Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
3
How We Got Here
I don't think I need to go on very long about the value of an inti-
mate understanding of the history of games—the word
history
itself
comes from the Greek word meaning
knowledge from inquiry
. Th is
is not a history book, and this is not a history chapter, so this chapter is
limited to a brief review of a few
famous games, styles, and movements.
We'll develop our lens by using it to make determinations about various
elements in game history. For a more in-depth look at specifi c games
throughout history, I highly recommend R. C. Bell's
Board and Table
Games from Many Civilizations
.
Ancient Board Games
It amazes me to look at games from thousands of years ago and see that
even in those primitive times, there existed game designers who had
an understanding of the properties important to a good game. In some
games, you can see that these designers were already building abstract
systems that had one intended purpose: allowing players to make inter-
esting decisions. All of the games, contests, puzzles, and other interac-
tive systems covered in this chapter have at least some interesting ele-
ments to them, and you would do well to fi nd online versions of them, or
download print-and-play versions of as many as possible.
