Chris Crawford on Game Design

Videogames

Videogames certainly changed the face of gaming, and surely most readers of this book were brought up on videogames, so there's no point in defining them. I offer here a list of the old classics that got the industry started. There are plenty of great newer games, but these games staked out the territory.

Space Invaders

Surely the first huge videogame hit, this game is a must-play for all game designers. As far as I know, the game had no obvious predecessors; it was an original creation. The army of little monsters in the sky, marching steadily downward, raining destruction on the hapless player, made a compelling image, and the extremely simple gameplay (slide sideways while shooting) made this game accessible to everybody. Interestingly, ...