Contents

  1. Creative Commons License

  2. Introduction

  3. I. Creative Thought

    1. 1. Creative Thought in PSU's General Education Program

    2. 2. Cultivating Creativity

  4. II. What is a Game?

    1. 3. Costikyan's Definition

    2. 4. How to Improve a Game

    3. 5. Quality of Decision-Making

    4. 6. Formal Elements of Games

    5. 7. Weaknesses of Definitions

  5. III. Game Analysis for Game Designers

    1. 8. Critical Analysis of Games

    2. 9. Games as Systems

    3. 10. Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics

    4. 11. What Makes a Game "Fun"?

    5. 12. Kinds of Fun

    6. 13. Kinds of Players

  6. IV. Game Design

    1. 14. What is Game Design?

    2. 15. The Design Process: Game Ideas

    3. 16. Formal Abstract Design Tools

    4. 17. The Design Process: Prototyping

    5. 18. The Design Process: Playtesting

    6. 19. The Design Process: More About Playtesting

    7. 20. A Note About Intellectual Property

  7. V. What Students Have to Say

    1. 21. Digging Deep Inside the Game of Go Fish

    2. 22. A Game to the Core: A “Go Fish” Analysis

    3. 23. Getting A Better Understanding of War

    4. 24. What is War Good For? Still Nothing, Apparently

    5. 25. Important Foundations