xxx, 495 pages : 24 cm

"Developing Online Games provides insight into designing, developing and managing online games that is available nowhere else. Online game programming guru Jessica Mulligan and seasoned exec Bridgette Patrovsky provide insights into the industry that will allow others entering this market to avoid the mistakes of the past. In addition to their own experiences, the authors provide interviews, insight and anecdotes from over twenty of the most well-known and experienced online game insiders. The book includes case studies of the successes and failures of today's most well-known online games. There is also a special section for senior executives on how to budget an online game and how to assemble the right development and management teams. The book ends with a look at the future of online gaming: not only online console gaming (Xbox Online, Playstation 2), but the emerging mobile device game market (cell phones, wireless, PDA)." -- BOOK PUBLISHER WEBSITE

Includes bibliographical references and index

The market -- Planning and budgeting -- Project management/manager -- Marketing and distribution concerns : retail box, download, or both? -- Calculating and expanding the profit margins : the cost of doing business -- Basic design and development issues -- Digging deeper into development and design issues -- Getting into the design -- Other design and development issues -- Launch day -- Managing a game post-launch -- The live development team -- Microsoft's UltraCorps : why this turn-based game failed -- Anarchy online post-mortem -- Glory and shame : powerful psychology in multiplayer online games

Case study : online game lifecycles -- Fighting player burnout in massively multiplayer games -- Post-mortem : Mythic's Dark age of Camelot -- Managing deviant behavior in online worlds -- The lighter side of Meridian 59's history -- Appendix A. Executive considerations checklist -- Appendix B. Bios of interviewees -- Appendix C. The Bartle quotient survey questions and some results -- Appendix D. Hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades : players who suit MUDs -- Appendix E. Online world timeline -- Appendix F. Glossary

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews