Wargame Design: The History, Production, and Use of Conflict Simulation Games

by Richard H. Berg (Contributor), James F. Dunnigan, David Isby

Describes the principles of conflict simulation design and offers the serious enthusiast guidance in designing original games

Genres: Gaming, Nonfiction, Games

186 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering this was published in 1977, it is surprisingly relevant to present day game development. In old school wargame development, the common practice was for a "designer" to do the original research and the equivalent of a first playable or alpha before handing off to a "developer" who would complete the game. My two favorite quotes:

"The novice designer should resist the temptation to be innovative at every step of the way; this is flatly impossible. There is very little done in wargaming design today that is purely innovative." - Richard Berg, p50

"There are not many good game developers around. As more good developers appear, more good games will be seen, for it is not the designer or the design that makes a good published game; it is the developer. The designer will make the game come to life but it is the developer who transforms the game from a simple idea and collection of facts to a finished, polished product." - Stephen B. Patrick, p112

[mkfs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roughly half of this book is out of date, or obsolete, or simply inapplicable. The business of running a wargame company, as the business of publishing in general, changed completely with the advent of desktop publishing software for layout, and the internet for sales.

The case study by Richard Berg is surprisingly relevant still, as are the notes on game development. Many of the lessons here, such as the level of detail in counters and maps, are still being re-learned by every new game developer. In fact, it has occurred to me to mail a copy of this to the designers of a few recent board- or war-games, but let's face it, nobody reads anymore, and any comment of constructive criticism gets drowned in the circle-jerk deluge of sycophantic likes and gushing praise that is social media.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Published in the mid 70's, the most useful bit remaining is the brief history of the board gaming industry in the US. All the complicated and tedious graphic art stuff is trivial to do on a modern computer and modern games are several orders better in this than the older games. The final sections on research and business are laughable, not the books fault, 45 years have so changed the writing, making and the business of games that it's a bit shocking.

People interested in some of the aspects of early gaming could get something out of it.