Computer games constitute a new and as yet poorly developed art form that holds great promise for both designers and players. The industry is too young and the situation is too dynamic for us to dismiss computer games so easily. We must consider the potential, not the actuality. We must address the fundamental aspects of computer games to achieve a conclusion that will withstand the ravages of time and change.

Until now, games in general and computer games in particular have not been very impressive as art forms. The computer games especially are downright puerile. This is because the technology of computer games has been in the hands of technologists, not artists. These guys (and they are almost all male) can write beautiful operating systems, languages, linking loaders, and other technological wonders, but artistic flair has heretofore been treated as subordinate to technical prowess.

Game design is primarily an artistic process, but it is also a technical process. The game designer pursues grand artistic goals even as she grinds through mountains of code. During the process of developing the game, he inhabits two very different worlds, the artistic world and the technical world.

How does one manage the integration of such dissimilar worlds? In short, how does one go about the process of designing a computer game? What would be a procedure by which a computer game could be designed and programmed?

In the first place, game design is far too complex an activity to be reducible to a formal procedure. Furthermore, the game designer's personality should dictate the working habits he uses. Even more important, the whole concept of formal reliance on procedures is inimical to the creative imperative of game design.

The central problem in designing the game structure is figuring out how to distill the fantasy of the goal and topic into a workable system. The game designer must identify some key element from the topic environment and build the game around that key element.

You must write your own manual for the game, no matter how poor a writer you are. Writing your own manual will also provide feedback on the cleanliness of the game design. Clumsy designs are hard to describe, while clean designs are easier to describe.