Books — Consumed

1984 · Chris Crawford

Crawford approaches game design with the rigor of a manifesto, treating it as legitimate creative craft decades before the industry caught up. He breaks down core concepts like representation, interaction, and conflict with a clarity that still holds up today. The book dissects game loops at a mechanical level—how input translates to feedback, how challenge curves maintain engagement, what separates games from toys and puzzles.

What's striking is how Crawford anticipated problems the industry wouldn't face for years: the tension between simulation depth and accessibility, the role of narrative in interactive systems, the economics of complexity. He's writing in the era of Atari 2600 but thinking about design problems that scale to modern open-world games. Some technical specifics are dated, but the framework for thinking about player agency and systemic design remains foundational.

It's essential reading because Crawford establishes vocabulary and concepts that became standard in game design discourse. He treats games as systems worth serious analysis, not just entertainment products. The writing has an earnest, almost academic tone that reflects someone building theory from scratch rather than documenting established practice.