Social Game Design reveals what you need to know in order to create and monetize online social games. Using examples from successful game designs, you'll learn what makes these games compelling, and why people will pay to play them. This book will inspire you to apply these principles in order to meet the challenges of this new space, creating original games that both delight players and generate profit. We'll talk about different business models, how to acquire and keep players, how to sell virtual goods, and how to keep players coming back day after day.
Social Game Design: Monetization Methods and Mechanics
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About the Author
Tim Fields has been in the game industry since 1995 as a producer, project manager, design lead, and business developer. Tim has helped small studios and top publishers like EA and Microsoft run teams that create great games. He has worked on shooters, sports games, racing titles, and RPGs using talent and teams from North America, Asia, Europe, and the UK.
Brandon Cotton has over 10 years of game industry experience covering a wide variety of technology, platforms and game types. He is active in the social and online game design community, and currently serves as a founder, design lead, and programmer for Portalarium. He has built games for NCSoft, Ubisoft, and Microsoft, and holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas.
Brandon Cotton has over 10 years of game industry experience covering a wide variety of technology, platforms and game types. He is active in the social and online game design community, and currently serves as a founder, design lead, and programmer for Portalarium. He has built games for NCSoft, Ubisoft, and Microsoft, and holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
By dacudo
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Great book that is up to date with the industry. Detailed analysis of monetization and in-game currencies. Well written. I would recommend this book to anyone that is studying free-to-play games on social or mobile platforms.
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you need to know everything and you need to know it now then buy this book right away.
27 Jan 2012
By Randomer
Format:Paperback
The preface of this book gives away a secret that would be detrimental in other publishing circles: It was written in under 13 weeks. However, any reader with an understanding of the current social gaming market would greet this news with a cheer, in an industry that moves so fast and where millions are made and lost it pays to have a book this up-to-date.
However, any fears about a lack of depth or quality need to be cast aside. One can only imagine the frantic typing and furious research needed to produce this book before the social gaming market changed yet again. The authors, industry veterans Tim Fields and Brandon Cotton, need not be modest about this achievement.
Social Game Design aims to target a variety of audiences: those in the industry, businesses planning social gaming ventures, industry job hunters and finally just the curious people out there. By adopting a non-technical approach and focusing on interviews, analysis and other insights, Fields and Cotton ensure such a varied audience can be accommodated within less than 300 pages. It covers all the current trends from both user and developer perspective,. Much of the terminology used in the industry is de-misted, defined and given appropriate acronyms to provide the reader with a comprehensive vocabulary for that next development meeting or job interview.
Above all, the books greatest virtue is how inspiring it can be. The eight in-depth interviews with industry leaders add personality and reality to what would otherwise be just an analysis. Many of the games covered are free-to-play and I'd recommend taking some time to play each one before you read the book to round out the experience with a hands-on element.
However, any fears about a lack of depth or quality need to be cast aside. One can only imagine the frantic typing and furious research needed to produce this book before the social gaming market changed yet again. The authors, industry veterans Tim Fields and Brandon Cotton, need not be modest about this achievement.
Social Game Design aims to target a variety of audiences: those in the industry, businesses planning social gaming ventures, industry job hunters and finally just the curious people out there. By adopting a non-technical approach and focusing on interviews, analysis and other insights, Fields and Cotton ensure such a varied audience can be accommodated within less than 300 pages. It covers all the current trends from both user and developer perspective,. Much of the terminology used in the industry is de-misted, defined and given appropriate acronyms to provide the reader with a comprehensive vocabulary for that next development meeting or job interview.
Above all, the books greatest virtue is how inspiring it can be. The eight in-depth interviews with industry leaders add personality and reality to what would otherwise be just an analysis. Many of the games covered are free-to-play and I'd recommend taking some time to play each one before you read the book to round out the experience with a hands-on element.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars
21 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
A clear and deep discussion more about gaming than about social design
17 Feb 2012
By Mark P. McDonald
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
TIm Fields and Brandon Cotton are experienced game developers who look to explain what social gaming is than share their secrets of game design and development. Overall this book provides a clear and deep discussion of this phenomenon from a business and technical perspective. You might imagine that a book on social game design might read like a transcript from an old 'bill and ted' movie, but Fields and Cotton show that the business and technical edge of social gaming is real and something we ignore at our peril.
The book provides a multi-mode discussion of the issues surrounding social game design. The modes are text, interviews, examples and illustrations. The book is is not a how-to manual so much as a how-to-think-about-it discussion. Fields and Cotton make good use of direct discussions, interviews with gaming legends and examples to illustrate their points.
Business executives and aspiring game developers will each benefit from this book. Business executives will learn how traditional business concepts apply to social gaming and better understand the terminology and ethos behind the people that create the games. Aspiring game developers will learn from their peers as well as how to position and talk the business talk. Both valuable reasons for reading this book.
The book covers a wide range of game types and platforms from a conceptual, business and operational standpoint. People looking for more technical specs, discussions, hints and tips will be disappointed. The topics discussed are helpful and interesting but at times the advice can be a little obvious which is part of the reason for the three star review.
Recommended for people who want to understand the social gaming phenomenon at the next level -- below that of a magazine article -- as its breadth and format makes the content very accessible. Not particularly recommended for people looking for technical advice and support.
The book provides a multi-mode discussion of the issues surrounding social game design. The modes are text, interviews, examples and illustrations. The book is is not a how-to manual so much as a how-to-think-about-it discussion. Fields and Cotton make good use of direct discussions, interviews with gaming legends and examples to illustrate their points.
Business executives and aspiring game developers will each benefit from this book. Business executives will learn how traditional business concepts apply to social gaming and better understand the terminology and ethos behind the people that create the games. Aspiring game developers will learn from their peers as well as how to position and talk the business talk. Both valuable reasons for reading this book.
The book covers a wide range of game types and platforms from a conceptual, business and operational standpoint. People looking for more technical specs, discussions, hints and tips will be disappointed. The topics discussed are helpful and interesting but at times the advice can be a little obvious which is part of the reason for the three star review.
Recommended for people who want to understand the social gaming phenomenon at the next level -- below that of a magazine article -- as its breadth and format makes the content very accessible. Not particularly recommended for people looking for technical advice and support.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well-written and timely information
26 Jan 2012
By Peony Blue
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
What you think social gaming is, and what social gaming *actually* is...might be two different things. This book explains in detail what a social component in gaming can do for your game, how to set it up, and most importantly, how to use that social component to monetize your programming efforts.
It covers things that you may not have considered, including the newest business models, selling virtual goods within a game, and more importantly, how to engage and captivate your players to keep them coming back for more. There are a ton of case studies -- Zynga, Microsoft, Spacetime, OMGPop, Ravenwood Fair, and more -- to give you real-world examples of how other companies have blazed trails, and what you can learn from their successes (and misses). There are sections on keeping your game "sticky" so that people return day after day, explanations of internal currencies, and types of games to inspire you to create your own social game, whether or not you're currently a programmer.
The section on metrics is worth the whole cost of the book, in fact. Learning how to acquire and interpret KPI data to improve not only your players' experience, but also to refine your monetization strategies, is, really, priceless...and something all too many otherwise good games get wrong.
This is *not* a technical how-to manual. You won't find information on how to code the things you want here. You won't get step-by-step instructions on how to create in-app purchases. Instead, think of it more as an overview of what's possible, and a very detailed survey of what's currently working (some of the data is from as late as early 2012, so it's very current at the time of this review), and how to structure the idea you might have for a game so that you can communicate that to a team or a programmer (or to yourself, if you're a programmer yourself). It touches on marketing concepts that are integral to success, and really dives into user interaction with each business model, so you can make informed choices about which direction to go with your game.
Fields and Cotton have produced a fabulous primer with this book. If you've got a game brewing in you that you're just not sure how to get out profitably, this book can begin to illuminate your path to getting it done, getting out there, and getting it *great*.
It covers things that you may not have considered, including the newest business models, selling virtual goods within a game, and more importantly, how to engage and captivate your players to keep them coming back for more. There are a ton of case studies -- Zynga, Microsoft, Spacetime, OMGPop, Ravenwood Fair, and more -- to give you real-world examples of how other companies have blazed trails, and what you can learn from their successes (and misses). There are sections on keeping your game "sticky" so that people return day after day, explanations of internal currencies, and types of games to inspire you to create your own social game, whether or not you're currently a programmer.
The section on metrics is worth the whole cost of the book, in fact. Learning how to acquire and interpret KPI data to improve not only your players' experience, but also to refine your monetization strategies, is, really, priceless...and something all too many otherwise good games get wrong.
This is *not* a technical how-to manual. You won't find information on how to code the things you want here. You won't get step-by-step instructions on how to create in-app purchases. Instead, think of it more as an overview of what's possible, and a very detailed survey of what's currently working (some of the data is from as late as early 2012, so it's very current at the time of this review), and how to structure the idea you might have for a game so that you can communicate that to a team or a programmer (or to yourself, if you're a programmer yourself). It touches on marketing concepts that are integral to success, and really dives into user interaction with each business model, so you can make informed choices about which direction to go with your game.
Fields and Cotton have produced a fabulous primer with this book. If you've got a game brewing in you that you're just not sure how to get out profitably, this book can begin to illuminate your path to getting it done, getting out there, and getting it *great*.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Limited shelf life
18 Sep 2012
By David Stapleton
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Let's cut to the chase, the software industry is continuously evolving to the point that information is often obsolete even before it is published. The authors of this book make no effort to hide the fact that the information they share in this book may, at times, be out of date.
Now, this book is not by any means a 'How to' book, so don't expect detailed tips on how to program social games, rather it is a 'What' book that provides some background history of the game industry and its evolution, including the details of how the audience and monetization have grown from simple sandwich bagged floppies sold to computer geeks to downloaded or server hosted applications that appeal to broad segments of the population.
The authors offer up numerous examples and case studies to illustrate the current market and methods of getting users to part with their money. Overall, I would have to say this is a great book to get up to speed on the industry and garner a few ideas from the current practices, with the understanding that in two or three years this information may be little more than history. P-)
Now, this book is not by any means a 'How to' book, so don't expect detailed tips on how to program social games, rather it is a 'What' book that provides some background history of the game industry and its evolution, including the details of how the audience and monetization have grown from simple sandwich bagged floppies sold to computer geeks to downloaded or server hosted applications that appeal to broad segments of the population.
The authors offer up numerous examples and case studies to illustrate the current market and methods of getting users to part with their money. Overall, I would have to say this is a great book to get up to speed on the industry and garner a few ideas from the current practices, with the understanding that in two or three years this information may be little more than history. P-)
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