Chris Crawford

Chris Crawford, 2007. From GET LAMP.

Referred to as the "Dean of Computer Game Design", Chris Crawford is a games industry veteran, developer, and theorist. His body of work ranges from early work with Atari and Avalon Hill software and continues through a variety of other publishers. In 1987, he founded what became known as the Game Developers' Conference (GDC), an industry convention for designers and publishers of computer games. Besides writing an early and often-cited book on the process of designing games (The Art of Computer Game Design), he has written many essays, articles and presentations about the theory of games and interactive storytelling.

Crawford's interviews and writings are punctuated with a general disdain for the direction and priorities of the computer games industry, and the general state of interactive fiction and storytelling through computers. His criticisms include the predictability of story, the programmed consistency of game characters and puzzles, and the lack of quality in simulating or providing storytelling experiences. His masterwork computer project, called Erasmatazz, has been many years in the making (well over a decade), and his firm, Storytron, is intended to sell products derived from it.

Game Credits

Note: These are not interactive fiction games.

• Scram: A Nuclear Power Simulator (1981), Atari
• Tanktics: Computer game of Armored Combat on the Eastern Front (1981), Avalon Hill
• Eastern Front - 1941 (1982), Atari
• Balance of Power (1985), Mindscape, Inc.
• Trust and Betrayal: The Legacy of Siboot (1987), Mindscape, Inc.
• Patton vs. Rommel (1987), Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Trust and Betrayal: The Legacy of Siboot (1987), Mindscape, Inc.
• Balance of Power: The 1990 Edition (1989), Mindscape, Inc.
• SimEarth: The Living Planet (1990), Maxis Software Inc.
• Balance of the Planet (1990),
• The Global Dilemma: Guns or Butter (1990), Mindscape, Inc.
• Patton Strikes Back: The Battle of the Bulge (1991), Brøderbund Software, Inc.
• High Command: Europe 1939-45 (1992), Three-Sixty Pacific, Inc.

Books by Chris Crawford

• The Art of Computer Game Design, 1982. (Free electronic version, 1997.)
• The Art of Interactive Design: A Euphonious and Illuminating Guide to Building Successful Software, 2002.
• Chris Crawford on Game Design, 2003.
• Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling, 2004.

Articles by Chris Crawford

• Art? from NotesOnGameDev.net, July 7, 2008.

Presentations and Video

• Interview on Nightline about Scram, 1982.
• "The Mystique of the Loop", Presentation at 1990 Game Developers' Conference. (Video of Presentation)
• Interview with Crawford about Balance of the Planet, conducted 1990.

Interviews with Chris Crawford

• Interview with Chris Crawford (archive) by h0l (Simon Carless), 1997.
• Halcyon Days: Interview with Chris Crawford by James Hague, Halcyon Days, 1997.
• Insider's Look: Interview with Chris Crawford (archive), by Frederique Krupa. 1999.
• Power Balancing: An Interview with Chris Crawford, by Simon Carless, Gamasutra June 5, 2003.
• Chris Crawford Strikes Back: It's the Story, Stupid, Electronic Gaming Business, September 24, 2003.
• Interview with Chris Crawford, by Aleks Krotoski, Guardian Games Blog, February 2, 2005.
• A Conversation with Chris Crawford, by Max Steele, Escapist Magazine, September 27, 2005.
• Writer Response Theory Interview with Chris Crawford, Christy Dena, April 24, 2006.
• Video Games are Dead: A Chat with Storytronics Guru Chris Crawford, by Chase Murdey, Gamasutra, June 12, 2006.
• A Chat with Chris Crawford by Bill Loguidice, Armchair Arcade, June 30, 2006.
• GET LAMP: Chris Crawford. Interview clips of Chris Crawford for Get Lamp, 2007.