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Enduring Play

Creating Video Games that Thrive

By Cheryl Platz

To be published: 2025

The video game industry has grown to become a darling of the entertainment industry, with $184 billion of revenue in 2023. But that expansion has increased competition exponentially, and today’s game developers face a tougher struggle than ever before to differentiate their titles before a market full of algorithmic recommendations swallows them whole. Enduring Play invites both industry veterans and aspiring game developers and designers to level up their game development craft to this newest normal. Explore the modern game development process holistically to gain new understanding about how the most successful games are made. No stone is left unturned – from process, roles, and market concepts like live service games and monetization to basic game design principles and UX design best practices.

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The video game industry has grown to become a darling of the entertainment industry, with $184 billion of revenue in 2023. But that expansion has increased competition exponentially, and today’s game developers face a tougher struggle than ever before to differentiate their titles before a market full of algorithmic recommendations swallows them whole. Enduring Play invites both industry veterans and aspiring game developers and designers to level up their game development craft to this newest normal. Explore the modern game development process holistically to gain new understanding about how the most successful games are made. No stone is left unturned – from process, roles, and market concepts like live service games and monetization to basic game design principles and UX design best practices.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Modern Game Development

Part 1: Game Design Essentials

Chapter 2: Game Designer’s Toolbox
Chapter 3: Creating Immersive Worlds

Part 2: Living Games: From single player to live service

Chapter 5: Building the Fun
Chapter 6: The Fun Business
Chapter 7: A Fruitful Game Loop

Part 3: Social Gaming: Creating community at scale
Chapter 8: The Who and Why of Multiplayer
Chapter 9: Emergent Gameplay
Chapter 10: Prosocial Gaming Communities

Part 4: Multi-Platform Experiences: Expanding Markets and Mindshare

Chapter 11: The State of Technology
Chapter 12: The State of Humans
Chapter 13: The State of Distribution

Part 5: User Experience in Gaming

Chapter 14: Experience Design in the Design Spectrum
Chapter 15: Common UX Patterns and Systems
Chapter 16: UX Research for Games