Everyone who has ever played a video game has certainly thought about making video games. But making that leap, from consumer to creator, is certainly not easy. Even before you consider schooling, training, getting hired, or starting your own company, you need to be able to answer one seemingly simple question: How do you design a great game?
Veteran game designer Scott Rogers’ Level Up! The Guide To Great Video Game Design may have the answer, in a way that’s both easy to read and impressively rich in content. It’s not quite a textbook on game design, but it’s probably a much more interesting read than any textbook would be. Rogers draws on his experiences working on games like God of War, the Maximo series, Pac-man World, the Drawn to Life series, and Darksiders to provide a step by step guide through the process of creating a modern video game. But rather than giving code samples and specific details, Level Up! focuses on theories and best practices, a wise choice that doesn’t require the reader to know their C from their C++.
The book weighs in at a hefty 400 plus pages of content and several appendices with examples of the templates and documents discussed within the book, and covers every step of the process from the multitude of roles that contribute to a game’s development.
Easily, the highlight of the book is Rogers’ tone. Both informative and humorous, Rogers tackles a wealth of serious and valuable information without ever seeming to take himself or the craft too seriously. It’s a very, very fine line to walk, especially when you do have an extensive history in game design, but Rogers manages to walk that line, keeping the book’s voice light and fun. He obviously takes his work very seriously, but at the same time, he knows he’s not performing life-saving neurosurgery.
The best manifestation of that tone are the stick figure drawings that accompany most points in the book. They are at the same time crude (in quality, not content) and yet entirely appropriate, and do much to help sell each chapter’s message. That tone also helps to deal with much of the industry jargon, which is clearly explained and illustrated in a way that even a non-gamer would understand.
If there’s one small criticism to be levelled against the book, it’s that this is really about developing for consoles, and perhaps handheld games. And while many of the ideas and themes in the book could be universally true, if you are looking at developing in the mobile, casual, or Facebook markets this may not be an ideal reference book. That said, if you’re starting from square one with your knowledge, there is enough higher level thinking to apply to any situation.
Finally, Rogers also earns serious bonus points in my book for throwing in a “darts with cousin Roman” joke.
The GamerPops Recommendation
I’ll be completely honest here and say I have no idea what kind of books are on the market dealing with game design and development. But I can’t imagine there are any books that blend information and entertainment better than Scott Roger’s Level Up! The Guide To Great Video Game Design.
From a parenting perspective, if you have a child who has expressed an interest in a career in video games, Scott Roger’s Level Up is a great first step. The way the book lays out the process and roles that go into game development is ideal for pre-teens and teens considering their future prospects. At the absolute least, the description of how much work actually goes into making a game will test their level of commitment.
That said, while this book is highly recommended for youth and would-be game designers of any age, that’s not the only audience that can benefit by reading the book. Gamers of every stripe, even those who have zero interest in learning to design their own games, will learn something about the processes behind the games we enjoy playing. At the very least, Level Up should bring a better appreciation of the amount of work that goes into turning ideas, artwork, and lines of code into a complete game experience.
A review copy was provided to GamerPops.
