Chris Crawford on Game Design

Conclusion

Eastern Front (1941) was released in August of 1981. It was an immediate hit, sold very well, and garnered a number of awards. It propelled me into the forefront of the gaming industry; I was suddenly Mr. Big Shot. None of this, of course, served to inflate my ego, which was already at maximum inflation. I handled it all with a graciousness derived from my utter certainty that this was the natural and proper order of things. The game also earned impressive royalties (for the time); I think that total royalties amounted to some $40,000, which was more than my salary.

In 1982, we published the source code for the game, including detailed explanations of how it all worked. I am confident that this was the first time anybody had published ...