The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses shows that the same basic principles of psychology that work for board games, card games and athletic games also are the keys to making top-quality video games. Good game design happens when you view your game from many different perspectives, or lenses. While touring through the unusual territory that is game design, this book gives the reader one hundred of these lenses—one hundred sets of insightful questions to ask yourself that will help make your game better. These lenses are gathered from fields as diverse as psychology, architecture, music, visual design, film, software engineering, theme park design, mathematics, writing, puzzle design, and anthropology. Anyone who reads this book will be inspired to become a better game designer—and will understand how to do it.

     • Multiple tactics and tips for every Main, Miscellaneous, and Freeform quest. • Karma flowcharts plus everything you need to know about completing all endings. • Expert tactical advice on V.A.T.S., combat techniques, S.P.E.C.I.A.L. abilities, plus which skills to pick as your adventure progresses. • Damage and health statistics for every weapon and enemy.

    Designed by Origins Award-winning game designer Luke Crane for beginners and veterans alike, the game comes complete with three sample patrols and three sample missions, so you and your friends can get started playing right away. Includes art and extensive background material on the Mouse Territories specially prepared by Mouse Guard creator David Petersen, as well as character sheets and maps.

    It supports both Pulp (for Indiana Jones, Robert E. Howard, thrilling locations sorts of games) and Purist styles of play(for intellectual horror and cosmic dread). HP Lovecrafts work combined both, sometimes in the same story. It includes a new take on the creatures, cults and gods of the Lovecrafts literature, and addresses their use in gaming. It adds new player backgrounds, and bulk out the GUMSHOE system to give intensive support for sanity, incorporating into the rule set the PCs desire to explore at the risk of going mad. Trail of Cthulhu won two Ennie awards for Best Rules and Best Writing, as well as receiving an honourable mention for Product of the Year.

    Maps of each area list every key item. Mission tip boxes reveal when and how to access every mission.   Exhaustive Materia Fusion Guide Learn the ins-and-outs of materia fusion. You'll learn everything about materia classes and ranks, plus the hundreds of end results of the fusion process.   Bestiary All-inclusive breakdown of each foe's stats, strengths, weaknesses, and more!   Items & Accessories Complete list of every item, accessory, and piece of equipment in the game.   Bonus 2-sided Foldout! Dynamic render of the game's central character. Plus, comprehensive materia fusion reference chart of every possible materia combination!     Platform: PlayStation Portable Genre: RPG

    This design workshop begins with an examination of the fundamental elements of game design; then puts you to work in prototyping, playtesting and redesigning your own games with exercises that teach essential design skills. Workshop exercises require no background in programming or artwork, releasing you from the intricacies of electronic game production, so you can develop a working understanding of the essentials of game design.Features:* A design methodology used in the USC Interactive Media program, a cutting edge program funded in part of Electronic Arts. * Hands-on exercises demonstrate key concepts, and the design methodology* Insights from top industry game designers, including Noah Falstein, American McGee, Peter Molyneux

    • Unlock all characters and every stage!• Strategies for casual and tournament players!• Detailed info on all items and assist trophies!• Strategies to clear every event!• Detailed Subspace Emissary walkthrough for 100% completion!

    It's a role-playing story-telling game of outrageous originality and swashbuckling exaggeration, stretching the bounds of truth until they twang. How is this possible? If Baron Munchausen is involved, anything is possible. The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen contains full rules, more than two hundred adventures ready to be played, mechanics that replace dice and pencils with money and fine wine, and many insults against the inhabitants of various nations, but principally the French. This expanded edition is a facsimile of a suppressed volume originally published in 1808. It contains additional rules for playing in an Arabian style and a complete supplementary game, 'My Uncle the Baron', designed for children, the inbred and those who are very drunk. "The original edition of The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen was unique and marvellous. This new edition is even better. If you are a clever person with clever friends, you will enjoy reading and playing it. Let's not consider the alternative." -Steve Jackson, creator of Munchkin "Utter brilliance in RPG form!" -John Kovalic, creator of Dork Tower Nominated for Best New RPG in the 1999 Origins Awards Nominated for Best Family/Party Game in the 2009 Origins Awards Nominated for Best Writing in the 2009 ENnie Awards

    2" is the most complete volume of quick-reference Pokemon information available.- Quick and easy: Prima's "Pocket Pokedex" is a handy, pocket- or backpack-sized reference guide featuring all 482+8 Pokemon from each wildly popular game, including "Pokemon Diamond" and "Pokemon Pearl," "Pokemon Crystal," "Pokemon Sapphire," "Pokemon Ruby," and more.- Be prepared: You can look up every Pokemon and their vital statistics. Never be without the necessary info

    BradyGames’ World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Official Strategy Guide includes the following: Complete coverage of each race, with strengths, weaknesses, and more.WEAPONS: Discover the awesome battery of weapons and armor, with detailed equipment listsNORTHREND EXPLORED: In-depth information on quests, bosses, and treasuresNEW DUNGEONS: Instances and Raid roles explained plus locations and strategyCOMPLETE CRAFTING COVERAGE: Every recipe for every crafting professionPlatform: PCGenre: Role-Playing Game

     AREA MAPS: Detailed maps calling out items, weapons, critical locations, and more! WEAPON LISTING: In-depth listing of all weapons with expert tactics on how best to use them MULTIPLAYER COVERAGE: Extensive multiplayer coverage with strategies for solo and team-based gameplay UNLOCKABLES: All unlockables revealed! Signature Series guide features bonus foldout and more! Platform: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, PCGenre: Shooter

    •Walkthrough — Thorough walkthroughs for the 15 hero and the 15 villain missions even for Freeplay Mode!•Maps — Detailed maps from sewers to rooftops with the locations of red power bricks and LEGO canisters!•Character Info and Suits— Complete character descriptions with breakdowns of their abilities and power suits!•Vehicles — Descriptions on all vehicles including the Batmobile, Batboat and Batwing!•Unlockables — Full info on unlockable characters and hidden levels!•Achievements: Xbox 360 achievements shown!

    The Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting provides classic adventuring style and cutting-edge game design perfectly suitable for the world’s most popular roleplaying game!Note: Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide has replaced this volume as the main Pathfinder campaign setting book. The newer volume has been expanded and updated, and is designed for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. And the PDF is cheaper, too!Cover art by Wayne Reynolds

    This campaign guide offers both players and Gamemasters a wide array of new options that can be used to craft a unique roleplaying game experience. As the galaxy plunges into one war after another, the forces of the Republic, along with their Jedi allies, struggle to protect themselves from hordes of invading Mandalorians, tyrannical Sith lords, and traitorous allies on every front. Featuring new game material drawn from a variety of sources, and including characters, weapons, vehicles, and droids, this book presents an entire campaign during the violent days of the Old Republic. This book also contains new Force powers, Force techniques, and Force secrets for Jedi and Sith characters, as well as new options for characters of all classes. Players can take advantage of new talents, feats, and other options to play a Mandalorian neo-crusader, a Republic soldier battling against the forces of Darth Revan and Darth Malak, or a Jedi in exile on the run from the Sith.

    Go is an ancient strategy game, invented over 4,000 years ago in China, and has spread across the world. With millions of players in Asia, Go is sweeping through the Americas and Europe. "So You Want to Play Go?" offers a lighthearted, relaxed, entertaining introduction to the game and it's long history. So, do you want to play go?

    This title explores listings of resources, trainers and vendors, plus an updated World Map featuring flight paths, main cities, instance dungeons and battleground locations. Full description

    If you already know the basic rules of the game of Go, then this book will help you take your game to the next level! Written in the same relaxed and entertaining style as level 1, the second level of So You Want to Play Go will take you through more concepts of the game, as well as go over the culture and history of this great game.So, do you want to play Go?

    Including 200 pages of full-color illustration, concept sketches, interviews with game developers, and strategies for play, this is the ultimate Disgaea compendium for enthusiasts of all levels.

    Science fiction worlds are even more challenging because there are so many classic and well-known environments that the fans can and will compare your new world to.Dead Space is a world unlike any other. The talented team of artists and designers has spent an enormous amount of time and energy constructing a look and feel new to the sci-fi and horror genres. It is their talent and passion that fill these pages and make the Dead Space game a fresh, exciting, and terrifying experience.

    Brawl Fighting out of Nintendo games from across the years comes a roster of favorite characters. Each one is highlighted with a full bio, moves list, strategies, and more. Full description

    Specifically addressing the unique needs of managers in the game industry, this book recognizes a common issue: game development teams consisting of talented specialists who lack interpersonal and leadership skills. Filled with tips and advice from industry pros, you'll learn how to solve problems such as selecting your team, defining roles and identifying team leaders, meeting deadlines, and handling underperformers. You'll examine classic leadership traits, and take a look at specific team roles and their daily responsibilities. Real-world case studies illustrate solutions to each problem and hands-on exercises will help you practice the techniques presented. Team Leadership in the Game Industry provides you with a valuable set of best practices and advice to help you achieve efficient, cohesive teams.

    The perfect player resource for Traveller, the pocket edition is a cheap and economic guide to the game.

    Each chapter covers a different topic important to game designers, and was taken from actual industry experience. After a brief overview of the topic, there are five challenges that each take less than two hours and allow you to apply the material, explore the topic, and expand your knowledge in that area. Each chapter also includes 10 -non-digital shorts- to further hone your skills. None of the challenges in the book require any programming or a computer, but many of the topics feature challenges that can be made into fully functioning games. The book is useful for professional designers, aspiring designers, and instructors who teach game design courses, and the challenges are great for both practice and homework assignments. The book can be worked through chapter by chapter, or you can skip around and do only the challenges that interest you. As with anything else, making great games takes practice and Challenges for Game Designers provides you with a collection of fun, thoughtprovoking, and of course, challenging activities that will help you hone vital skills and become the best game designer you can be.

    Deadly anomalies defy logic and reason. Monsters roam the streets of dead cities and the bones of the fallen crack beneath your feet. No one knows what really happened, nor do they really care. The World wants the Zones closed off, walled in and forgotten. The governments were only too happy to oblige and gave them away to the Institute.The Institute answers to no one.The borderlands between our world and the Zones are now lawless frontiers where the Institute wields absolute power. Zone refugees are hunted like animals. Scientists experiment on human captives. Criminal activity of every kind flourishes in the shadow of the border, well and truly beyond the reach of law.Even in the Zones, there are things that people want. Things that promise the impossible; infinite energy, the cure for all ailments, or the power to rewrite fate. Leaders, businessmen and generals would kill to get their hands on them, or to keep from the hands of others. Which is why you are here. Looter. Criminal. Stalker.If you come back with swag – it’s a miracleIf you come back alive – it’s a successIf the patrol bullets miss you – it’s luckAnd as for anything else – that’s fateStalker - the SciFi Roleplaying Game is the one and only true "Stalker" roleplaying game, based on the novel Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky but brought to the modern times and modern audiences. The Finnish-language original was released in 2008 to rave reviews. The leading daily newspaper named it as one of the top culture events of the year. Years of insistence by hardcore fans lead to it being translated into English and now here we are.

    Tricky passages are covered in dedicated, illustrative sections. This reduces the need for the reader to search for and interpret text instructions• Features comprehensive step-by-step guidance, revealing the location of every treasure• All-inclusive Extras chapter helps discover all collectibles and other bonus features• Detailed information about the cast, a Synopsis and an Art section peppered with reams of exclusive artwork turn this guide into a coveted collectors’ item. • Digital, hi-res screenshots to illustrate playing tactics

    A fire is lit: is it a lamp perched over the inscription upon an ancient blade? Or a roaring conflagration consuming the house in which the howling fiends wait? Things will never be the same after this. You've set forth on a damning path. Carry the Vigil. Fight back the shadows.Rulebook for Hunter: The Vigil This book includes: * A rulebook for playing hunters, those humans who have seen the truth of the World of Darkness and are spurred to action. * A many-faced Vigil for many types of hunter: characters might choose a path of violence, of investigation, or even of rehabilitation. Decipher mysteries and confront the horrors. * Provides new player types and antagonists for crossover- intensive chronicles as well as those chronicles focused only on hunters.

    They're in your neigh-borhood, watching you as you walk to school. They're waiting for you in the woods behind your house as you and your friends build your fort. They're under your bed. Adults have learned to live in the World of Darkness by ignoring the supernatural, by pretending it isn't there and going about the lives they have made for themselves. You don't have that luxury. You see the world through a child's eyes, and that means you haven't learned to look away. Be careful. Innocence is fragile. Complete rules for the game play. A modified Storytelling system for playing children aged 7 to 12, advice for running chronicles with child characters in mind and for appropriately portraying these characters. New monsters, spirits, ghosts and advice on integrating the core World of Darkness games with Innocents.

    Fully revised and updated to reflect the rapidly evolving game development landscape, the third edition of this definitive and best-selling text covers pre-production, production, testing, and code release, as well as more specific topics including voiceovers, mo-cap shoots, marketing, localizations, managing external contractors, writing documentation, and project management practices. All-new material in the third edition includes new sections on mobile gaming and product management, an overview of useful production tools, and new interviews with industry professionals who offer an insider's view of successful game development as well as highly relevant real-world examples that contextualize the resources provided by the text. A detailed case study of a fictitious game project illustrates the production cycle, documentation, and other key production concepts. Accessible enough for beginners and comprehensive enough for experienced developers, The Game Production Handbook, Third Edition is an invaluable standalone text for students and professionals alike. Prepare students to successfully enter the exciting world of game development with The Game Production Handbook, Third Edition. New to the Third Edition: -Offers new interviews with industry experts who discuss insider knowledge and real world examples of what works and what doesn't work in game development. -Contains new sections on product management, audio as it relates to the production process, financing options, and the latest relevant production tools.

    A tome of inspiration for fantasy game masters.

    This booklet is an introduction to “old school” gaming, designed especially for anyone who started playing fantasy role-playing games after, say, the year 2000 – but it’s also for longer-time players who have slowly shifted over to modern styles of role-playing over the years.

    Combining the Mechs, vehicles, and aerospace fighters previously found in Technical Readout 3025, Revised and Technical Readout: 3026, Revised, this volume features some of the most common units of the Succession Wars. Each machine is illustrated in detail, accompanied by a description of its history, capabilities, game stats, and some of the units most famous pilots.- The BattleTech Technical Readout is the best selling series of books ever published for BattleTech.- Technical Readout 3039 contains the units from the original Technical Readout 3025, in-print for more than twenty years, appropriately presented to act as a perfect companion Technical Readout for the Classic BattleTech Introductory Box Set.Can be used by any Classic BattleTech playerClassic BattleTech Core Supplement304 Page book.

    For those who unlock the secrets of the grimoires, great majesty and great peril await. A Chronicle Book for Mage: The Awakening • 18 new grimoires offering great power and great danger • New spells, legacies and blessings conferred by these works of power • Peculiar new grimoire forms, from a popular fantasy series to a black metal album

    You have your sick ride with a trunk full of explosives, high-tech gizmos, and of course a few more guns. You've assembled a crack team of commandos, street-smart lawmen, suave super-spies, and world-class burglars . . . maybe all of them at once! You're ready to rock and roll. All you need is a target.GURPS Action 2: Exploits gives players hundreds of ways to show off their heroes' skills on adventures. Highlights include cat burglary, parkour, and dozens of other physical feats . . . techno-thrills ranging from stay-at-home hacking to hands-on surveillance . . . polite and not-so-polite social engineering . . . and much, much more. You're just reading the teaser, after all!For the GM, Exploits supplies the tools to challenge and threaten a whole team of heroes. Advice on forging classic action-movie scenes into adventures that spotlight all the heroes is woven through everything, along with input on having cunning henchmen pull stunts of their own – up to and including using WMD! There's also GM-only material on handling Assistance Rolls and Duty, and on making everybody useful.And of course everybody will appreciate the quick-and-dirty chase system and rules for speeding up combat, complete with new cinematic options!

    On the Keeper side are essential ToC tables to lessen wear on your prized copy of ToC.Included is chunky resource book for use in play – it includes clues, equipment, background info and special benefits on abilities and occupations, as well a 50 NPCs ranging from suave cultists to talkative telephone operators.

    Full of mystery, investigation and corruption, this book is an ideal introduction to the dark and gothic universe of the 41st Millennium, and marks the launch of a new gaming system that players have been anticipating for over 20 years

    I wonder when magical turned into mundane, when novelty turned into necessity. I wonder when it was that SL stopped being something I chose to do and became something I needed to do instead. I wonder when it was that I became addicted. *Really* addicted. I wonder if it could have been any other way, and I honestly doubt that it could have." A Second Life® detective reflects on cases and confessions, on love, on anger, on understanding Second Life as perhaps the greatest liberator there has ever been, and on falling for the oldest trick in the book, just the same...

    "Best of Game Programming Gems" combines the greatest cutting-edge, ready-to-use techniques contributed by industry experts to volumes 1-6 of the Game Programming Gems series. Each article was carefully chosen by the editors and compiled into one best-of-the-best volume in an effort to share forty-nine timeless gems of game programming wisdom with you and to save you time and effort with a plethora of reliable methods to add to your developer's tool box. The articles are organized into six sections covering the topics of general information, math and physics, artificial intelligence, graphics, networking, and audio.Whether you are new to game development or a practiced veteran, you're sure to find inspiration and insight to make more entertaining and satisfying games in "Best of Game Programming Gems."

    and feared.Opacus VenatoriA melding of the most elite warriors with the Word of Blake's Manei Domini cyborg soldiers, the Opacus Venatori - piloting the new cutting-edge Celestial-series OmniMechs - are a hunter-killer force without equal... and they've got Wolf blood in sight.A new series, the Starterbooks are a perfect way to jump into the further excitement of the Classic BattleTech universe. Starterbook: Wolf and Blake provides a short synopsis of the history leading up to the Jihad - the current war sweeping the Inner Sphere - as well as a brief history and personal dossiers on the members of these two elite combat commands. Comes with record sheets for everyone in both the commands, including ten, never-before-seen 'Mech variants/configurations mounting experimental technologies. Finally, a unique track system allows players to develop their own scenarios - players will be stomping across futuristic battlefields in no time!Starterbook: Wolf and Blake is a fiction-bridge between the universe history presented in Total Warfare and the current storyline begun in the Dawn of the Jihad (or Blake Ascending: A Jihad Compilation) sourcebook, while providing a sneak peak at some of the advanced technologies that will premier in Tactical Operations. Can be used with Iron Wind Metals' Wolf and Blake 'MechPack: Wolf's Dragoons, Wolf and Blake 'MechPack: Word of Blake 1 and Wolf and Blake 'MechPack: Word of Blake 2.The Total Warfare core rulebook is required to use Starterbook: Wolf & Blake. Technical Readout: 3050 Upgrade is recommended for use with Starterbook: Wolf & Blake.

    Note: This product will be printed to order.

    Ninety percent of the people exposed to the Wild Card virus died, and some say they were the lucky ones. Of the survivors, ninety percent were mutated into the hideous freaks known as "Jokers." Only a rare one percent became "Aces," people gifted with superhuman powers. In 1985 George R.R. Martin and a stellar group of authors introduced readers to the world of Wild Cards, and now the series spans more than a dozen anthologies and novels. In the summer of 2008 players of Mutants & Masterminds can make this world their own for the first time with the Wild Cards campagin setting, written by series author John Jos. Miller. Inside this beautifully illustrated book you will find a full history the setting, profiles and game stats for dozens of major characters, background information and rules on the Wild Card virus, an introductory adventure, and advice on running your own WildCards campaign.

    The ties between us shall be renewed, and the old oaths fulfilled. We all stand together in summer, the season of war. A Character Book for Changeling: The LostT • A detailed look at freeholds, how they operate and how to create particularly vivid settings for a chronicle • Information on the four seasonal Great Courts, from rituals and customs to their magical arsenal of powers • A host of new Entitlements, from bold knights to cun-ning courtiers

    An in depth artbook bundled with the Collector's Edition of Gears of War 2 detailing the conception of the game.

    •Learn how to access the complete car collection, including the fabled gold and platinum cars!•Every single shortcut, off-road area, and secret playground shown!•Meticulously detailed tour of Burnout™ Paradise, showing every smash, billboard, and super jump!•Dominate online with killer tactics on all 350 Freeburn Challenges!•All 60 PLAYSTATION® 3 Awards and 50 Achievements revealed!

    The King of Spring has been enspelledAnd wanders in the green.The Queen of Spring put on her MaskAnd walks a path unseen.The Knight of Spring is dressed in goldAnd guards the maiden’s dream.The Knave of Spring, she stole the moon…Or so it all would seem.— Pretty Penny, freelance soothsayerThis book includes:* Expanded information on the magic of the Lost, from their mystical lore to new and powerful Contracts* Greater detail on dreamshaping, pledgecrafting, Clarity, the Mask, and many other aspects of changeling magic* Many more tokens, goblin fruits and other wonders to be found within the Hedge

    . . so different worlds need different magic systems. GURPS Thaumatology has GURPS Fourth Edition updates of the best Third Edition magic variants, plus many all-new options. This mighty tome includes:* Minor tweaks for the spell-based magic of the Basic Set: restructuring prerequisites and colleges, modifying Magery and mana, new magical energy sources, adapting spells on the fly, and more.* Radical revisions of spell-based magic, including detailed versions of the clerical and ritual magic options hinted at in the Basic Set, and the return of that Third Edition classic, "unlimited mana."* Traditional alternatives to spells, such as ceremonial, spirit-mediated, and runic magic.* World-shaking freeform magic.* Magic as inherent powers.* An in-depth look at material magic, with new alchemy, herbalism, and enchantment options; rules for free-willed items and magical gadgets; and guidelines for "the stuff of raw magic."* Notes on adapting real-world occult concepts – such as the Laws of Magic, astrology, and traditional material components – to any magic system.* Guidelines for running magic-oriented games, advice on combining magic systems, and detailed outlines for four distinctly different fantastic campaigns.

    

    •Find the perfect roommate and learn how to keep them happy.•Details on all new objects, socials, and NPCs.•The roadmap for new objects and socials for kids and toddlers.•Master the magical arts with our guide to Sim witchcraft.•Social classes, groups, rewards turn neighborhoods into "communities".

    We tell you which ones and how to solve them!   Exclusive 2-Sided Foldout Want Stickers? Materials? Objects? Costume goodies? We got ‘em! Here’s a perfect reference for you to snag all the goodies!      Platform: PlayStation 3 Genre: Platformer