So now, instead of medium to big upgrades every month or two (Prison Architect style, another game from kickstar success; or even Minecraft) we have medium to big upgrades twice a year.

I hope this can be seen as the constructive criticism from someone that wants this game to crush it big time. And sooner rather than later.

u/codeherdstudios · 1 pointr/gamedev

+1 for Challenges for Game Designers, that book is great!

Designing Games was also another one that I found was pretty good.

u/Shadow-Master · 1 pointr/gamedev

Don't be suckered by a "Game Design" program. There are VERY few good ones. Most of them....as in, 99% of them...are rip-offs.

Learn programming, 3D-modeling, or animation. Pick one that you're more interested in and then full-speed ahead. These will make you useful in more than just game development roles, thus helping you in the future when you have trouble landing a game dev job. At least you'll still be doing something you like in the meantime, and still building your skill in that area. Many really popular game designers have specialties outside of just "Design". Some are excellent programmers, some are artists, some have excellent business skills (really good at project management), and some are brilliant story-writers. Most game design positions are not entry-level, because you REALLY have to know what you are doing, before someone will trust you enough to let you touch the design. The only real way to prove that you are actually a good game designer is by having games to show off. That proves that you have some idea of the design process and know how to maintain a game from start to finish. This is HARD.

Some like to say that these degree programs for game design help them by giving them the incentive to push through and finish their stuff, otherwise, they might not have the motivation. Well, that's very problematic, because that means that you will not be the type of person who can finish a game. Game development requires you to be highly self-driven.

Most of what "Game Design" programs teach you can be learned by picking up a few game design books and making your own games (alot of them, too). Game design is learned by making games, not by having a professor tell you about it. You have enough mentors in the game development community already. They will always be there to critique what you do and give you tips on how to improve your work. Pick up a couple of books like The Art of Game Design and Designing Games. You can look at other books in whatever other area you want to master and just get started on making games. Turn off your console and just get started. Start small. Make very simple, basic games to start off with (B.A.S.I.C.). It's about learning the process first. Do that while reading a ton of highly-detailed game postmortems online. Just learn the process. THAT will be your real education.

And finally, start working your way up to putting together a portfolio. Portfolios speak much louder than a resume (although, a resume is still important). And that doesn't mean having a bunch of "Game Design docs". Games. Not docs. Games. Then build up your confidence and hook up with a team, so you can fight your way together to the end of making a complete game. (this may be one of the only valuable things that a game design program can provide you out of the box, i.e., a team that you are forced to work on a game with)

The single most important tool you will ever have is discipline. No degree will be able to top that. Give up the idea of being a hardcore gamer, because you are now going to need to become a VERY disciplined person. You're going to need it.

Finally: Don't forget to have fun. Good luck! :)

u/kryptomicron · 1 pointr/gamedev

Read Designing Games by the creator of RimWorld. If you can't afford to buy it, check your library; mine has the eBook.

u/Chill84 · 1 pointr/tabletopgamedesign

I had a thread about this not too long ago

From there, I suggest Tynan Sylvester's Engineering Experiences

And I still think Ian Schrieber's [Game Design Concepts series] (https://gamedesignconcepts.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/level-1-overview-what-is-a-game/) is a masterclass

There is a lot of great information out there, and there is also so much chaff to sift through. Of course, Richard Garfield would remind us that we also need to play every game.

>"Game designers should train themselves to think out of the mold, but it's naive to think that you profit by not even knowing what the mold is."
-- Richard Garfield

u/slowfly1st · 1 pointr/learnprogramming

Here's a game developer road map:

https://github.com/utilForever/game-developer-roadmap

​

If you want to learn about Game Design, I recommend this book: Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences (it's by Tynan Sylvester, creator of Rimworld). I'm neither a game developer nor a game designer, but I really enjoyed the book, because it is somewhat the 'science' of game design, it's about mechanics, about emotion, about decisions and so on - things I knew there are, but didn't really understood the impact it has on a game, how those things make a game "good" or "bad".

​

What you can do now:

  • Try to ship a game for android. All the tools are free, I think publishing in the play store is a one time payment of a few dollars. You will learn a lot of programming skills, but also you will understand what it means, to ship something. The awesome thing about the play store is: A lot of potential users.
  • Contribute to open source games ( https://github.com/leereilly/games).
u/Snownova · 1 pointr/gamedev

You mean like this one?
;)

u/JRhapsodus · 1 pointr/gamedesign

Agreed!

I would also recommend a book called Designing Games, A guide to engineering experiences by Tynan Sylvester:

http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-Experiences/dp/1449337937