Making Games
The Politics and Poetics of Game Creation Tools
Published on 16. February 2021
176 pages
978-0-262-36135-4 (ISBN)
Description
An argument that production tools shape the aesthetics and political economy of games as an expressive medium.
In Making Games, Stefan Werning considers the role of tools (primarily but not exclusively software), their design affordances, and the role they play as sociotechnical actors. Drawing on a wide variety of case studies, Werning argues that production tools shape the aesthetics and political economy of games as an expressive medium. He frames game-making as a (meta)game in itself and shows that tools, like games, have their own "procedural rhetoric" and should not always be conceived simply in terms of optimization and best practices.
In Making Games, Stefan Werning considers the role of tools (primarily but not exclusively software), their design affordances, and the role they play as sociotechnical actors. Drawing on a wide variety of case studies, Werning argues that production tools shape the aesthetics and political economy of games as an expressive medium. He frames game-making as a (meta)game in itself and shows that tools, like games, have their own "procedural rhetoric" and should not always be conceived simply in terms of optimization and best practices.
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Book
02/2021
MIT Press
€30.00
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
Stefan Werning is Associate Professor for Digital Media and Game Studies at Utrecht University. He has worked in the digital games industry, most notably at Codemasters and Nintendo of Europe.
Content
On Thinking Playfully
Introduction
Chapter I: Making Sense of Tools
Chapter II: Tool Essays: From Tool Fandom and Aesthetic Ecosystems to the Evolution of Tool Affordances
Chapter III: A Call for Evocative Tool Design: Game Creation as...
Acknowledgements
Notes
References
Index
Introduction
Chapter I: Making Sense of Tools
Chapter II: Tool Essays: From Tool Fandom and Aesthetic Ecosystems to the Evolution of Tool Affordances
Chapter III: A Call for Evocative Tool Design: Game Creation as...
Acknowledgements
Notes
References
Index
