1. In the beginning, there is the designer -- 2. The designer creates an experience -- 3. The experience takes place in a venue -- 4. The experience rises out of a game -- 5. The game consists of elements -- 6. The elements support a theme -- 7. The game begins with an idea -- 8. The game improves through iteration -- 9. The game is made for a player -- 10. The experience is in the player's mind -- 11. The player's mind is driven by the player's motivation -- 12. Some elements are game mechanics -- 13. Game mechanics must be in balance -- 14. Game mechanics support puzzles -- 15. Players play games through an interface -- 16. Experiences can be judged by their interest curves -- 17. One kind of experience is the story -- 18. Story and game structures can be artfully merged with indirect control -- 19. Stories and games take place in worlds -- 20. Worlds contain characters -- 21. Worlds contain spaces -- 22. The look and feel of a world is defined by its aesthetics -- 23. Some games are played with other players -- 24. Other players sometimes form communities -- 25. The designer usually works with a team -- 26. The team sometimes communicates through documents -- 27. Good games are created through playtesting -- 28. The team builds a game with technology -- 29. Your game will probably have a client -- 30. The designer gives the client a pitch -- 31. The designer and client want the game to make a profit -- 32. Games transform their players -- 33. Designers have certain responsibilities -- 34. Each designer has a purpose

Presents the fundamentals of game design from one of the world's top game designers. Exploring the unusual territory that is game design, the book demonstrates how the basic principles of psychology used in board games, card games, and athletic games also work in top-quality video games. The author gives readers 100+ sets of insightful questions to ask themselves to make their games better. These questions provide insight from fields as diverse as psychology, architecture, music, visual design, film, software engineering, theme park design, mathematics, puzzle design, and anthropology