A Playful Production Process

How to achieve a happier and healthier game design process by connecting the creative aspects of game design with techniques for effective project management.

This book teaches game designers, aspiring game developers, and game design students how to take a digital game project from start to finish—from conceptualizing and designing to building, playtesting, and iterating—while avoiding the uncontrolled overwork known among developers as “crunch.” Written by a legendary game designer, A Playful Production Process outlines a process that connects the creative aspects of game design with proven techniques for effective project management. The book outlines four project phases—ideation, preproduction, full production, and post-production—that give designers and developers the milestones they need to advance from the first glimmerings of an idea to a finished game.

The book covers each of the project phases in turn, proceeding from ideation through post-production. Most chapters discuss a subject related to making a game in a structured way, describing the activities that take place in each phase, the milestones that mark the beginning and end of each phase, and the deliverables due at each milestone; others cover processes used to communicate, collaborate, and manage the project. This hands-on “playcentric” approach will help designers conceptualize and create future projects with greater efficiency, more creativity, and less pain.