Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 The Basics of Game Design -- The "Fun"damentals -- Fun -- System Design -- Gameplay -- Designing Challenges -- Pacing and Flow -- Making Your Game Better -- Respect the Player -- Hubris Is the Game-Killer -- If You Aren't Having Fun, the Game Won't Be Fun -- It's Just a Game -- What You Have Learned -- Review Questions -- On Your Own -- Chapter 2 Paper Design -- Coming Up with Ideas -- Writing a Design Document -- Creating Maps -- Example: Prospero's Island -- What You Have Learned -- Review Questions -- On Your Own -- Chapter 3 Building Terrain -- The Importance of Terrain -- Making Terrain -- Heightmaps -- Handmade -- Mixed -- Autogenerated -- Tiled Terrain -- Terrain and Gameplay -- Another Purpose for Terrain: Fencing the Player In -- Impassability Regions -- Making Realistic Terrain -- Making Terrain Fun -- Terrain and Strategy -- Texturing Terrain -- Terrain Props -- Placing Objects on Your Terrain -- Gameplay Effects of Terrain Props -- Example: The Building of Prospero's Island -- What You Have Learned -- Review Questions -- On Your Own -- Chapter 4 Building Architecture and Spaces -- Creating Architecture and Spaces Using Toolsets -- Brushes -- 3D Modeling Software -- Tilesets -- Designing Your Environment -- Architecture -- Occluders and Portals -- Game Architecture Types -- Architecture and Fun -- Linear Gameplay -- Non-Linear Gameplay -- Tactics and Architecture -- Texturing Architecture -- Seams -- Collision -- Putting It All Together -- The Building of Prospero's Castle -- What You Have Learned -- Review Questions -- On Your Own -- Chapter 5 Lighting and Atmospheric Effects -- Lighting -- Types of Lights -- Using Lights -- Fog and Haze -- Particle Effects -- Audio -- Using Audio -- Example: Lighting the Subterranean Rooms Under the Volcano -- What You Have Learned -- Review Questions.

On Your Own -- Chapter 6 Placing Encounters -- Informational Encounters -- Puzzle Encounters -- Lock Puzzles -- Movement Puzzles -- Active Encounters and Combat -- Placing Enemies -- Placing the Player -- Placing the AI -- Formations -- Item Placement -- Growth/Challenge Curve -- Things to Avoid -- Example: Placing Units on Prospero's Island -- Step 1: Placing the Player -- Step 2: Placing Enemies -- Step 3: Phat Lewt -- What You Have Learned -- Review Questions -- On Your Own -- Chapter 7 Breathing Life Into Your Levels -- Breath of Life -- Tools -- Scripting -- What You See Is What You Get -- Moving Objects -- Example: Far Cry Elevators -- Moving Objects, Continued -- Objectives and Quests -- Examples: Scripting in Far Cry -- Examples: Quests in Neverwinter Nights -- A More Advanced Script -- Other Forms of Life -- What You Have Learned -- Review Questions -- On Your Own -- Chapter 8 Dialogue and Story -- Story and Game: Enemies and Allies -- Turning Off the Radio -- Shoving Story into the Game -- Lowering the Bar -- Alternating Content -- Puzzle Pieces -- The Ever-Present Companion -- Other Methods of Relating Story -- Writing Story for Games -- Game Stories Are Character Based -- Thoughts on Plot -- Dialogue -- Writing Dialogue -- Dialogue for Cut Scenes -- Writing Dialogue for Conversation Trees -- What You Have Learned -- Review Questions -- On Your Own -- Chapter 9 Polishing -- Repetition -- Testing -- Types of Bugs -- Designer as Tester -- Fixing Bugs -- Terrain Bugs -- Architecture Bugs -- Placement and AI Bugs -- Scripting Bugs -- Balancing -- Have Another Person Test Your Level -- Some Problems Are Actually Features -- Example -- What You Have Learned -- Review Questions -- On Your Own -- Chapter 10 Specific Genres -- Action Games -- First-Person Shooters -- Third-Person Games -- Locked-Position Shooters -- Fighting Games -- Platformers.

2D Action Games -- Strategy Games -- Real-Time Strategy Games -- Turn-Based Strategy Games -- Role-Playing Games -- Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games -- Sports Games -- Vehicle Simulations -- Racing Games -- Flight Sims -- Construction and Management Sims -- Adventure Games -- Puzzle and Parlor Games -- Educational Games -- Appendix A: Helpful Resources -- Game Design -- Magazines -- Web Sites -- Conferences and Trade Shows -- Industry News -- Appendix B: Glossary -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- W -- Appendix C: Review Questions and Answers -- Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Chapter 7 -- Chapter 8 -- Chapter 9 -- Appendix D: What's on the CD -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Z.