Customer Reviews

Chris Crawford on Game Design

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been making video games for about 7 years and have reached the top technical position I can at my company. So I wanted to learn some more about game design.

I bought 3 books on game design. The first, I discarded after 5 minutes of browsing as full of common sense and no real meat. (Be warned - there are lots of books on game design like that out there.)

Here's really where I think this book is different. I devoured this book in one siting. It's interesting and thought provoking, and I honestly came away feeling like I had some more insight into making games.

High points:

* Some interesting theories (or perhaps opinions masquerading as theories, but I mostly liked them all) about what is at the heart of a good game. Why do people "play?" Why is interactivity so important
* Lots of examples of games he felt had good design, and some analysis of what made them good.
* A list of common mistakes people make when trying to make games.
* A list of game ideas! He has a list of game ideas he's had that he's never turned into games.
* Plenty of war stories about how some of his games came into being, including the political battles and the evolution of ideas.
* PLENTY of strong opinions. This guy is opinionated. He either likes it or he hates it. I didn't agree with everything he said, but I enjoyed the way in which he pursued his arguments.
* An eye-opener as to just how narrow our industry really is, versus the range of games that we could be making. This, to me, was the most inspiring. He basically says that we've dug a hole for ourselves, and will have a hard time climbing out of it and becoming a mass-market medium. He says that video games we make are primarily making "candy" or "cartoons" to use food or television analgies. But where's the sandwiches, vegetables, salads, the olives, or the sitcoms, mysteries, dramas, or chick-flicks that would be consumed by a more mature and diverse audience? I think a light bulb came on for me and I realized how we are all fighting to see who can get the most piece of this little tiny pie, when there are so many other pies.

He's a bit bitter with the industry, and angry with the path it has taken - he basically says that nothing new has ben done in video games in the past 10 years, which consist of an endless stream of doom-wanna-bes. As I'm starting to become a more veteran person and some of the newness has worn off and I'm seeking new challenges, I can see how this happened to him.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The one negative about this book, is that he is coming from a time when everything was new and games were a lot simpler. To make a hit game, you took one key idea and ran with it - and the entire game was SO focused on that one idea. I mean it really was very simplistic. But that's where the rubber really hits the road, isn't it? Let's ignore graphics, sound, etc. The average game today is FAR more complicated than those simple games of 10 years ago. Even games like SimCity, Civilization, the Sims, Half Life, or GTA3 - which take a new idea and run with it - they are really deep and involved games. Almost all of his examples are 5 or 10 years old - which sort of makes it hard to apply to today's market. This is where I think his book leaves you hanging. Of course, the other design books I've read all suffer from this flaw of putting a bit too much stock in old games and forgetting that with modern games, the devil really is in the details. Buy this book for inspiration, not for practical advice.

Anybody who is familiar with Chris Crawford won't be surprised to know that his latest book on game design is littered with opinions! Also they wouldn't be surprised to know that there are some real gems of insight buried within the morasses of fluff and opinion. This book is a `MUST READ" for that 19% of insight.

His rants, side tracks and "old fart stories" are always amusing, I am sure some people will take offense and unfortunately they probably wouldn't get past the first few chapters and hence miss out some great thoughts on game design.

This should not be your only book on game design in your library, but it should definitely be there. Chris's thoughts on creativity, his list of "games I would like to write" and analysis of his games are worth the entry price alone.

Overlook the ego, be amused by rants and stories, ignore the author's over use of a thesaurus to sound smart but most definitely take note of his insights.

Only 4 stars, but no books with this much bias can truly get 5.

I used to think that this book had some sort of flaw in its conception. It's written by one of the greatest game designers of all time, who is also the number one computer game theorist in the world, yet it neither teaches the craft of game design nor does it contain any great theoretical breakthroughs. There are important concepts in here, as well as many useful points, but it really doesn't seem to live up to Crawford's reputation.

But I was wrong. This book is perfect for what it sets out to do. It is designed as a complex, long-winded, utterly convincing argument aimed at the games industry, with the sole purpose of opening the reader's eyes to the sad truth - the computer games industry is in a dire situation from an artistic and creative perspective, and it's only getting worse.

Among other things, Crawford exorcises many of the buzzwords that haunt the dialogue of game design, presenting principles that are so much cleaner and more accurate than we've come to expect from game design books. He contends that "fun" is not a sufficient design goal for a game, indeed, that it's hardly a design goal at all, and presents what served as his goals on his many game projects. He gives examples of several games he'd like to make, each of which is completely different from anything ever seen on the market, although they are all great ideas, and this just serves to prove how narrow the creative emphasis of the games industry is.

This book is the painful look in the mirror that the games industry needs so badly. It lucidly explains what went wrong and why, and what needs to be done differently. If you are a serious person interested in games, then this is an excellent book to learn why today's games are less and less worthy of your attention. If you are actually a game developer, this book will show you the path to a creative freedom and artistic possibilities beyond common imagining, if you're honest and can take the criticism. Either way, Crawford's wit and insight will entertain and enlighten you, as will his stories of the early days of game design.

Highly recommended!

This is a great book for anyone who thinks they may want to be a game designer. There's a reason that there's not a lot of famous game designers, or even game designers in general. Chris talks about what kind of an education the aspiring GD will need and has a whole chapter just listing out the books they should read. He also talks about a lot of the games he designed and created in the late 70s and into the early 90s.

After reading this book, I've pretty much decided that programming is where I am good and I probably don't have what it takes to be a game designer.

My favorite section was the "Old Fart Stories" which is the last chapter of the book, but then I am always a sucker for computing stories from "back in the day". I'd definitely recommend the book to anyone interested in game design, or with an interest in computer games and their history.

I agree with what most of the other reviewers have said, but I guess I enjoyed it slightly less.

The first thing to know about this book is that you'll learn next to nothing about game design by reading it. Crawford even lists some *other* books to read to learn the subject.

This book if first and foremost about curling up by a fireside and listening to (reading) someone with an enormous ego and an equally large chip on his shoulder, rant about the video game industry. He'll tell you you'll never make it, he'll tell you good design is essential in the success of a game project, and laugh at projects that failed due to (he claims) bad game design. Then you'll hear him tell you what a bad designer Carmack (sp?) of Doom fame is, and how the best game he (Crawford) ever designed was a huge commercial flop. And lots of other borderline crazy rantings. There's also a lot of completely worthless fluff in the book, like really long-winded, pointless excercises in trying to define certain words like "game" and "interactive" and so forth.

But tucked in between the ranting, boasting, and fluff, almost by accident, there seem to be a few thought provoking passages and some decently entertaining stories. I'm not sorry that I read this book, but I have trouble giving it a high recommendation to others. You should at least know what you're getting yourself into before reading it.

This is an excellent and very informative book on games by a pioneer in the computer game industry.

This book covers aspects of what constitutes good game design. The author looks at many games from the late '70s through today. And examines what qualities make them good or bad or classics. The author also examines many aspects of the human element that go into making and enjoying games. Things such as creativity and the challenge/reward nature of many games.

If you are a computer history buff, as I am, there are some very interesting sections on 8 bit computing such as the Atari 2600. (Its amazing that anyone could come up with playable games on such a limited device!)

There are some excellent anecdotes on the history of Atari. As well as pioneers such as Alan Kay (genius from Xerox Parc).

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in computers and games.

Chris Crawford has a reputation in the game industry for being a bit of a nut. But it is this nuttyness -- or original thinking -- that makes this book worth reading. Who else but Chris Crawford would list Siboot, his own game, as one of the most important computer games of all time?

Crawford's attacks on the game industry are for the most part accurate, although not always completely fair. His perspective on what makes an interesting game is unique, and contrary to most of the things that are hyped in this disposable industry. Not many people see things his way, but not many people have cared about computer games this much for this long.

I picked up this book on a whim, not expecting much from it. Games today seem to be made in cookie-cutter fashion, and I was expecting something along the lines of how to make your game stand out from the rest of the similar ones in the market.

Instead I was presented with a mind-boggling analysis about what is wrong in the game industry nowadays, and what can be done about it. Designers need to be more social-minded, as well as programmers. It seems simple, but it's very far from it. Programmers tend to be a closed bunch, mostly anti-social outside of their own group, and tend to appeal to the baser emotions of our human nature, I.E. violence and sexual gratification. I don't know exactly how to target a game towards more social strata of our community, but it's easy to see that game design is vilified precisely because it seems so base.

In essence, Mr. Crawford details a series of rules that designers should follow, and a list of books that they should read so as to better inform programmers as to what a greater section of the public would want.

There's lots of retrospectives on other games that Mr. Crawford has designed. Balance of Power was one game I had seen before, and though I never got to play it, I did get to see some of the workings behind it. I didn't know that Mr. Crawford was the author of the game, and appreciate him letting us see what was going on behind curtain.

This is a great book that no game designer should be without.

I agree with some of the other reviewers on this page that Crawford has some very strong opinions. If you disagree with his point of view (that the computer game industry could aim quite a bit higher than it is currently, and ultimately will have to in order to survive) then you might grumble at certain parts of the book, but Crawford's description of Interactivity, and its importance to game design, is spot on. It clarified for me why computer games are entertaining to the complex human animal, and why this particular quality sets computer games apart from all other forms of media. A great portion of the book is devoted to Crawford's own experiences in the game industry. I found these descriptions equally entertaining and illuminating - If you grew up watching the transition from Pong and Atari to Doom and Civilization, I believe you will as well.

this book is informative and interesting in that you'll-be-thinking-about-it-for-months kind of way. it will confirm your thoughts, and offer insights you have yet to gather. crawford's ego is apparent, yet logical; his points piquant, yet measured.