Clive Fencott, Jo Clay, Mike Lockyer, & Paul Massey, Game Invaders: The Theory and Understanding of Computer Games

Abstract

According to the perennial, popular collegiate yardstick/burden that is U.S. News & World Report, computer game design is one of the fastest growing curricula that college and universities are adding to satisfy the estimated $82.4 billion game industry by 2015 (Gearon, 2012). Obviously, there is a market and need for a book such as Game Invaders, but thankfully, its ambitions extend past vocational competencies. Beyond just showing expected undergraduate readers how to play with expensive modeling software, the University of Teesside authors challenge them to understand games as the intersection between creativity and technology. Game Invaders’ intention is to provide a pack of theories and models from which the reader can draw to better understand (and potentially create) computer games.