In Advanced Game Design pioneering game designer & instructor Michael Sellers situates game design practices in a strong theoretical framework of systems thinking enabling designers to think more deeply & clearly about their work so they can produce better more engaging games for any device or platform Sellers offers a deep unifying framework in which practical game design best practices & proven systems thinking theory reinforce each other helping game designers understand what they are trying to accomplish & the best ways to achieve it Drawing on 20 years of experience designing games launching game studios & teaching game design Sellers explains What games are & how systems thinking can help you think about them more clearly How to systematically promote engagement interactivity & fun What you can learn from MDA & other game design frameworks How to create gameplay & core loops How to design the entire player experience & how to build game mechanics that work together to create that experience How to capture your game's "big idea" & Unique Selling Proposition How to establish high-level & background design & translate it into detailed design How to build playtest & iterate early prototypes How to build your game design career in a field that keeps changing at breakneck speed