Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design

This book was my first dive into the field of game design when I knew very little about it. I’m really glad I chose this book as my starting point because it explains many key concepts in game design in a simple and engaging way, with adorable yet vivid hand-drawn illustrations. It opened my eyes to how fascinating and imaginative this field is, while also acknowledging its many challenges.

The book not only covers important concepts and techniques in game design but also provides principles and methods related to interactive media that can be applied to other forms of interactive media. The most crucial aspect of interactive media is the user/player interaction experience. Throughout the book, the author emphasizes that the most important part of game design is understanding what players want. It’s simple: players want a good game (29). So, what makes a game good? How can we design games that as many players as possible consider good games, and who is the audience for the game? Considering the needs of users is the most important thing when designing.

Furthermore, the author mentions many methods for overcoming creative barriers and finding inspiration in the book. What impressed me the most is the author’s dismissal of the concept of “fun.” For games, lacking fun makes the gaming experience very poor. However, everyone has a different definition of fun, and some ideas may seem fun in some ways but have poor actual effects in games. Therefore, the author proposes the “theory of un-fun,” which suggests coming up with an interesting idea first and then, during the development process, removing any parts that are unfun. After removing all the unfun parts, what remains is inevitably fun (30, 31). I think this is a very counterintuitive but reasonable way of thinking. As the author says, we often lose the ability to objectively identify unfun content in games because we become too attached to our ideas or creativity. Thus, we need to objectively evaluate and consider our work.

The book does not just dump theories and knowledge onto the reader. Through the author’s experiences and insights, it continually guides readers to rethink the entire game production process rationally. From an introduction to the game industry to designing aspects such as story, characters, and levels, to presenting games, this book vividly details the basic concepts of each point from the audience’s perspective. For example, the “Triangle of weirdness”mentioned in Level 3 is a very practical concept. The author emphasizes that in the plot triangle, which consists of characters, events, and the world, only one aspect should be highlighted at a time. Any combination of multiple aspects will make players feel uncomfortable (44). For me, I always strive to design each part uniquely and excellently, but I forget that this may not be what players want to see. Complex designs that only I can understand may not necessarily be good designs.

Many books often unilaterally present the author’s own perceptions to the audience, but this book is different. While reading it, I truly feel like the author is engaging with me. It seems like with every passage, the author anticipates how readers will react. Whenever I feel puzzled about certain content in the book, the author writes phrases like “Don’t believe it?” or “Feeling puzzled?” and then provides explanations. Even when I feel a sense of accomplishment, the author reminds me that it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “good” or that it’s the end. Through this interactive writing style, the author continuously stimulates the reader’s thinking process.

What I learned from this book is very enthusiastic, from how to spark my inspiration, to considering things from the player’s perspective, to letting go of my obsessions, and to better design. Reading this book may not make me a great game designer, but it definitely made me feel the fun of interactive media design.

-Jenny Li