Joshua Bycer is a Game Design Analyst with over a decade of experience writing for major sites, doing YouTube, and the author of the Game Design Deep Dive series. In that time through [...], he has interviewed hundreds of game developers and members of the industry about what it means to design video games.

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 Introduction

1. The Goal of Game Design Deep Dive: RPG

2. The Breadth of RPG Design

Chapter 2: The Tabletop Beginnings

1. Discussing Dungeons & Dragons

2. Examining Tabletop Design

Chapter 3: The Foundation of CRPG Design

1. The Legacy of Ultima

2. Delving Into Dungeon Crawlers

3. Origins of Open World CRPGs

4. The Success of the Elder Scrolls

5. The Retro Future of Fallout

6. Bioware's Redefining of CRPGs

7. Morality Trends

8. A Quick Collection of CRPGs

Chapter 4: JRPG's Takeover of the Console Market

1. Dragons and Fantasy

2. The Golden Age of JRPGs

3. Pokémon's Pop Culture Dominance

4. JRPG vs. CRPG

Chapter 5: Basics of RPG Design

1. Abstracted vs. Action-Based Progression

2. Class-Based Design

3. RPG Progression Design

4. Asymmetrical Balance

5. Examining Equipment and Items

6. Is Grinding Good?

Chapter 6: Subgenres of RPGs

1. The Experimentation of RPG Design

2. Devilish Action RPGs

3. Strategy RPGs

4. When RPGs Got Massive

5. The Height of Immersive Sims

6. Creature and Hero Collectors

Chapter 7: Modern RPG Design

1. The Blurring of CRPG/JRPGs

2. Studying Soulslikes

3. RPG Action Games

4. RPG Maker and Indie Development

5. The Wonders of The Witcher

6. The Unique Indie RPGs of the 2010s

7. What Do RPGs Look Like Today?

Chapter 8: Putting RPGs Everywhere

1. How and When Everything Became an RPG

2. The Impossible Balance between Action and Abstraction

3. The Mobile Game Market

Chapter 9: Advanced RPG Design

1. Understanding the Market for RPGs

2. Creating Choices through Customization

3. Combat System Creation

4. Enemy and Encounter Design

5. Advanced RPG Progression

6. Basic Rules of RPG Balancing

7. To Break or Not to Break Your Design

8. UI (and UX) by the Numbers

9. RPG World Design

10. A Primer on Subsystems

11. No Rules to the Rules

Chapter 10: Conclusion

1. What Does "RPG" Mean Today?

2. Potential Trends

3. Wrapping Up