What Sid Said

[Jason]

<strong>[ Article ]</strong>

<p>For the benefit of future generations of developers, Soren Johnson put down on virtual paper <a href="http://www.designer-notes.com/?p=119" target="_blank"><u>Sid's Rules</u></a>, some of Sid "Please stop Writing About Me Like I'm Dead" Meier's basic lessons on game design.</p><blockquote><p>If a unit seems too weak, don&rsquo;t lower its cost by 5%; instead, double its strength. If players feel overwhelmed by too many upgrades, try removing half of them. In the original Civilization, the gameplay kept slowing down to a painful crawl, which Sid solved by shrinking the map in half. The point is not that the new values are likely to be correct - the goal is to stake out more design territory with each successive iteration.
</p></blockquote><p>Spotted @ <a href="http://flashofsteel.com/">Flash of Steel</a></p>

 

[BethesdaLove]

"If a unit seems too weak, don’t lower its cost by 5%; instead, double its strength."

Stopped reading after this.

 

[Shuma]

Your loss, then.

He's talking about iterative game design, not fine-tuning game balance. But hey, may as well dismiss a topic you know nothing about and then brag about it on the internet!

 

[BethesdaLove]

Faggot.

 

[sheek]

Most game developers are familiar with Sid’s dictum that “a good game is a series of interesting choices.” In fact, my co-columnist Damion Schubert started his recent article on player choice (October 2008) by referencing this famous quote. However, over the course of his career, Sid has developed a few other general rules of game design, which I heard him discuss many times during my seven years (2000-2007) at his studio, Firaxis Games. As these insights are quite practical lessons for designers, they are also worthy of discussion.

Does Sid own Firaxis?

 

[Trash]

Sid created some of the best games known to man. If he speaks, you little shits better shut the fuck up and pay attention.

 

[racofer]

Sid created some of the best games known to man. If he speaks, you little shits better shut the fuck up and pay attention.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_Revolution

 

[Trash]

Cunt.

Sid created some of the best games known to man. If he speaks, you little shits better shut the fuck up and pay attention.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_Revolution

Good start. Now follow it up with all the other classics.

 

[racofer]

Re: Cunt.

Good start. Now follow it up with all the other classics.

None worth mentioning. Sorry.

 

[Trash]

Sad shit.

Good start. Now follow it up with all the other classics.

None worth mentioning. Sorry.

Pirates! and Civilisation are fucking awesome.

 

[racofer]

We agree on something, for once. That's an improvement.

 

[BethesdaLove]

Sid created some of the best games known to man. If he speaks, you little shits better shut the fuck up and pay attention.

When he opens his mouth, I put my cock right there.

 

[The Feral Kid]

Sid created some of the best games known to man. If he speaks, you little shits better shut the fuck up and pay attention.

When he opens his mouth, I put my cock right there.

Like your daddy did when you opened yours.