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Game Design Vocabulary, A: Exploring the Foundational Principles Behind Good Game Design
Master the Principles and Vocabulary of Game Design
Why aren’t videogames getting better? Why does it feel like we’re playing the same games, over and over again? Why aren’t games helping us transform our lives, like great music, books, and movies do?
The problem is language. We still don’t know how to talk about game design. We can’t share our visions. We forget what works (and doesn’t). We don’t learn from history. It’s too hard to improve.
The breakthrough starts here. A Game Design Vocabulary gives us the complete game design framework we desperately need—whether we create games, study them, review them, or build businesses on them.
Craft amazing experiences. Anna Anthropy and Naomi Clark share foundational principles, examples, and exercises that help you create great player experiences…complement intuition with design discipline…and craft games that succeed brilliantly on every level.
Liberate yourself from stale clichés and genres Tell great go way beyond cutscenes and text dumps Control the crucial relationships between game “verbs” and “objects” Wield the full power of development, conflict, climax, and resolution Shape scenes, pacing, and player choices Deepen context via art, animation, music, and sound Help players discover, understand, engage, and “talk back” to you Effectively use resistance and the “push and pull” of games Design integrate visuals, audio, and controls Communicate a design vision everyone can understand
Why aren’t videogames getting better? Why does it feel like we’re playing the same games, over and over again? Why aren’t games helping us transform our lives, like great music, books, and movies do?
The problem is language. We still don’t know how to talk about game design. We can’t share our visions. We forget what works (and doesn’t). We don’t learn from history. It’s too hard to improve.
The breakthrough starts here. A Game Design Vocabulary gives us the complete game design framework we desperately need—whether we create games, study them, review them, or build businesses on them.
Craft amazing experiences. Anna Anthropy and Naomi Clark share foundational principles, examples, and exercises that help you create great player experiences…complement intuition with design discipline…and craft games that succeed brilliantly on every level.
Liberate yourself from stale clichés and genres Tell great go way beyond cutscenes and text dumps Control the crucial relationships between game “verbs” and “objects” Wield the full power of development, conflict, climax, and resolution Shape scenes, pacing, and player choices Deepen context via art, animation, music, and sound Help players discover, understand, engage, and “talk back” to you Effectively use resistance and the “push and pull” of games Design integrate visuals, audio, and controls Communicate a design vision everyone can understand
236 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 7, 2013
56 people are currently reading
732 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 5, 2014
A good primer for anyone that wants to do game design beyond "an exact clone of World of Warcraft but I get to name the elves this time". Anthropy's laser-focus on a game as an exploration of a single mechanic may be a bit narrow, but it's a great stepping stone for a variety of game designs that doesn't get much love from the big companies.
Naomi Clark's second half focuses on storytelling and theme. It's a less revolutionary section, as pretty much every book on game design is a thinly rebranded essay on writing stories for books and movies, but it still details a lot of what makes storytelling for games unique.
But, most importantly, the book doesn't mention the hero's fucking journey anywhere, and so gets 5 out of 5.
Naomi Clark's second half focuses on storytelling and theme. It's a less revolutionary section, as pretty much every book on game design is a thinly rebranded essay on writing stories for books and movies, but it still details a lot of what makes storytelling for games unique.
But, most importantly, the book doesn't mention the hero's fucking journey anywhere, and so gets 5 out of 5.
August 21, 2018
This was an interesting dive into game design. It’s definitely a textbook, but still was fun to read and had of course a lot of great information. It was more about video games than games in general, but the approach is sound for a lot of things and definitely had takeaways (and verbiage) that I’ll keep using.
January 12, 2016
This was a very well written and thoughtful book. In it Anna talks about what makes good video-games good, how to make video-games good, and how to create a good balance of story and gameplay.
The biggest challenge for game designers to do is tread the boredom(too easy)/frustration(too hard) line. If your game is easily mastered most people will get bored quickly and stop playing. If your game is too hard players will stop playing right from the start because it is too frustrating (although exceptions like Flappy Bird still exist). The key to good game design is to make the tool and abilities (or "verbs" as Anna calls them) develop to overcome different challenges. An example is the game Portal, the verb that makes you pick up an item is also the verb that makes you push buttons, pull levers, ect. Additionally the difficulty of timing for this verb increases as you progress through the game. Portal 1 and 2 are my favorite games and reading this book made me realize why on a technical level.
Unlike many games today, Portal only teaches you things you would have no idea how to do unless it told you (like using wasd to move). Additionally the "tutorials" don't exist. The game shows you new controls on the side of your screen so as not to interrupt gameplay. The levels you work in are designed in a way that you "accidentally" figure stuff out. Since Portal is a puzzle game giving away controls would ruin the whole game, but in forcing the playing to figure out interactions it makes the player feel more invested in the game. Additionally, when you figure out something, like how to use portals to fly around the place, it gives a genuine feeling of accomplishment contrary to other games that just tell you everything and then say "Great job!" at the end.
I highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys making or even playing games of all sorts. Many of the principles in this book can translate to card and board games too.
The biggest challenge for game designers to do is tread the boredom(too easy)/frustration(too hard) line. If your game is easily mastered most people will get bored quickly and stop playing. If your game is too hard players will stop playing right from the start because it is too frustrating (although exceptions like Flappy Bird still exist). The key to good game design is to make the tool and abilities (or "verbs" as Anna calls them) develop to overcome different challenges. An example is the game Portal, the verb that makes you pick up an item is also the verb that makes you push buttons, pull levers, ect. Additionally the difficulty of timing for this verb increases as you progress through the game. Portal 1 and 2 are my favorite games and reading this book made me realize why on a technical level.
Unlike many games today, Portal only teaches you things you would have no idea how to do unless it told you (like using wasd to move). Additionally the "tutorials" don't exist. The game shows you new controls on the side of your screen so as not to interrupt gameplay. The levels you work in are designed in a way that you "accidentally" figure stuff out. Since Portal is a puzzle game giving away controls would ruin the whole game, but in forcing the playing to figure out interactions it makes the player feel more invested in the game. Additionally, when you figure out something, like how to use portals to fly around the place, it gives a genuine feeling of accomplishment contrary to other games that just tell you everything and then say "Great job!" at the end.
I highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys making or even playing games of all sorts. Many of the principles in this book can translate to card and board games too.
April 28, 2014
Anthropy's half is pretty good, although it could use some editing to be less about her friends and more about more widely understood examples. Clark's part is essentially every book about game design: a great set of boxes to categorize things that have already been made but almost nothing prescriptive. Anthropy's part expanded could have made for a great ebook, but at this price you should expect more.
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July 8, 2023Imagine my embarrassment: I've been talking about how we should think about games as grammars, with verbs, nouns, and modifiers for how many years and hadn't read this important book on it? Well, I've fixed that now. Part of the price of being about a decade late is that some aspects of the conversation have moved beyond the ideas presented in the book. Still, some key ideas were strongly presented here. I especially enjoyed the first half, written by Anna Anthropy that lays the groundwork for the concepts. I had more difficulty with the second half, the concepts in which I did not feel were as strongly presented or unpacked. The idea of "Resistance" especially felt like a slightly amorphous bucket of different design elements, including difficulty level, flow, variation, and rewards that I am not positive belonged together in one big pile. The book does not stop to discuss some important foundational concepts, such as intrinsic vs extrinsic rewards, skill acquisition, or player motivation theories from positive psychology, and so, to my eyes, feels unequipped to unpack and differentiate some of the design aspects it took on. Finally, the writers, especially Anthropy, seem to have a clear bias towards classic arcade, platformer, and skill-based action games. There are some reasons why this is a pretty good bias to have if you were to write a book like this, but at times it felt like the authors were stretching to understand why someone would even want to play a JRPG, adventure game, or other genre farther from that milieu that's less about skill and mechanics. The fact isn't a problem, but does feel like an important piece of context to note here.
To come full circle, is this an important text for understanding game and interactive media design as a kind of expressive grammar of agency? To my mind, yes, with some excellent thoughts and pull-worthy quotes. At the same time, it does not feel like the last word or full picture. More reading shall be required!
To come full circle, is this an important text for understanding game and interactive media design as a kind of expressive grammar of agency? To my mind, yes, with some excellent thoughts and pull-worthy quotes. At the same time, it does not feel like the last word or full picture. More reading shall be required!
July 28, 2025
Infantylnie napisane, mierziło mnie to przez cały czas. Ponadto, nie dowiedziałem się prawie niczego. Ilość przykładów z konkretnych gier (szkoda tylko, że cały czas tego samego sortu) jest zatrważająca. Liczyłem na znacznie więcej wniosków nie opierających się na czymś tak prozaicznym jak opis tego rodzaju: "postać porusza się w prawo i w lewo, gracz może wybrać stronę; gracz musi wykonać serię uderzeń, by wydarzyło się coś tam — tak budujemy zaangażowanie". Słaba. Za parę niezłych zdań mógłbym teoretycznie podwyższyć ocenę, ale to byłoby naciągane.
January 7, 2023
Define fases y elementos del proceso creativo. Un diseñador puede aprovechar estos elementos para identificar aspectos necesarios o facilitadores que de otro modo serían poco o nada evidentes. El pero es que la autora de la primera parte parece tener una cruzada en contra de juegos AAA o juegos que no se acoplen bien a su idea de cómo debe diseñarse un videojuego.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 19, 2020
absolute must-read for any and all game designers
This book is great for new starters in the world of game design or veterans alike. This is a must read for anyone pursuing game design as a career or as an interest.
This book is great for new starters in the world of game design or veterans alike. This is a must read for anyone pursuing game design as a career or as an interest.
February 18, 2024
A thorough primer for those looking to get into game dev themselves. Anna and Naomi break down popular titles and discuss how they work to convey stories or teach players how to interact with them. Includes discussion and group activities as well!
December 30, 2018
This is required reading for future designers. Eloquently blends ideas and concepts that make up the field.
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May 24, 2020It boils down to a taxonomy of games by verbs.
August 11, 2021
A great entry point into understanding video game design. Packs in more concepts than books twice its length and with way more personality.
February 23, 2025
Informative primer to thinking about games in terms of structure, design and vocabulary. Enjoyed it quite a lot. The examples were interesting and well-rounded.
January 23, 2015
It's good for what it is.
As someone who's been in game design as a hobby for many many years - I can say there's not a whole lot new here. However, in the past, typically what would happen would be: Game Designer reads about game design topic -> Game Designer talks with other Game Designers about what this topic means for 'Games as Art' - but this book already frames these topics with that perspective.
So in that sense it is refreshing, but you'll find yourself flashing back to conversations you've likely already had, if you're predisposed to think of game design in this way.
However, I might recommend this book to new designers or designers who never before put much stock into the 'Games as Art' notion because I feel it's quite persuasive.
A note: Mostly when I find blocks of texts related to 'Games as Art' they get preachy, weird, or radical (in a bad way). But there is no danger of that here. This is a fair and honest attempt and mostly a success - you just won't get anything out of it if you've already been seeking this kinda stuff out for years, but do read it so you can then recommend it to the next generation!
As someone who's been in game design as a hobby for many many years - I can say there's not a whole lot new here. However, in the past, typically what would happen would be: Game Designer reads about game design topic -> Game Designer talks with other Game Designers about what this topic means for 'Games as Art' - but this book already frames these topics with that perspective.
So in that sense it is refreshing, but you'll find yourself flashing back to conversations you've likely already had, if you're predisposed to think of game design in this way.
However, I might recommend this book to new designers or designers who never before put much stock into the 'Games as Art' notion because I feel it's quite persuasive.
A note: Mostly when I find blocks of texts related to 'Games as Art' they get preachy, weird, or radical (in a bad way). But there is no danger of that here. This is a fair and honest attempt and mostly a success - you just won't get anything out of it if you've already been seeking this kinda stuff out for years, but do read it so you can then recommend it to the next generation!
March 19, 2015
The second part of this book (written by Naomi) is fine enough, but typical of other books or pieces or writing about games and game design. It's helpful stuff, especially if you haven't read very much about games and their design, but not overly stand-out. For me the first section by Anthropy is the real reason for reading this book, and what got me to purchase it to begin with. That woman really knows her games. And she really knows how to design them. And in books (and blogposts, and interviews etc.) shows she really knows how to talk about them too.
A wonderful introduction to ways of thinking about games and their design, and a great resource and source of food-for-thought and inspiration for working and aspiring game designers.
A wonderful introduction to ways of thinking about games and their design, and a great resource and source of food-for-thought and inspiration for working and aspiring game designers.
November 12, 2014
An excellent look at what it means to treat game development as an art form instead of a job. Also, a fair attempt at standardising terminology.
September 16, 2019
Want to say something, but essentially this books says nothing
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews