A Theory of Fun for Game Design

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Title A Theory of Fun for Game Design
Author Raph Koster (foreword by Will Wright)
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)

[edit] External links