Mad Opal's Design Page

Design has been my life's goal for a while now. I find that most game issues neglect what I think is the most important area in gaming. Sure, people may have ideas about efficient ways to blit graphics, cull polygons, or fake AI, but what do you do with the technology once you've got it? How do you create mood? How do you fulfill a player? These issues are at the core of game design. I hope to transfer this info to my design site under development, Daedalus' Labyrinth. When my feature article is done, I hope to start on the site.

Below are some links to some game design resources that I've found.

• The Art of Computer Game Design
  Chris Crawford's famous book has been out of print for quite some time now, but a web version has finally appeared! It was written over ten years ago, but the issues discussed are timeless and a must-read for all serious game designers!
• Computer Games Design
  A site with many more links to articles than my site, but it doesn't get updated very often. Still, it has some valuable links to go to!
• Costik
  Greg Costikyan is a writer/gamer/game designer that has been writing for some time now. He's got some brilliant ideas, he's a terrific writer, and you should check out his site.
• Erasmatazz
  Chris Crawford's company. He is the undisputed godfather of computer/video game design. His site has a library of all of his old issues of The Journal of Computer Game Design. Once again, his work on the topic is impeccable.
• Game Design @ Gameslice
  This site used to be videodesign.com, but apparently it was too much to maintain. Now it's a section of a good site called Gameslice. They seem to have some insightful articles.
• Game Design Workroom
  A nice links site that seems to be rather out of date. However, there are a lot of links here.
• The Inspiracy
  Noah Falstein's company. Noah is one of the most active and experienced game designers working in the field. His company's website has information on game design and much information about the work his company does.
• rec.games.design FAQ
  rec.games.design is the main newsgroup for discussing all things about game design. I pop in and out, but there are many valuable discussions about gaming theories for both computer and non-computer games alike.