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• Maxis, Inc.• Raid on Bungling Bay, 1984• SimCity, 1989• SimAnt, 1991• The Sims, 2000• The Sims Online, 2002• SimCity 4, 2003• The Sims 2, 2004

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• Making dynamic models• “put the player in the design role”• “large solution space” -> “much stronger feeling

of empathy”• Creates “interactive toys”

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• Donkey Kong, 1981• Super Mario Bros., 1985• Super Mario 64, 1996• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, 1998• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, 2000• Pikmin, 2001• Super Mario Sunshine, 2002

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• "A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever“

• Inspiration from childhood memories• Exploring wilderness and caves (Zelda)• Attacked by dog on chain (Chain Chomp)

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• Solo Fight, 1984• Sid Meier’s Pirates!, 1987• Railroad Tycoon, 1990• Civilization, 1991• Colonization, 1994• Sid Meier’s Gettyburg!, 1997• Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, 1999• Civilization IV, 2005

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• “be able to play the game and understand it as quickly as possible”

• “If a player feels there is something they would like to do that the game is not letting them do then that is a failure of the game”

• “a series of interesting choices”• most acclaimed games were inspired by board games

designed by Francis Tresham • 1829 (Railroad Tycoon)• Civilization (Civilization)• Spanish Main (Pirates!) maybe

• “one more turn”

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• Eastern Front (1941), 1981• Balance of Power, 1985• Balance of the Planet, 1990• Storytron (Erasmatron), 1992-2006?• Suggested Reading• Crawford, C. The Art of Computer Game

Design, 1992.• Crawford, C. The Art of Interactive

Design, 2002.• Crawford, C. Chris Crawford on Game

Design, 2003.

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• “It’s easier to learn from turkeys than from masterworks”• “Accept full moral responsibility for the games you

design”• “Always delete clever ideas that don’t add to the design”• “The logic of the game dominates; pick a topic to fit it”• “Lose the storyboards”• “Conceptualize your design in terms of its challenge, not

its topic”• “Keep the player on the razor edge of failure, but don’t

let him fall”• “Those who would build the future must understand the

past”

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• Populous, 1989• Powermonger, 1990• Theme Park, 1994• Magic Carpet, 1994• Syndicate, 1993• Dungeon Keeper, 1997• Black & White, 2001• Fable, 2004• The Movies, 2005• Black & White 2, 2005

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• “interfaces are paramount”• “designing a game in not thinking up a storyline but

about what the player does and sees while playing your idea.”

• “Next time we will do it right”• “There’s no democracy in game design, just inspiration”• “Idea has to come from one person”

• “Focus on elements that cannot be seen elsewhere”• “Make it like [game X] but better does not work”

• “writing design documents is stupid”• But Fable II’s design document weighs in at

1,000 pages

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• Dungeons & Dragons, 1974• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1977• Mythus, 1992• Lejandary Adventures, 1999

• Suggested Reading• Dear, William C. The Dungeon Master: The

Disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III

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• On Games• “interesting diversion from everyday life”• “chance to excel”• “… and if you're playing in good company you don't

even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the company during the course of the game”

• On Dungeons & Dragons• Variation on medieval small battles because the guys

got tired playing the original• “Even when you're playing miniatures, there's still

some role-playing aspect”15/58

• Metal Gear,1987• Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, 1990• Metal Gear Solid, 1998• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, 2001• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, 2004• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, 2008• Among others...

• Adventure, 1978• Part was spun-off as superman game…

• First Easter Egg

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• King’s Quest I, 1984• King’s Quest II, 1985• King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity, 1998

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• Gabriel Knight Series• Sins of the Fathers, 1993• The Beast Within, 1999• Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, 1999

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• Ogre, 1977• Car Wars, 1981• Illuminati, 1983• Toon, 1984• GURPS, 1986• Illuminati: New World Order, 1997• Suggested Reading• Schuessler, N. & Jackson, S. Game

Design – Volume 1: Theory and Practice, 2005 (1981)

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• “the more factors are explicit […] the less playable [the game] will become”

• “Don’t just proofread – PLAY”• “There is no excuse for failure to playtest a design

thoroughly before putting it on the market; it indicates either gross ignorance, total egotism, or an absolute lack of interest in giving the gamer his money’s worth.”

• After playtesting, do blindtest, “new playtesters are exposed to the game without the benefit of advice from the designer or other experienced players.”

• After blindtesting, do proof playtesting, “an extra stage of blindtesting and another round of designer playtesting … using only “proof copies” of the finished rules, maps, and charts.”

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• Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness, 1981• Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress,

1982• Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, 1985• Autoduel, 1985• Ogre, 1986• Ultima VIII: Pagan, 1994• Ultima Online, 1997• City of Heroes, 2004• City of Villians, 2005• Tabula Rasa, 2007• Suggested Reading• King, B. & Borland, J. Dungeons and

Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Game Culture from Geek to Chic

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• LegendMUD• Ultima Online, 1997• Star Wars Galaxies, 2003• EverQuest II, 2004

• Suggested Reading• Koster, R. A Theory of Fun for Game Design, 2004.

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• Fun is "the act of mastering a problem mentally”• Games are teaching patterns• Create a flow experience• About UO• “players don't care about what you wanted there, about

what the dreams were - they only care about what they have in front of them, and then they proceed to do things you never imagined”

• About SWG• “launched too early from a game design point of view”• “most systems in there were first-pass at best”• “A large chunk of the blame lies with me, for being over-

ambitious with the design”

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• Toon, 1984• Paranoia, 1984• Star Wars: The roleplaying game,

1987• Paranoia XP, 2004

• Suggested Reading• Costikyan, G. I have no words and I

must Design, Interactive Fantasy magazine, 1994.

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• “Games GROW through innovation. Innovation creates new game styles […] but it’s over now.”

• “Achieving a goal is meaningless if it comes without work, if there is no opposition”

• “Whenever multiple players are involved, games are strengthened if they permit, and encourage, diplomacy”

• “How can you tell a good game from a bad one? The test is still in the playing”

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• Paranoia, 1984• The Lost Island of Castanamir (D&D), 1984• River of Cradles (Runequest), 1992 • Paranoia, 5th ed., 1995• Something Rotten in Kislev (WFRP), 1999• Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, 2002• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, 2006• About retiring• “… and play stupid paper-and-pencil RPGs”• joined Big Huge Games to do a new RPG

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• Commander Keen, 1990• Wolfenstein 3D, 1992• Doom, 1993• Quake, 1996• Doom 3, 2005• Suggested Reading• Kushner, D. Masters of Doom: How Two Guys

Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture, Random House

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• Scout Search, 1984• Commander Keen, 1990• Wolfenstein 3D, 1992• Doom, 1993• Heretic, 1994• HeXen, 1995• Quake, 1996• Daikatana, 2000• Hyperspace Delivery Boy, 2001• Area 51, 2005• Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows, 2005

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• “We developed our games in a pretty non-disciplined and non-organized way because so much of it was R&D”

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• Toon, 1984• Car Wars, Ogre, Illuminati• AD&D, DM’s guide, 2nd ed., 1989• GURPs, 3rd ed. 1992• Send in the Clones (Paranoia), 1985• Underword: The Stygian Abuss, 1991 • Ultima VII, Part 2, Serpent Isle, 1993• System Shock, 1994• Thief: The Dark Project, 1999• Deus Ex, 2000• Epic Mickey, 2010

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• “Learn to program” and “get as broad-based an education as you can”

• “Become an effective communicator”• “Make games”• “giving players power to make choices enhanced the

gameplay experience”• “attaching consequences to those choices made the

experience even more powerful”• Gargoyle episode

• Sequals & Adaptations: Get used to it!• Safe bets• Free marketing• Fan buy-in• “cool sandboxes to play in”

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• Call of Cthulhu, 1981• Runequest, 3rd ed., 1985• Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful

Roleplaying Game, 1986• DOOM, 1993• Quake, 1996• Age of Empires: The Age of Kings, 1999• Call of Cthulhu, 2004• Worked on • Civilization• Sid Meier’s Pirates!

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• “Be familiar with all types of games, not just computer games”

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• Alone in the Dark, 1992• Infogrames took over creative control• Added Cthulhu mythos

• Little Big Adventure, 1995• Little Big Adventure 2, 1997

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• Half-Life, 1998• Half-Life 2, 2004

• Suggested Reading• Valve. Half-Life2: Raising the Bar

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• Counter-Strike, 1999• Counter-Strike: source, 2004

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• I Love Bees, 2004• Cruel 2 B Kind, 2006• World Without Oil, 2007• The Lost Ring, 2008• Superstruct, 2008• Top Secret Dance Off, 2008

• Warcraft: Orcs and Humans• Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos• Starcraft• Diablo• Diablo II

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• “You can’t get good at making games unless you make games”

• “tear apart boardgames to prototype your ideas”• “most importantly, never stop playing”

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• RoboRally, 1994• Magic: The Gathering, 1994• The Great Dalmuti, 1995

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• Ultima Underworld II, 1993• System Shock, 1994• Thief, 1998

• Suggested Reading• Online articles on Mechanics,

Dynamics, Aesthetics

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• “Have a critical eye for games”• “Learn to program”• “Play lots of games”• “Design the game for [millions of people], not for

you”

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• Baldur’s Gate, 1998• MDK2, 2000• Baldur’s Gate II, 2000• Neverwinter Nights, 2002• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, 2003• Based upon the roleplaying game (d20 version)

• Jade Empire, 2005• Neverwinter Nights, 2006

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• “Be passionate, but self-critical”• “never compromise on quality, but do realize that

there is a point of diminishing returns”

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• Railroad Tycoon• Civilization• Age of Empires

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• “Play a lot of games and analyze them”• “Think in terms of entertaining a large audience,

not a small one”• “it is okay, even encouraged, to borrow from great

games, but be different at the vision level and innovative at the gameplay level”

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• Ultima Online• Bioforge• Wing Commander: Privateer• Ultima Underworld 2

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• “play every game you possibly can”• “then analyze them carefully”• “finding inspiration from outside of games is

extremely important”• “if you are not having fun making your game,

then your customers will not have fun playing it”

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• Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee• Oddworld: Abe’s Exodus• Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee

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• “The best ideas will not come from areas that have nothing to do with games”

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• “Learn from other games and designers, but do not copy them.”

• “must invent something unique and compelling (one without the other in not enough)”

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• Def Jam Vendetta• NBA Street• NBA Live ’98, ’99, 2000

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• “Think of the consumer”• “Fun first” • “whenever you have a choice between realism and fun,

go with fun”

• “Always strive for balance”• “Think Big”• “Remember Pacing”• “Play Bad Games”• “Look outside of games”

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• Maniac Mansion, 1987• The Secret of Monkey Island, 1990

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• Dan Glimne• Drakborgen

• Martin Walfisz• Ground Control

• Andreas Roman• Midtown Madness 3• (Battlefield: Modern Combat)

• Mikael Emtinger• GTR

• Tom Söderlund• Botfighters

• Erik Svedäng• Blueberry Garden

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