If you are serious about making fun and successful videogames you will buy, read, and learn from this book. Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned professional, putting the information from Level UP! into practice will make your games better.
How do I know? Not only have I read the book, I was also Scott's boss at THQ from 2009-2010 when I worked there as Director of Creative Management. I was PAID to write his job reviews then, now I'm offering this review to you gratis.
THE AUTHOR
Scott was our department's heavy hitter when it came to nuts and bolts game design. He was a lifelong gamer (pen and paper as well as video game) who had been in the business from the early days. He'd seen and played it all, but more importantly he studied it. He had a detailed understanding of the underlying mechanics, psychology, and technical aspects of game design.(While I still haven't forgiven him for making Maximo (Capcom) too difficult early in his career) Scott was the go-to guy in the company for making good games better and "troubled" games shippable.
He also put together a little booklet on game design basics that got passed around the office and among some of the developers who we worked with. It was full of silly drawings and lots of great information - video game design 101 stuff that many people thought everyone in the business "should already know." It's been my experience that most people working professionally in business don't know, or simply ignore this stuff and this is why a large number of the commercially released games fall short of reaching their potential.
Level UP! was created when Scott finally decided to "put on his daddy pants" (his words, not mine) and turn his booklet into a full-fledged book for the masses. I'm glad he did.
THE BOOK
The book opens with an overview of video game history and a general description of who does what on a development and publishing team. It's good for beginners; seasoned pros can skip to chapter two. Here, Scott discusses how to start with an idea and build it into a concept. Chapter three is about the story of the game, or what the game is about. Here Scott introduces his concept of "The Triangle of Weirdness." Ignore it at your own peril.
Chapter four is about writing the Game Design Document (a thankless task). It is full of helpful information including Scott's "Beat Chart" - a tool for developing and mapping the structure of your game.
By Chapter Five, Scott begins disclosing the things you only learn from years of experience in the business; things about Characters, Cameras and Controls. Next is walking, jumping, climbing and all other manners of character motion in games. One of my favorite Scott quotes that made it into the book is "Walking isn't Gameplay." It's right here on page 96.
The rest of the book delves ever deeper into all types of design and execution topics. It's peppered with Scott's illustrations which are included to clarify and entertain. You may, or may not, care for their style but you'll find them simply rendered and easy to understand.
The book is full of great information as well as being organized and laid out well, which makes it an ideal reference work for real-world game designers. Crucial information is clearly called out and easy to find. Each chapter ends with a synopsis of its "Universal Truths and Clever Ideas" and the table of contents and index were obviously created with care to make finding what you're looking for a breeze.
I was the first person to pre-order this book on Amazon. I bought it and paid full price rather than asking Scott to get me a complimentary copy because I believed the information in it would be valuable to me and my career. It has been.
If you're serious about a career in this business of video games you owe it to yourself to do as I've done. Buy Level UP!, read it cover to cover and go back to it often in your times of need - and believe me there will be many times of need if you work in this business.
Laddie Ervin
Scott's former boss
and video game industry professional
