{"product_id":"how-pacman-eats-isbn-9780262044653","title":"How Pac-Man Eats","description":"\u003cb\u003eHow the tools and concepts for making games are connected to what games can and do mean; with examples ranging from \u003ci\u003ePapers, Please\u003c\/i\u003e to \u003ci\u003eDys4ia\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eHow Pac-Man Eats\u003c\/i\u003e, Noah Wardrip-Fruin considers two questions: What are the fundamental ways that games work? And how can games be \u003ci\u003eabout\u003c\/i\u003e something? Wardrip-Fruin argues that the two issues are related. Bridging formalist and culturally engaged approaches, he shows how the tools and concepts for making games are connected to what games can and do mean. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWardrip-Fruin proposes that games work at a fundamental level on which their mechanics depend: \u003ci\u003eoperational logics\u003c\/i\u003e. Games are about things because they use play to address topics; they do this through \u003ci\u003eplayable models\u003c\/i\u003e (of which operational logics are the primary building blocks): larger structures used to represent what happens in a game world that relate meaningfully to a theme. Game creators can expand the expressiveness of games, Wardrip-Fruin explains, by expanding an operational logic. Pac-Man can eat, for example, because a game designer expanded the meaning of collision from hitting things to consuming them. Wardrip-Fruin describes strategies game creators use to expand what can be said through games, with examples drawn from indie games, art games, and research games that address themes ranging from border policy to gender transition. These include P\u003ci\u003eapers, Please,\u003c\/i\u003e which illustrates expansive uses of pattern matching; \u003ci\u003eProm Week\u003c\/i\u003e, for which the game's developers created a model of social volition to enable richer relationships between characters; and \u003ci\u003eDys4ia\u003c\/i\u003e, which demonstrates a design approach that supports game metaphors of high complexity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eChapter One: Operational Logics and Playable Models\u003cbr\u003eChapter Two: Alternative Approaches\u003cbr\u003eChapter Three: Expansive Approaches\u003cbr\u003eChapter Four: Six Questions About Logics and Models\u003cbr\u003eChapter Five: Inventive Approaches\u003cbr\u003eChapter Six: Understanding Games Through Logics and Models\u003cbr\u003eChapter Seven: Inventing Graphical Logics\u003cbr\u003eChapter Eight: Refinement\u003cbr\u003eChapter Nine: Doubling\u003cbr\u003eChapter Ten: Logic Structures\u003cbr\u003eConclusion: What Games Are About\"This is the heart of this book - a new abstraction, a new tool for discussing something that we've always felt was there, but didn't have a good way to identify. This tool lets us broaden our conversations as we discuss game design: we can talk about mechanics and systems not just in terms of what they do, but also what they will mean to the player.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e- Robert Zubek, author of \u003ci\u003eElements of Game Design\u003c\/i\u003e, Gamasutra \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Wardrip-Fruin's use of logics and models works impressively well at offering readings of what his chosen games are about in ways that a focus on story, mechanics, or rules alone cannot.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e- Rainforest Scully-Blaker, Critical Studies in Media Communication \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“The creative form of the video game has entered a phase of development that is both fraught and promising, attracting notably intelligent designers and scholars. How Pac-Man Eats should figure prominently in the way these makers take on a catastrophic world.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e- Stuart Moulthrop, Electronic Book Review\u003c\/b\u003e“In drawing out the connections between the deep logics and models of games and the interpreted meaning that players derive from them, Wardrip-Fruin has taken an important step toward a poetics of games: a way to think about them that bridges formal analysis and player responses.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e-- Raph Koster, author of \u003ci\u003eA Theory of Fun for Game Design\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “For years USC’s freshman coding course has used Noah Wardrip-Fruin’s \u003ci\u003eExpressive Processing \u003c\/i\u003eas an essential text to understand video games as both technologies and experiences. Now, with \u003ci\u003eHow Pac-Man Eats\u003c\/i\u003e, Wardrip-Fruin has provided us with the next level-up in game studies. This is essential reading!”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e-- Peter Brinson, Professor of Practice, USC Games and the School of Cinematic Arts\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Approachable and filled with examples, Wardrip-Fruin’s book is an essential read for designers wishing to deepen their design vocabulary. It introduces advanced conversations in game design that move beyond notions of games as a collection of ‘mechanics.’ What results is a thoughtful organization of the ludic logics at work in games. Marvelous!”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e-- Mary Flanagan, Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of Digital Humanities at Dartmouth College; coauthor of \u003ci\u003eValues at Play in Digital Games\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eNoah Wardrip-Fruin is Professor of Computational Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he codirects the Expressive Intelligent Studio. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eExpressive Processing: Digital Fictions, Computer Games, and Software Studies\u003c\/i\u003e (MIT Press).","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305059176677,"sku":"NP9780262044653","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262044653.jpg?v=1767729338","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/how-pacman-eats-isbn-9780262044653","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}