Game Designers' Census

Greg Costikyan

by Bill Stone




Current Employment: undergraduate at Brown University, freelance writer and game designer, part-owner of Nimrod Games and High Fantasy Design Group
Previous Gaming Employment: Simulations Publications, Inc., 1973-1977
Words of Wisdom: The greatest problem facing designers is, I believe, a lack of professionalism. Anyone with a feel for games for games can design; anyone with experience at research and access to sources can do good historical research; but the number of people who can develop a game to the point where most of the problems have been eliminated and the result is a clean, exciting, repeatedly playable game are few. Even fewer are those who are capable of writing complete, concise, unambiguous, well- organized, and readable rules. I think this is the primary area where companies and designers should spend time and effort in improvement. And I'm more than a little displeased with the low status of developers (as opposed to designers); in my experience, a developer usually puts about twice as much time into a game as the designer - but developers are almost entirely ignored by reviewers and the hobby. I hope this will change.
Favorite Game of Own Design: Creature That Ate Sheboygan
Favorite Game of Another's Design: Diplomacy
Design/Development Credits: Design: Supercharge; Swords & Sorcery; The Creature that Ate Sheboygan; Vector 3; Deathmaze; Barbarian King (under work); Peace in Our Time (under work); Development: Conquistador; Plot to Assassinate Hitler; BattleFleet Mars; Air War; Drive on Stalingrad; Commando; 1480: The Age of Exploration (under work); High Fantasy (under work)

The Game Designers

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