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Chris Crawford on Game Design (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Chris Crawford on Game Design is all about the foundational skills behind the design and architecture of a game. Without these skills, designers and developers lack the understanding to work with the tools and techniques used in the industry today. Chris Crawford, the most highly sought after expert in this area, brings an intense opinion piece full of personality and flare like no other person in this industry can. He explains the foundational and fundamental concepts needed to get the most out of game development today. An exceptional precursor to the two books soon to be published by New Riders with author Andrew Rollings, this book teaches key lessons; including, what you can learn from the history of game play and historical games, necessity of challenge in game play, applying dimensions of conflict, understanding low and high interactivity designs, watching for the inclusion of creativity, and understanding the importance of storytelling. In addition, Chris brings you the wish list of games he'd like to build and tells you how to do it. Game developers and designers will kill for this information!

From the Author

When I wrote The Art of Computer Game Design way back in 1981, I really didn't know what I was doing; I wrote the book as a way to sort out my thoughts on game design. That effort helped me solidify my philosophy of game design -- and incidentally became a classic in the field. That book was a bunch of lucky guesses and inspired hunches. This book, by contrast, looks back on a career in game design spanning 25 years, and attempts to digest the lessons of that career. Back then, with so little experience to draw on, I was absolutely certain of my conclusions. This time around, I'm not so sure -- but I've got some humdinger stories to tell. Will this book be a classic 25 years from now? Maybe so, maybe not, but one thing I'm sure of: 25 years from now, people will still be laughing over some of the crazy design misadventures I lived to tell about.

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Product Details

Paperback: 504 pages
Publisher: New Riders Games (June 28, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0131460994
ISBN-13: 978-0131460997
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #378,445 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Front Cover | First Pages | Index | Back Cover

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1 book cites this book:

Interactive Storytelling: Techniques for 21st Century Fiction by Andrew Glassner in Back Matter

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	56% buy the item featured on this page: Chris Crawford on Game Design 4.7 out of 5 stars (12) $32.84
	14% buy The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses 5.0 out of 5 stars (23) $53.95
	13% buy The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design 4.8 out of 5 stars (22) $13.57
	9% buy Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling 4.7 out of 5 stars (7) $29.19

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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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4.7 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)

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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and thought-provoking, November 3, 2004

By	Fletcher Dunn (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

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38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 51% Opinions, 30% Fluff, 19% Insight But a Must Read, December 13, 2003

By	K. Sampanthar "Inventor of ThinkCube" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

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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.

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Serious People Interested in Games, September 14, 2005

By	Jonathan Beyrak Lev (Tel Aviv, Israel) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A decent read, but teaches little about game design
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... Read more

Published on November 30, 2006 by GameMaker

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth it for the description of Interactivity alone
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... Read more

Published on December 15, 2005 by Joseph Limbaugh

5.0 out of 5 stars a great resource
this book is informative and interesting in that you'll-be-thinking-about-it-for-months kind of way. Read more

Published on December 14, 2005 by dizzy donut

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have
Definately not a classical text book, if there's anything classical in here.But worth every penny

Published on October 25, 2004 by reader

5.0 out of 5 stars Good job Chris
This is very personal book. The author shares his experience and knowledge with you, showing you the strenghts and weaknesses of his designs. Read more

Published on February 23, 2004 by Jacek Orowski

5.0 out of 5 stars Crazy but Great
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. Read more

Published on January 7, 2004 by George E Collins

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book...
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... Read more

Published on November 5, 2003 by David Stockton

5.0 out of 5 stars No game designer should be without this one!
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... Read more

Published on September 29, 2003 by Antonio A. Rodriguez

5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative and interesting book
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. Read more

Published on August 10, 2003

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