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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, /58

Making dynamic models “put the player in the design role” “large solution space” -> “much stronger feeling of empathy” Creates “interactive toys” 5/58

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, /58

"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) 7/58

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, /58

“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” 9/58

Eastern Front (1941), 1981 Balance of Power, 1985 Balance of the Planet, 1990 Storytron (Erasmatron), ? Suggested Reading Crawford, C. The Art of Computer Game Design, Crawford, C. The Art of Interactive Design, Crawford, C. Chris Crawford on Game Design, /58

“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” 11/58

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, /58

“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 13/58

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 14/58

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 17/58

King’s Quest I, 1984 King’s Quest II, 1985 King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity, /58

Gabriel Knight Series Sins of the Fathers, 1993 The Beast Within, 1999 Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, /58

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) 20/58

“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.” 21/58

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 22/58

LegendMUD Ultima Online, 1997 Star Wars Galaxies, 2003 EverQuest II, 2004 Suggested Reading Koster, R. A Theory of Fun for Game Design, /58

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” 24/58

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, /58

“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” 26/58

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 27/58

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 28/58

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, /58

“We developed our games in a pretty non-disciplined and non- organized way because so much of it was R&D” 30/58

Toon, 1984 Car Wars, Ogre, Illuminati AD&D, DM’s guide, 2nd ed., 1989 GURPs, 3rd ed 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, /58

“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” 32/58

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! 33/58

“Be familiar with all types of games, not just computer games” 34/58

Alone in the Dark, 1992 Infogrames took over creative control Added Cthulhu mythos Little Big Adventure, 1995 Little Big Adventure 2, /58

Half-Life, 1998 Half-Life 2, 2004 Suggested Reading Valve. Half-Life 2 : Raising the Bar 36/58

Counter-Strike, 1999 Counter-Strike: source, /58

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 39/58

“You can’t get good at making games unless you make games” “tear apart boardgames to prototype your ideas” “most importantly, never stop playing” 40/58

RoboRally, 1994 Magic: The Gathering, 1994 The Great Dalmuti, /58

Ultima Underworld II, 1993 System Shock, 1994 Thief, 1998 Suggested Reading Online articles on Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics 42/58

“Have a critical eye for games” “Learn to program” “Play lots of games” “Design the game for [millions of people], not for you” 43/58

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, /58

“Be passionate, but self-critical” “never compromise on quality, but do realize that there is a point of diminishing returns” 45/58

Railroad Tycoon Civilization Age of Empires 46/58

“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” 47/58

Ultima Online Bioforge Wing Commander: Privateer Ultima Underworld 2 48/58

“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” 49/58

Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee Oddworld: Abe’s Exodus Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee 50/58

“The best ideas will not come from areas that have nothing to do with games” 51/58

“Learn from other games and designers, but do not copy them.” “must invent something unique and compelling (one without the other in not enough)” 52/58

Def Jam Vendetta NBA Street NBA Live ’98, ’99, /58

“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” 54/58

Maniac Mansion, 1987 The Secret of Monkey Island, /58

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 56/58