Index

This is a topical index. It points you to where concepts are discussed, not where they are first mentioned. When a concept has a primary home chapter — the place where it gets its full treatment — that chapter is marked (primary). Secondary chapters reference the concept, apply it, or show it in context.

Appendix references use the letter designations from the appendix list (App A through App J).

Accessibility — Ch. 1, Ch. 11, Ch. 19, Ch. 29 (primary), Ch. 33, Ch. 40, App I (checklist) Achievements — Ch. 12 (primary), Ch. 25, Ch. 36, Ch. 39 Action-adventure genre — Ch. 1, Ch. 5, Ch. 26, Ch. 35 (primary), App G Adaptive difficulty — Ch. 11 (primary), Ch. 27, Ch. 32, Ch. 33 Affordance — Ch. 5, Ch. 7, Ch. 17, Ch. 29 (primary) Agency, player — Ch. 4, Ch. 15, Ch. 20, Ch. 23 (see also "cutscenes") Ambient audio — Ch. 22, Ch. 30 (primary) Anchoring (cognitive bias) — Ch. 12, Ch. 24, Ch. 33 Animation — Ch. 8 (primary — juice), Ch. 26, Ch. 29, Ch. 30 Arcade era — Ch. 36 (primary), Ch. 8, Ch. 35 Arcade scoring — Ch. 12, Ch. 36, App E Archetypes (character) — Ch. 21 (primary) Art style — Ch. 8, Ch. 29, Ch. 35, Ch. 38 Assist mode — Ch. 11 (primary — Celeste case), Ch. 29, Ch. 33, Ch. 40 Asymmetric multiplayer — Ch. 28 (primary), App G Attack animation / attack feel — Ch. 8, Ch. 26 (primary) Attention economy — Ch. 33 (primary), Ch. 12, Ch. 38 Audience (target audience) — Ch. 4 (primary), Ch. 34, Ch. 35, Ch. 38, Ch. 40 Audio implementation — Ch. 30 (primary), App A (AudioManager.gd) Autonomy — Ch. 4, Ch. 12 (primary — SDT), Ch. 15

Balance — Ch. 32 (primary), Ch. 24, Ch. 25, Ch. 26, App E, App G Bartle's player taxonomy — Ch. 4 (primary), Ch. 28 Battle pass — Ch. 24, Ch. 33 (primary — ethics), Ch. 39 Battle royale — Ch. 28, Ch. 35, Ch. 36 Behavior tree — Ch. 27 (primary), App G Bloom effect — Ch. 8, Ch. 29 Board games — Ch. 5, Ch. 7, Ch. 36 Boss design — Ch. 26 (primary), Ch. 11, Ch. 13, App G Bushnell, Nolan — Ch. 36

Camera (2D and 3D) — Ch. 17, Ch. 18, Ch. 26, Ch. 29 Capsule art / key art — Ch. 38 (primary) Card/deck-builder genre — Ch. 10, Ch. 25, Ch. 35, App G Celeste — Ch. 1, Ch. 8, Ch. 11 (anchor), Ch. 13, Ch. 17, Ch. 29, Ch. 32, Ch. 33, Ch. 36, Ch. 40, App F, App H Challenge — Ch. 11 (primary), Ch. 13 (primary), Ch. 26 Character design — Ch. 15, Ch. 21 (primary) Cheat codes — Ch. 36 Chunking (cognitive) — Ch. 13, Ch. 29 Cinematic design — Ch. 23 (primary) Class hierarchy (GDScript) — App A (primary), Ch. 21, Ch. 27 Classic arcade games — Ch. 36 (primary), App F, App H Co-op design — Ch. 28 (primary), App G Coin flip (probability) — Ch. 10, App E (primary) Color theory (UI) — Ch. 8, Ch. 29 Combat design — Ch. 26 (primary), Ch. 11, Ch. 27, App G Community management — Ch. 28, Ch. 34, Ch. 39 (primary), Ch. 40 Complexity (cognitive load) — Ch. 7, Ch. 9, Ch. 13, Ch. 29 Computation (simple math for designers) — App E (primary) Concept document — Ch. 2 (primary), Ch. 37, App C Confirmation dialog — Ch. 29 (primary) Consent (design ethics) — Ch. 33 (primary), Ch. 28 Constraint (creativity through) — Ch. 7 (primary), Ch. 2, Ch. 37, App G Content pipeline — Ch. 34 (primary), Ch. 37 Contrast (visual) — Ch. 17, Ch. 29 Controller UX — Ch. 5, Ch. 8, Ch. 29 (primary), App I Core loop — Ch. 6 (primary), Ch. 2, Ch. 5, Ch. 24, App G Crafting system — Ch. 24, Ch. 25, Ch. 36, App G Crunch (industry practice) — Ch. 33, Ch. 34 (primary), Ch. 37 Cutscenes — Ch. 23 (primary), Ch. 15, Ch. 20

Dark patterns — Ch. 33 (primary), Ch. 12, Ch. 24, Ch. 39 Dark Souls — Ch. 1, Ch. 7, Ch. 11, Ch. 13 (anchor), Ch. 22, Ch. 26 (anchor), Ch. 35, Ch. 36, Ch. 40, App F, App H Data-driven design — Ch. 31, Ch. 32, Ch. 39 Death as learning — Ch. 11, Ch. 13 (primary), Ch. 26, Ch. 36 Deck-builder genre — Ch. 10, Ch. 35, App G Default input mapping — Ch. 29 (primary), App I Design pillars — Ch. 2 (primary), Ch. 37, App C Design pattern catalog — App G (primary) Development pipeline — Ch. 34 (primary), Ch. 37 Dialogue system — Ch. 21 (primary), App A Difficulty — Ch. 11 (primary), Ch. 13, Ch. 26, Ch. 27, Ch. 32 Discord (community) — Ch. 28, Ch. 34, Ch. 38, Ch. 39 Documentation (GDD, design notes) — Ch. 2, Ch. 34, Ch. 37, App C Downloadable content (DLC) — Ch. 39 (primary), Ch. 24, Ch. 33 Dynamic difficulty adjustment — Ch. 11 (primary), Ch. 27, Ch. 32 Dynamic music — Ch. 30 (primary)

Economy design — Ch. 24 (primary), Ch. 25, App E, App G Editing (cutscenes, trailers) — Ch. 23, Ch. 38 Emergent gameplay — Ch. 9 (primary), Ch. 7, Ch. 27, Ch. 28, App G Emotion in games — Ch. 15 (primary), Ch. 20, Ch. 23, Ch. 30 Empathy — Ch. 15 (primary), Ch. 20, Ch. 21, Ch. 33 Environment art — Ch. 22, Ch. 29, Ch. 35 Environmental storytelling — Ch. 22 (primary), Ch. 15, Ch. 17, App G Epic Games Store — Ch. 38 EVE Online — Ch. 24, Ch. 28, Ch. 36, App F Exclusivity deals — Ch. 38, Ch. 39 Experience curves (XP) — Ch. 25 (primary), App E Expected value — Ch. 10, Ch. 24, App E (primary) Exploration — Ch. 14 (primary), Ch. 19, Ch. 22 Export (build pipeline) — Ch. 37, Ch. 38, App B (primary)

Fail states — Ch. 11, Ch. 13 FAQ for new designers — App J (primary) Feedback systems — Ch. 8 (primary), Ch. 5, Ch. 29, Ch. 30 Finite state machine (FSM) — Ch. 5, Ch. 27 (primary), App A First-person perspective — Ch. 18, Ch. 26 Flow (Csikszentmihalyi) — Ch. 11 (primary), Ch. 13, Ch. 32 Fog of war — Ch. 14, App G Font selection (UI) — Ch. 29, App I Free-to-play — Ch. 24, Ch. 33 (primary — ethics), Ch. 38

Gambling (loot boxes, probability) — Ch. 10, Ch. 24, Ch. 33 (primary), App E Game feel — Ch. 8 (primary), Ch. 5, Ch. 26, Ch. 29 Game jam — Ch. 2, Ch. 37, App J Game studies (academic) — Ch. 1, Ch. 36 GDC (Game Developers Conference) — Ch. 27, Ch. 34, Bibliography Gender representation — Ch. 21, Ch. 33, Ch. 35 Genre (definition, conventions) — Ch. 35 (primary), Ch. 1 Godot Engine — Ch. 3 (primary), App A, App B, all code chapters Godot setup — Ch. 3 (primary), App B (primary) Grinding — Ch. 12, Ch. 24, Ch. 25, Ch. 33 Guitar Hero / Rock Band — Ch. 5, Ch. 35, App F

Half-Life / Half-Life 2 — Ch. 5, Ch. 23, Ch. 27, Ch. 29, Ch. 36, App F, App H Haptic feedback — Ch. 8, Ch. 29 Hard mode — Ch. 11, Ch. 13, Ch. 33 Health design — Ch. 8, Ch. 24, Ch. 25, Ch. 26 Heuristics (evaluation) — Ch. 29, Ch. 31 Hidden information — Ch. 7, Ch. 14, App G History of games — Ch. 36 (primary) Hollow Knight — Ch. 1, Ch. 17, Ch. 22, Ch. 26, Ch. 35, Ch. 37, App F, App H HUD design — Ch. 29 (primary), Ch. 8, App A Hype cycle — Ch. 38, Ch. 39

Iconic design (art) — Ch. 21, Ch. 38 Indie development — Ch. 2, Ch. 34 (primary), Ch. 37, Ch. 38 Input buffering — Ch. 8, Ch. 26 Input mapping / remapping — Ch. 29, App I Interactive storytelling — Ch. 20 (primary), Ch. 21 Interface design — Ch. 29 (primary) Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation — Ch. 4, Ch. 12 (primary) Into the Breach — Ch. 7, Ch. 11, Ch. 29, Ch. 35, App F, App H Inventory system — Ch. 24, Ch. 29, App A Iteration — Ch. 2, Ch. 31, Ch. 32 (primary), Ch. 37

Jumping (mechanic) — Ch. 5 (primary), Ch. 8, Ch. 17 Juice (game feel) — Ch. 8 (primary)

Kanban / agile — Ch. 34, Ch. 37 Kickstarter / crowdfunding — Ch. 34, Ch. 38

Language (in-game text) — Ch. 21, Ch. 38 (localization), App I Launcher / storefront — Ch. 38 (primary) Launch (game release) — Ch. 38 (primary), Ch. 37, Ch. 39 Legal issues (copyright, trademark) — Ch. 34, Ch. 38 Level design — Ch. 16 (primary), Ch. 17, Ch. 18, Ch. 19, App G Life cycle (live service) — Ch. 39 (primary) Live service games — Ch. 24, Ch. 33, Ch. 39 (primary) Localization — Ch. 21, Ch. 38 (primary) Loot tables / drop rates — Ch. 10, Ch. 24, Ch. 33, App E (primary) Loss aversion — Ch. 12, Ch. 24, Ch. 33

Marketing — Ch. 38 (primary), Ch. 2, Ch. 34 Mastery — Ch. 12, Ch. 13 (primary) Matchmaking — Ch. 28 (primary), Ch. 32 MDA framework (Mechanics/Dynamics/Aesthetics) — Ch. 5 (primary), Ch. 9, Bibliography Mechanical depth vs. breadth — Ch. 5, Ch. 9, Ch. 26 Mechanics — Ch. 5 (primary), Ch. 6, Ch. 7, Ch. 8, Ch. 9, App G Metroidvania — Ch. 19, Ch. 25, Ch. 35, App F (Hollow Knight, Metroid) Minecraft — Ch. 5, Ch. 9 (anchor), Ch. 14, Ch. 19, Ch. 36, App F, App H MOBA genre — Ch. 28, Ch. 35 (primary), App F (DotA 2, LoL) Monetization — Ch. 24, Ch. 33 (primary — ethics), Ch. 38, Ch. 39 Mood board — Ch. 2, Ch. 22, Ch. 38 Motivation (player) — Ch. 12 (primary), Ch. 4, Ch. 13 Motion sickness — Ch. 18, Ch. 29, App I Multiplayer design — Ch. 28 (primary), App G Music (dynamic, emotional) — Ch. 30 (primary), Ch. 15, Ch. 22, Ch. 23

Narrative design — Ch. 20 (primary), Ch. 21, Ch. 22, Ch. 23 NPCs (non-player characters) — Ch. 21 (primary), Ch. 27, App A Nerf / buff (balance changes) — Ch. 32 (primary), Ch. 39

Onboarding — Ch. 13, Ch. 29 (primary — first-five-minutes), Ch. 31 One mechanic test — Ch. 5 (primary) Operant conditioning — Ch. 12 (primary — Skinner) Open world — Ch. 14, Ch. 19 (primary), Ch. 35 Optimization (performance) — Ch. 34, Ch. 37 Original IP vs. licensed — Ch. 34, Ch. 38 Overworld — Ch. 19 (primary)

Pacing — Ch. 16 (primary), Ch. 17, Ch. 23, Ch. 26, Ch. 30 Papers Please — Ch. 15, Ch. 20, Ch. 33, Ch. 35, App F, App H Paper prototype — Ch. 2, Ch. 5, Ch. 7, Ch. 16 (primary), Ch. 31 Paradox of choice — Ch. 4, Ch. 29 Parkour / traversal — Ch. 5, Ch. 17, Ch. 19 Perception (player) — Ch. 4, Ch. 8, Ch. 14, Ch. 29 Perfect information — Ch. 7, Ch. 10 Persistence (saving) — Ch. 24, Ch. 25, Ch. 29 Personas (player) — Ch. 4 (primary), Ch. 31 Physics as mechanic — Ch. 9 (primary — Breath of the Wild), Ch. 17 Pillars (design) — Ch. 2 (primary), Ch. 37, App C Pipelines (production) — Ch. 34 (primary), Ch. 37 Pitching a game — Ch. 2, Ch. 34, Ch. 38 Platformer genre — Ch. 5, Ch. 17 (primary), Ch. 35, App F Play, definitions of — Ch. 1 (primary) Playtesting — Ch. 31 (primary), Ch. 32, App D (protocol templates) Polish — Ch. 8, Ch. 29, Ch. 30, Ch. 32, Ch. 37, Ch. 40 Portal / Portal 2 — Ch. 5, Ch. 23, Ch. 29, Ch. 35, App F, App H Post-launch — Ch. 39 (primary), Ch. 40 Post-mortem — Ch. 40 (primary), Bibliography Power fantasy — Ch. 4, Ch. 15, Ch. 26 Precision platformer — Ch. 17, Ch. 35, App F (Celeste, Super Meat Boy) Prey (2017) — Ch. 9, Ch. 14, Ch. 22, App F Procedural generation — Ch. 10, Ch. 14, Ch. 19 Production — Ch. 34 (primary), Ch. 37 Progression systems — Ch. 25 (primary), Ch. 12, Ch. 24, App G Proof of concept — Ch. 2, Ch. 37 Props (environmental) — Ch. 22 Prototyping — Ch. 2 (primary), Ch. 3, Ch. 5, Ch. 37 Puzzle design — Ch. 13, Ch. 14, Ch. 35 (primary), App F (Portal, Baba Is You, The Witness)

Quality assurance (QA) — Ch. 31, Ch. 34 (primary), Ch. 37 Quest design — Ch. 19, Ch. 20, Ch. 21

Randomness — Ch. 10 (primary), App E Rarity tiers — Ch. 24, Ch. 25, Ch. 33 Reviews — Ch. 38 (primary), Ch. 39, Ch. 40 Reward schedules (fixed, variable, interval, ratio) — Ch. 12 (primary), Ch. 33 Roguelike / roguelite — Ch. 10, Ch. 25, Ch. 35 (primary), App F (Hades, Spelunky, Dead Cells) Rules (as design) — Ch. 7 (primary), Ch. 5

Sandbox — Ch. 9, Ch. 19, Ch. 35, App F (Minecraft, Terraria) Save systems — Ch. 11, Ch. 24, Ch. 29 Scope management — Ch. 37 (primary), Ch. 34, Ch. 40 Screen shake — Ch. 8 (primary — juice), App A Self-determination theory — Ch. 4, Ch. 12 (primary) Sensitivity (aim, camera) — Ch. 18, Ch. 29, App I Sensory design — Ch. 8, Ch. 30 Sequels — Ch. 34, Ch. 35, Ch. 39, Ch. 40 Side-scroller — Ch. 17 (primary), Ch. 35 Sightlines — Ch. 14 (primary — pull), Ch. 17, Ch. 18, Ch. 22 Signs and signposting — Ch. 14, Ch. 17, Ch. 19, Ch. 29 Simulation genre — Ch. 9, Ch. 24, Ch. 35 (primary), App F (The Sims, Factorio) Skill tree — Ch. 25 (primary), Ch. 12, App G Slay the Spire — Ch. 5, Ch. 10, Ch. 25, Ch. 35, App F, App H Sound design — Ch. 30 (primary), Ch. 8, Ch. 22 Spatial audio — Ch. 18, Ch. 30 Speedrunning — Ch. 13, Ch. 32, Ch. 36, Ch. 40 Spreadsheets (for balance) — Ch. 24, Ch. 25, Ch. 32 (primary), App E Stardew Valley — Ch. 2, Ch. 24, Ch. 25, Ch. 34, Ch. 37, Ch. 40, App F, App H State machine — Ch. 5, Ch. 27 (primary), App A Steam (storefront) — Ch. 38 (primary), Ch. 39 Storefront algorithms — Ch. 38, Ch. 39 Strategy genre — Ch. 7, Ch. 10, Ch. 35 (primary), App F (Civilization, XCOM, StarCraft) Streaming (Twitch, YouTube) — Ch. 38, Ch. 39 Subtext (narrative) — Ch. 21, Ch. 22 Super Mario Bros. — Ch. 5, Ch. 17, Ch. 36 (primary), App F, App H Systems design — Part VI (Ch. 24-28), Ch. 9, App G Systemic depth — Ch. 9, Ch. 27

Target audience — Ch. 4 (primary), Ch. 38 Technical debt — Ch. 34, Ch. 37 Telemetry — Ch. 31, Ch. 32, Ch. 39 (primary) Tension / release (narrative) — Ch. 15, Ch. 20, Ch. 23, Ch. 30 Testing (see "playtesting") — Ch. 31, App D Tetris — Ch. 1, Ch. 5, Ch. 6, Ch. 10, Ch. 36, App F, App H Text adventure — Ch. 20, Ch. 36 Theming (mechanics into meaning) — Ch. 15, Ch. 20, Ch. 22 Three-act structure — Ch. 20 (primary) Tilemap / tileset — Ch. 17 (primary), App A Tokenism (representation) — Ch. 21, Ch. 33 Tools (designer tools) — Ch. 3, App B Top-down perspective — Ch. 17 (primary) Trailer (marketing) — Ch. 38 (primary) Trial by Combat (balancing) — Ch. 32 Tuning (parameter tuning) — Ch. 5, Ch. 8, Ch. 26, Ch. 32 (primary), Ch. 11 Tutorial design — Ch. 5, Ch. 13, Ch. 17, Ch. 29 (primary) Twitch (streaming) — Ch. 38, Ch. 39

UI (user interface) — Ch. 29 (primary) Unbalanced design (intentional) — Ch. 32 Uncanny valley — Ch. 18, Ch. 23 Undertale — Ch. 15, Ch. 20, Ch. 21, Ch. 23, Ch. 30, App F, App H Unlockables — Ch. 12, Ch. 25, App G Upgrades — Ch. 24, Ch. 25 (primary), App G Usability testing — Ch. 29, Ch. 31, App D UX (user experience) — Ch. 29 (primary)

Variable ratio reinforcement — Ch. 12, Ch. 33 Verb (as mechanic) — Ch. 5 (primary) Version control (git) — Ch. 3, Ch. 34, Ch. 37, App B Victory conditions — Ch. 1, Ch. 7, Ch. 32 Virtual economy — Ch. 24 (primary), App E Visual hierarchy — Ch. 17, Ch. 29

Walking simulator — Ch. 20, Ch. 22, Ch. 35, App F (Firewatch, Gone Home) Wall jump — Ch. 5, Ch. 17 Wayfinding — Ch. 14, Ch. 17, Ch. 19, Ch. 29 Weapons (combat) — Ch. 26 (primary), Ch. 24, Ch. 32 Weight / heft (game feel) — Ch. 8, Ch. 26 Wishlist (Steam) — Ch. 38 (primary), Ch. 39 World design — Ch. 19 (primary) Writing for games — Ch. 21 (primary), Ch. 20, Ch. 23

XCOM — Ch. 10, Ch. 27, Ch. 35, App F, App H XP (experience points) — Ch. 12, Ch. 25 (primary), App E

Zone of proximal development (Vygotsky) — Ch. 11, Ch. 13 Zork — Ch. 20, Ch. 36, App F, App H