Master the Unity Game Engine to Design and Develop Games for Web, Mobile, Windows, macOS, and More! If you want to design and develop games, there’s no substitute for strong hands-on experience with modern techniques and tools—and that is exactly what this book provides. The first edition was frequently the top-selling game design book on Amazon, with more than 70% of the reviews being 5 stars. In a testament to the iterative process of design, this new edition includes hundreds of improvements throughout the text, all designed to make the book easier to understand and even more useful. This book was written with Unity 2017; the book.prototools.net website will cover changes for later versions of the software. Award-winning game designer and professor Jeremy Gibson Bond has spent more than a decade teaching game design and building great games. In that time, his most successful students have been those who combine knowledge of three critical disciplines: game design theory, rapid iterative prototyping, and practical programming. In this book, Bond distills the most important aspects of all three disciplines into one place. Part I: Game Design and Paper Prototyping • The Layered Tetrad framework: a synthesis of 50 years of game design theory • Proven practices for brainstorming and refining game designs through the iterative process of design • Methods and tools to manage game projects and small teams • Processes to make playtesting and feedback easier Part II: Digital Prototyping with Unity and C# • Chapters that guide you through learning C# the right way • Instruction that takes you from no prior programming knowledge through object-oriented programming • Deep exploration of Unity, today’s most popular game engine on both macOS and Windows • Methods for understanding and debugging code issues you encounter Part III: Game Prototype Examples and Tutorials • In-depth tutorials for seven different game prototypes, including a simple action game, a space shooter, a solitaire card game, a word game, and a top-down adventure • Instructions to compile these games for PC, web, or any of the dozens of other release platforms supported by Unity • Improved structure and layout that makes the steps of each tutorial easier to follow • A completely new Dungeon Delver prototype not present in the first edition

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Richard Lemarchand    xxiii Preface     xxvii PART I:  GAME DESIGN AND PAPER PROTOTYPING     1 Chapter 1  Thinking Like a Designer     3 You Are a Game Designer     4 Bartok: A Game Exercise     4 The Definition of Game     10 Summary     17 Chapter 2  Game Analysis Frameworks     19 Common Frameworks for Ludology     20 MDA: Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics     20 Formal, Dramatic, and Dynamic Elements     24 The Elemental Tetrad     28 Summary     29 Chapter 3  The Layered Tetrad     31 The Inscribed Layer     32 The Dynamic Layer     33 The Cultural Layer     34 The Responsibility of the Designer     36 Summary     37 Chapter 4  The Inscribed Layer     39 Inscribed Mechanics     40 Inscribed Aesthetics     47 Inscribed Narrative     49 Inscribed Technology     59 Summary     60 Chapter 5  The Dynamic Layer     61 The Role of the Player     62 Emergence     63 Dynamic Mechanics     64 Dynamic Aesthetics     70 Dynamic Narrative     75 Dynamic Technology     78 Summary     78 Chapter 6  The Cultural Layer     79 Beyond Play     80 Cultural Mechanics     81 Cultural Aesthetics     82 Cultural Narrative     83 Cultural Technology     84 Authorized Transmedia Are Not Part of the Cultural Layer     85 The Cultural Impact of a Game     86 Summary     89 Chapter 7  Acting Like a Designer     91 Iterative Design     92 Innovation     98 Brainstorming and Ideation     99 Changing Your Mind     103 Scoping     105 Summary     106 Chapter 8  Design Goals     107 Design Goals: An Incomplete List     108 Designer-Centric Goals     108 Player-Centric Goals     111 Summary     127 Chapter 9  Paper Prototyping     129 The Benefits of Paper Prototypes     130 Paper Prototyping Tools     131 Paper Prototyping for Interfaces     133 An Example Paper Prototype     134 Best Uses for Paper Prototyping     139 Poor Uses for Paper Prototyping     140 Summary     140 Chapter 10  Game Testing     143 Why Playtest?     144 Being a Great Playtester Yourself     144 The Circles of Playtesters     145 Methods of Playtesting     148 Other Important Types of Testing     156 Summary     157 Chapter 11  Math and Game Balance     159 The Meaning of Game Balance     160 The Importance of Spreadsheets     160 The Choice of Google Sheets for This Book     161 Examining Dice Probability with Sheets     162 The Math of Probability     174 Randomizer Technologies in Paper Games     178 Weighted Distributions     182 Permutations     184 Using Sheets to Balance Weapons     186 Positive and Negative Feedback     194 Summary     194 Chapter 12  Guiding the Player     195 Direct Guidance     196 Four Methods of Direct Guidance     197 Indirect Guidance     198 Seven Methods of Indirect Guidance     198 Teaching New Skills and Concepts     206 Summary     209 Chapter 13  Puzzle Design     211 Scott Kim on Puzzle Design     212 Puzzle Examples in Action Games     219 Summary     221 Chapter 14  The Agile Mentality     223 The Manifesto for Agile Software Development     224 Scrum Methodology     225 Burndown Chart Example     228 Creating Your Own Burndown Charts     238 Summary     238 Chapter 15  The Digital Game Industry     239 About the Game Industry     240 Game Education     243 Getting Into the Industry     246 Don't Wait to Start Making Games!     250 Summary     253 PART II:  DIGITAL PROTOTYPING     255 Chapter 16  Thinking in Digital Systems     257 Systems Thinking in Board Games     258 An Exercise in Simple Instructions     259 Game Analysis: Apple Picker     261 Summary     267 Chapter 17  Introducing the Unity Development Environment     269 Downloading Unity     270 Introducing Our Development Environment     273 Launching Unity for the First Time     277 The Example Project     278 Setting Up the Unity Window Layout     278 Learning Your Way Around Unity     283 Summary     283 Chapter 18  Introducing Our Language: C#     285 Understanding the Features of C#     286 Reading and Understanding C# Syntax     292 Summary     294 Chapter 19  Hello World: Your First Program     295 Creating a New Project     296 Making a New C# Script     298 Making Things More Interesting     303 Summary     312 Chapter 20  Variables and Components     313 Introducing Variables     314 Strongly Typed Variables in C#     314 Important C# Variable Types     316 The Scope of Variables     319 Naming Conventions     319 Important Unity Variable Types     320 Unity GameObjects and Components     327 Summary     330 Chapter 21  Boolean Operations and Conditionals     331 Booleans     332 Comparison Operators     336 Conditional Statements     339 Summary     345 Chapter 22  Loops     347 Types of Loops     348 Set Up a Project     348 while Loops     348 do...while Loops     352 for Loops     352 foreach Loops     354 Jump Statements within Loops     355 Summary     357 Chapter 23  Collections in C#     359 C# Collections     360 Using Generic Collections     362 List     363 Dictionary     368 Array     371 Multidimensional Arrays     376 Jagged Arrays     379 Whether to Use Array or List     383 Summary     383 Chapter 24  Functions and Parameters     387 Setting Up the Function Examples Project     388 Definition of a Function     388 Function Parameters and Arguments     391 Returning Values     393 Proper Function Names     395 Why Use Functions?     395 Function Overloading     397 Optional Parameters     398 The params Keyword     399 Recursive Functions     400 Summary     401 Chapter 25  Debugging     403 Getting Started with Debugging     404 Stepping Through Code with the Debugger     410 Summary     418 Chapter 26  Classes     419 Understanding Classes     420 Class Inheritance     428 Summary     431 Chapter 27  Object-Oriented Thinking     433 The Object-Oriented Metaphor     434 An Object-Oriented Boids Implementation     436 Summary     455 PART III:  GAME PROTOTYPE EXAMPLES AND TUTORIALS     457 Chapter 28  Prototype 1: Apple Picker     459 The Purpose of a Digital Prototype     460 Preparing     461 Coding the Apple Picker Prototype     470 GUI and Game Management     484 Summary     494 Chapter 29  Prototype 2: Mission Demolition     495 Getting Started: Prototype 2     496 Game Prototype Concept     496 Art Assets     497 Coding the Prototype     502 Summary     544 Chapter 30  Prototype 3: Space SHMUP     545 Getting Started: Prototype 3     546 Setting the Scene     548 Making the Hero Ship     549 Adding Some Enemies     557 Spawning Enemies at Random     566 Setting Tags, Layers, and Physics     568 Making the Enemies Damage the Player     571 Restarting the Game     575 Shooting (Finally)     577 Summary     581 Chapter 31  Prototype 3.5: Space SHMUP Plus     583 Getting Started: Prototype 3.5     584 Programming Other Enemies     584 Shooting Revisited     592 Showing Enemy Damage     609 Adding Power-Ups and Boosting Weapons     612 Making Enemies Drop Power-Ups     622 Enemy_4—A More Complex Enemy     625 Adding a Scrolling Starfield Background     634 Summary     636 Chapter 32  Prototype 4: Prospector Solitaire     639 Getting Started: Prototype 4     640 Build Settings     640 Importing Images as Sprites     642 Constructing Cards from Sprites     644 The Prospector Game     661 Implementing Prospector in Code     664 Implementing Game Logic     677 Adding Scoring to Prospector     685 Adding Some Art to the Game     698 Summary     704 Chapter 33  Prototype 5: Bartok     707 Getting Started: Prototype 5     708 Build Settings     710 Coding Bartok     711 Building for WebGL     750 Summary     752 Chapter 34  Prototype 6: Word Game     753 Getting Started: Prototype 6     754 About the Word Game     754 Parsing the Word List     756 Setting Up the Game     763 Laying Out the Screen     769 Adding Interactivity     778 Adding Scoring     782 Adding Animation to Letters     785 Adding Color     788 Summary     790 Chapter 35  Prototype 7: Dungeon Delver     793 Dungeon Delver—Game Overview     794 Getting Started: Prototype 7     795 Setting Up the Cameras     796 Understanding the Dungeon Data     798 Adding the Hero     808 Giving Dray an Attack Animation     818 Dray's Sword     821 Enemy: Skeletos     822 The InRoom Script     825 Per-Tile Collision     828 Aligning to the Grid     832 Moving from Room to Room     839 Making the Camera Follow Dray     842 Unlocking Doors     843 Adding GUI to Track Key Count and Health     848 Enabling Enemies to Damage Dray     852 Making Dray's Attack Damage Enemies     856 Picking Up Items     859 Enemies Dropping Items on Death     861 Implementing a Grappler     864 Implementing a New Dungeon—The Hat     872 The Delver Level Editor     877 Summary     877 PART IV:  APPENDICES     879 Appendix A  Standard Project Setup Procedure     881 Appendix B  Useful Concepts     887 Appendix C  Online Reference     947 Index     953