“Create the digital games you love to play.”

Discover an exercise-driven, non-technical approach to game design without the need for programming or artistic experience with Game Design Workshop, Fifth Edition.

Tracy Fullerton demystifies the creative process with clear and accessible guidance on the formal, dramatic, and dynamic systems of game design. Using examples of classic and popular games, illustrations of design techniques, and refined exercises to strengthen your understanding of how game systems function, this book gives you the skills and tools necessary to create a compelling and engaging game.

This updated 5th edition brings deeper coverage of playcentric design techniques, including setting emotion-focused experience goals and managing the design process to meet them. It includes a host of new diverse perspectives from top industry game designers.

Game Design Workshop puts you to work prototyping, playtesting, and revising your own games with time-tested methods and tools. These skills will provide the foundation for your career in any facet of the game industry including design, producing, programming, and visual design.

Tracy Fullerton is an award-winning game designer and educator with over 30 years of professional experience, including winning the Games for Change Game of the Year Award for her independent game Walden, a game. She has also been awarded the 2016 GDC Ambassador Award, the 2015 Games for Change Game Changer Award, and the IndieCade 2013 Trailblazer award for her pioneering work in the independent games community. Tracy is a Professor of Interactive Media & Games at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the founding Director (emeritus) of the USC Games Program, which has regularly been ranked the #1 game design program in North America by the Princeton Review.