20 Essential Games to Study by Joshua Bycer | Team-FTU

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Description

The purpose of this book is to look over the past 35 years of games to discuss titles whose design deserves to be studied by anyone with an interest in game design. While there are plenty of books that focus on the technical side of Game Development, there are few that study the nature of game design itself. Featuring a mix of console and PC offerings, I purposely left off some of the easy choices (Mario, Starcraft, Call of Duty, Overwatch) to focus on games that stood out thanks to their designs.


Key Features

An informative breakdown focusing on the design and gameplay of successful games
Written to be useful for students or designers starting out in game development
Books focused specifically on design are rare
Perfect for students and professionals alike, or can be read for the nostalgia and history


Table of Contents

1. Star Control 2 (1992) PC 3dO – Choose Your Own Space Adventure
2. Super Metroid (1994) Super Nintendo – Distilled Metroidvania
3. X-Com UFO Defense (1994) PC – Multi-System Gameplay
4. The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis (1996) PC – A Rewarding Experience
5. Goldeneye (1997) Nintendo 64 – Bringing the FPS to the Consoles
6. Metal Gear Solid (1998) Playstation 1 – Tactical Espionage Gameplay
7. Diablo 2 PC (2000) – The Art of Loot
8. Half-Life 2 PC (2004) – Sectional Game Design
9. Katamari Damacy Playtstation 2 (2004) – Simplistic Beauty
10. Devil May Cry 3 Playstation 2 (2005) – Bringing Style to the Action Genre
11. Shadow of the Colossus Playstation 2 (2005) – Boss-Focused Design
12. Team Fortress 2 PC (2007) – The Birth of Games as a Service
13. The World Ends With You Nintendo DS (2007) - Thinking Way outside the Box
14. Left 4 Dead PC (2008) (Coop) - Friends to the Very End
15. Spelunky PC (2008) – Procedural Platforming
16. Demon’s Souls Playstation 3 (2009) – The Action Rogue-Like
17. Plants vs. Zombies PC (2009) – The Ultimate Hardcore Casual Game
18. The Binding of Isaac PC (2011) – Perfected Persistence
19. Infinifactory PC (2015) – Emergent Puzzle Design
20. Doom PC (2016) – Fighting in Flow

Title: 20 Essential Games to Study
Author: Joshua Bycer
Tags and Labels: CRC Press; 2018, Computer & Video Game Design, Video & Electronic Games, Computer Games Programming