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How To Design Gameplay and Exploration (The Lazy Designer Book 3) Kindle Edition

5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 7 ratings

Brent Knowles continues his Lazy Designer series with a look at exploration and gameplay. From environment design to combat to building rule systems, Brent examines how to craft quality design.
Includes practical advice for designers already working in the games industry and wishing to hone their skills as well as for those aspiring to such a career.
With practical and blunt advice, the Lazy Designer will give you the skills necessary to become a valued, and maybe even essential, member of any development team.
Brent Knowles is an industry veteran with over ten years experience and was a creative director on Neverwinter Nights and Dragon Age : Origins.

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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Want to learn how to be a successful designer in the videogame industry? This book will provide pointers and anecdotes from the author's own experiences.

About the Author

Brent Knowles is a writer, programmer, and game designer.

He worked at the role-playing game studio BioWare for ten years (Baldur's Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age), during most of which he was a Lead Designer/Creative Director.

Now he writes full time.

He has been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies including On Spec Magazine and Abyss and Apex.

In 2009 Brent placed first in the third quarter of the Writer's of the Future Contest with his story 'Digital Rights'.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00D3N50LK
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ YourOtherMind Media; 2nd edition (May 27, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 27, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 901 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 301 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 7 ratings

About the author

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Brent Knowles
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Current Project - Raiders of the Serpent Sea 5e Norse-myth inspired campaign https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcanumworldscanada/raidersoftheserpentsea

Hi. I'm a game designer -- the bulk of my career was at BioWare (Baldur's Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age). In recent years I have returned to game design, working at N-Space and then Beamdog. I am open to fielding questions from readers... writers ... game developers... so feel free to contact me.

Customer reviews

5 out of 5 stars
7 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2017
    I bought this book because I enjoyed Lazy Designer 2: Design Prototype Test by Brent. However, before I did, also downloaded a sample of another game design book, Games, Design and Play and compared the writing styles. While I didn’t find anything wrong with the latter, I found the book too formal in its delivery. Brent’s approach is conversational.

    I can’t remember a book where I highlighted the most texts; it’s that good. The book focuses on RPGs but the learning can be applied to other genres.

    Key take away:
    - Focus on the player’s benefits (put the right things and ONLY the right things for the player to enjoy the game to the fullest).
    - Ask many what-if questions especially those that impact other sub-systems, e.g., is the progression system aligned with the loot-system?
    - Collaborate with relevant stakeholders early when introducing new features so art, levels, music, sound effects, animation, etc. are in-sync.
    - See the big picture but also nitpick on the details, e.g., mentioning an item in a dialog but the item is nowhere to be found in the game world.

    The author is also modest by saying that what he’s sharing is what he experienced and learned from Bioware and isn’t set in stone as new game designers innovate.

    I highly recommend this book to new game designers.
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2014
    Brent does an phenomenal job describing the component processes of game design, and in this instance with Exploration and Gameplay I think he's written his best work to date.

    I find Brent's writing a quick read which is easy to understand, and he explains game industry concepts well. Definitely recommended.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2014
    Brent knowles takes you through many great things in the game development world!!
    I will advice you to read all of his books!!!
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2014
    Topics ranging from Exploration to Special Abilities, Knowles goes through the thought processes of a veteran game designer and leaves no stone un-turned. The advice is specific to RPGs mostly, and Knowles is frank when discussing subjects outside of his work experience. My only gripe is that the chapters are numbered, not named so it's hard to navigate the Kindle edition using the Table of Contents.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2013
    Fantastic book, Any reader would get great knowledge by purchasing this book, Go out and purchase right away, Book provides great info on the subject
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2013
    Brent has once again nailed the subject matter - excellent source of up to date info and extremely informative and a wealth of knowledge
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Cal
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great continuation of the series
    Reviewed in Canada on February 6, 2015
    A superb reference and outline of the problems that need to be considered by any game designer, especially would-be RPG or RPG-like game designers.

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