Friday, January 23, 2009

The Game Design Reader or Lotus Notes R5 for Dummies Quick Reference

The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology

Author: Katie Salen

The Game Design Reader is a one-of-a-kind collection on game design and criticism, from classic scholarly essays to cutting-edge case studies. A companion work to Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman's textbook Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, The Game Design Reader is a classroom sourcebook, a reference for working game developers, and a great read for game fans and players.

Thirty-two essays by game designers, game critics, game fans, philosophers, anthropologists, media theorists, and others consider fundamental questions: What are games and how are they designed? How do games interact with culture at large? What critical approaches can game designers take to create game stories, game spaces, game communities, and new forms of play?

Salen and Zimmerman have collected seminal writings that span 50 years to offer a stunning array of perspectives. Game journalists express the rhythms of game play, sociologists tackle topics such as role-playing in vast virtual worlds, players rant and rave, and game designers describe the sweat and tears of bringing a game to market. Each text acts as a springboard for discussion, a potential class assignment, and a source of inspiration. The book is organized around fourteen topics, from The Player Experience to The Game Design Process, from Games and Narrative to Cultural Representation. Each topic, introduced with a short essay by Salen and Zimmerman, covers ideas and research fundamental to the study of games, and points to relevant texts within the Reader. Visual essays between book sections act as counterpoint to the writings.

Like Rules of Play, The Game Design Reader isan intelligent and playful book. An invaluable resource for professionals and a unique introduction for those new to the field, The Game Design Reader is essential reading for anyone who takes games seriously.



Table of Contents:
Foreword
Preface
Interstitial : how to win "Super Mario Bros"
The player experience3
The rules of a game9
Gaming the game15
The game design process21
Player and character27
Games and narrative33
Game communities39
Speaking of games45
Game design models53
Game economies59
Game spaces65
Cultural representation71
What is a game?77
What is play?83
Interstitial : cosplay
Interstitial : urban invasion
Nature and significance of play as a cultural phenomenon (1955)96
The definition of play : the classification of games (1962)122
Shoot club : the DOOM 3 review (2004)156
Interstitial : collateral romance
Construction of a definition (1990)172
I have no words & I must design (1994)192
The cabal : valve's design process for creating half-life (1999)212
Interstitial : urban games
Semiotic domains : is playing video games a "waste of time?" (2003)228
The evil summoner FAQ v1.0 : how to be a cheap ass (2001)268
Play and ambiguity (2001)296
A theory of play and fantasy (1972)314
"Complete freedom of movement" : video games as gendered play spaces (1998)330
Interstitial : DDR step charts
Formal abstract design tools (1999)366
Game theory (1992)382
Games and design patterns (2005)410
Tools for creating dramatic game dynamics (2005)438
Game analysis : Centipede (2001)460
Interstitial : indie game jam
Unwritten rules (1999)476
Beyond the rules of the game : why are Rooie rules nice? (1983)504
Changing the game (1978)518
The design evolution of magic : the gathering (1993 | 2004)538
Interstitial : blast theory
Eyeball and cathexis (1983)558
Frames and games (1983)578
Bow, Nigger (2004)602
Cultural models : do you want to be the blue sonic or the dark sonic? (2003)610
Interstitial : red vs. blue
Interaction and narrative (2000 | 2005)642
Game design as narrative architecture (2004)670
Adventure as a video games : adventure for the atari 2600 (1983-84)690
Eastern front (1941) (2003)714
Interstitial : serious games
The lessons of Lucasfilm's habitat (1990)728
Hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades : players who suit MUDs (1996)754
Declaring the rights of players (2000)788
Virtual worlds : a first-hand account of market and society on the cyberian frontier (2001)814
Interstitial : painstation
Coda : piercing the spectacle (2005)866
Interstitial : Le Parkour
Final word924

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Lotus Notes R5 for Dummies Quick Reference

Author: Stephen Londergan

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