07-26-2005
05-21-2004
algorhythmic
02-20-2008
eschewy
01-11-2004

Chris Crawford

After teaching physics for several years, Chris Crawford joined Atari as a game designer in 1979. There he created a number of games: Energy Czar, an educational simulation about the energy crisis; Scram, a nuclear power plant simulation; Eastern Front (1941), a wargame; Gossip, a social interaction game; and Excalibur, an Arthurian game. He also ran the Games Research Group for Alan Kay. Following the collapse of Atari in 1984, Crawford took up the Macintosh. He created Balance of Power, a game about diplomacy; Patton versus Rommel, a wargame; Trust & Betrayal, a social interaction game; Balance of the Planet, an environmental simulation game; and Patton Strikes Back, a wargame. He has written five published books, including The Art of Computer Game Design (1982), now recognized as a classic in the field, and Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling (2004). He created the first periodical on game design, the Journal of Computer Game Design, in 1987. He founded and served as Chairman of the Computer Game Developers' Conference, now known as the Game Developers' Conference. In 1992, Crawford decided to leave game design and concentrate his energies on interactive storytelling. Crawford's Web site, Erasmatazz, offers a library with many of his essays on game design and interactive storytelling.

A RIPOSTE TO: Espen Aarseth -<

I would agree with Aarseth's recommendation that we pursue simulation -- if we expand the notion of simulation somewhat. Traditionally, simulation has been gauged by its technical accuracy. For the purposes of entertainment, we need to expand the notion of accuracy to include the expectations and thought processes of our audience. I sometimes use the phrase dramatic laws of physics to express this notion. Just as a flight simulator must be true to the laws of physics, so too must an entertainment product be true to the laws of drama. For example, most games use spatial algorithms that correspond to geometric laws but violate dramatic laws. Characters cannot travel from point A to point B without traversing all the terrain between those two points, no matter how boring that terrain might be. In drama, a character who must travel between two points simply disappears from one location (stage) and reappears at the other. This conforms to dramatic standards, but completely defies all conventions of what we normally think of as simulation.

Espen Aarseth respondsoutbound link