#8 - The Art of Game Design - Chapters 27,28,29

Chapter 27 - Your Game will Probably have a Client

Much like building any software, your game will have a client whether its you, or someone else.  And a key to the success of building said software or game, is the relationship between you and the client.  For games, it is often the case that designer and client are one and the same.  However when the client is someone else, typically someone with no gaming experience or knowledge, then there may be a few problems.  An outline of how to address and confront such problems is in chapter 27.  Most important is the introduction of Lens #94: Know your client, and understand the words, mind, and heart of the client.  In this way, you can in essence, "merge" with the client and it becomes nearly the case of when you the designer, actually are the client.

Chapter 28 - The Game Designer gives a Pitch

After all, the reasons we enjoy making games may just be for fun, but in the long run, we're all in this to make a little money out of it.  And before you can get paid, you usually need to sell the game to people.  In order to do that, you need to pitch the game idea to people.  Since it won't normally be you that actually sells the game as a vendor, you'll need to talk to someone that can - i.e. publishers.  Pitching the game is the subject of this chapter and Jesse Schell gives 12 tips for delivering that all-important pitch.  Some of the more important tips include being confident, preparation and organization.  This culminates in the Lens #95: Lens of the Pitch.  It is important to know how to pitch your game and show others why the game should sell.

Chapter 29 - The Designer and Client want the Game to Profit

Since the goal of publishing a game is to make profit, we should as game designers, understand the business model to making profit at least in some necessary ways.  Schell outlines that some of the necessary ways are in understanding where money goes when a player buys a game off a retailer's shelves, knowing how many units sold will "break even", and other figures such as cost of marketing and development, and how much money income is expected from the sales.  This chapter puts it all into a useful tip, the Lens #96: The Lens of Profit.  Game design isn't just a hobby, it's a business too.  Perhaps game designers really are a jack of all trades.