The Art of Game Design Quotes

“GTA came from Pac-Man. The dots are the little people. There's me in my little, yellow car. And the ghosts are policemen.”
― Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses

“An artist is someone
who takes you where you could never go alone.”
― Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

“The enjoyment of problem solving seems to be an evolved survival mechanism. People who enjoy solving problems are going to solve more problems, and probably get better at solving problems, and be more likely to survive.”
― Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

“Humor. Two unconnected things are suddenly united by a paradigm shift. It is hard to describe, but we all know it when it happens. Weirdly, it causes us to make a barking noise.”
― Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

“Some hold the position that education is serious, but games are not; therefore games have no place in education. But an examination of our educational system shows that it is a game! Students (players) are given a series of assignments (goals) that must be handed in (accomplished) by certain due dates (time limits). They receive grades (scores) as feedback repeatedly as assignments (challenges) get harder and harder, until the end of the course when they are faced with a final exam (boss monster), which they can only pass (defeat) if they have mastered all the skills in the course (game). Students (players) who perform particularly well are listed on the honor roll (leader board).”
― Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

“Often, the things people enjoy most about games, such as social interaction or physical exercise, have nothing to do with problem solving. But while these other activities might improve a game, they are not essential to the game. When problem solving is removed from a game, it ceases to be a game and becomes just an activity.”
― Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

“If you are a woman and you don't understand men, chances are you are thinking too hard.”
― Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

“Humor. Two unconnected things are suddenly united by a paradigm
shift. It is hard to describe, but we all know it when it happens.
Weirdly, it causes us to make a barking noise.”
― Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

“Some hold the position that education is serious, but games are not; therefore games have no place in education. But an examination of our educational system shows that it is a game! Students (players) are given a series of assignments (goals) that must be handed in (accomplished) by certain due dates (time limits). They receive grades (scores) as feedback repeatedly as assignments (challenges) get harder and harder, until the end of the course when they are faced with a final exam (boss monster), which they can only pass (defeat) if they have mastered all the skills in the course (game). Students (players) who perform particularly well are listed on the honor roll (leader board).
Traditional educational methods often feature a real lack of surprises, a lack of projection, a lack of pleasures, a lack of community, and a bad interest curve.”
― Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

“You must know
what your audience will and will not like, and you must know it even better than
they do. You would think that finding out what people want would be easy, but it
isn’t, because in many cases, they don’t really know. They might think they know,
but often there is a big difference between what they think they want and what it
is they will actually enjoy.”
― Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses