"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."--
