Video Game Design for Dummies is Available for Pre-Order!
I’ve been toiling away in my cave writing about game design, and I’m excited to share it with you! You can pre-order it now if you click that button on the right.
The last few years I’d been interested in writing a book. I’d built up my muscles writing blogs about games and game design, in order to share the work and develop my own voice and philosophies. So I sent a proposal to Wiley and had a couple of editors email me. The first was a game design book I didn’t feel I had enough knowledge on to write 250 pages about, and then I actually got a rejection (I was bummed), and then Dummies emailed me! Video Game Design for Dummies aligned with my writing style, attitude about making and learning things, and the editor was super friendly and helpful. It helped that I had been reading Art History for Dummies when I received that email.
Not to give a ton away, but the process has been full of support, style guides, templates, and example books. We’ve worked on graphics and formatting together, and my editors give clear direction, probably the best direction I’ve ever gotten! Which makes sense because there are more than 1600 titles in the series, so they have the process on lock.
This book isn’t about the one right or wrong way to make a game. I don’t believe there is a right or wrong way to make a game. As with everything else in life, there’s a spectrum of ways you can go about accomplishing something. Instead it’s about “what’s worked for me,” the topics I’ve been studying for over a decade in design, and artifacts and examples of process from my work. It’s benefitted greatly to have gone indie and done lots of game jams in the past, so that I can show personal work instead of having to get permission for company work.
I hope people looking to make games can use this as a tool to reference information for the phase of work they’re in, whether they haven’t started yet or they’re stuck and can’t find a way forward to finish their game. My main goal here is to unblock creativity and help people flow. If this is you, feel free to reach out if you want to chat.
I’m thankful to my editors, my mentors I met along the way, and the people I’ve collaborated with throughout my career. I’m also thankful to my students in the Entertainment Design program at ArtCenter for showing me what they’re most interested in learning about.
