Pattern Language for Game Design

Christopher Barney’s Pattern Language for Game Design builds on the revolutionary work of architect Christopher Alexander to show students, teachers, and game development professionals how to derive best practices in all aspects of game design. Using a series of practical, rigorous exercises, designers can observe and analyze the failures and successes of the games they know and love to find the deep patterns that underlie good design. From an in-depth look at Alexander’s work to a critique of pattern theory in various fields, to a new approach that challenges your knowledge and puts it to work, this book seeks to transform how we view building interactive experiences that shape us.Key Features:Background on the architectural concepts of patterns and a Pattern Language as defined in the work of Christopher Alexander, including his later work on the Fifteen Properties of Wholeness and Generative Codes.Analysis of other uses of Alexander’s work in computer science and game design, and the limitations of those efforts.A comprehensive set of example exercises to help the reader develop their own patterns that can be used in practical day-to-day game design tasks.Exercises that are useful to designers at all levels of experience and can be completed in any order, allowing students to select exercises that match their coursework and allowing professionals to choose exercises that address their real-world challenges.Discussion of common pitfalls and difficulties with the pattern derivation process.A guide for game design teachers, studio leaders, and university departments for curating and maintaining institutional Pattern Languages.Interactive Pattern Language website where you can share patterns with developers throughout the world (patternlanguageforgamedesign.com). This website also contains a comprehensive reference to all games referenced in this book.This fully updated new edition includes: Revised Pattern Template enhanced to record additional aspects of patterns.A robust set of twenty new mechanics-focused pattern exercises.New example patterns for each new exercise.QR codes and links to the Pattern Library website showing the detailed work used to produce each example pattern.A framework for decomposing game mechanics for the application of design patterns. (Atomic Mechanics Theory)A system for diagramming related sets of patterns and the design problems they address.The application of Playable Concepts as rhetorical proofs for Design Patterns.New advice for applying patterns to level design.Visit the Pattern Library Website at patternlanguageforgamedesign.com