Making Games: The Politics and Poetics of Game Creation Tools (Playful Thinking)

Stefan Werning

ISBN 10: 0262044838 / ISBN 13: 9780262044837

Published by MIT Press 2021-02-16, 2021

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 6666-GRD-9780262044837

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Making Games: The Politics and Poetics of Game Creation Tools (Playful Thinking)
• Publisher: MIT Press 2021-02-16
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262044838
• ISBN 13: 9780262044837
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

An argument that production tools shape the aesthetics and political economy of games as an expressive medium.

In Making Games, Stefan Werning considers the role of tools (primarily but not exclusively software), their design affordances, and the role they play as sociotechnical actors. Drawing on a wide variety of case studies, Werning argues that production tools shape the aesthetics and political economy of games as an expressive medium. He frames game-making as a (meta)game in itself and shows that tools, like games, have their own "procedural rhetoric" and should not always be conceived simply in terms of optimization and best practices.

About the Author

Stefan Werning is Associate Professor for Digital Media and Game Studies at Utrecht University. He has worked in the digital games industry, most notably at Codemasters and Nintendo of Europe.