A Theory of Fun for Game Design
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Author | Raph Koster (foreword by Will Wright) |
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Illustrator | Raph Koster |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Publisher | Paraglyph Press |
Released | November 6, 2004 |
Media type | Print (Paperback) |
Pages | 256 pp |
ISBN | ISBN 1-932111-97-2 |
A Theory of Fun for Game Design is a book written and illustrated by Raph Koster. It is based upon a presentation Koster gave at the Austin Game Conference in 2003, and the book reflects its origins by displaying text on one page and a cartoon/graphic from the talk on the other page. This means that the book is 50% cartoons, which some people complain makes the book rather low on content, while others find this makes the book "fun".
Raph Koster's thesis is that games are all essentially edutainment, teaching us the skills we might need in real life in a safe, low-stakes environment. A good game, according to him, is "one that teaches everything it has to offer before the player stops playing."(p.46)