Overview

Over his four-decade career, Sid Meier has produced some of the world's most popular video games, including Sid Meier's Civilization, which has sold more than 51 million units worldwide and accumulated more than one billion hours of play. Sid Meier's Memoir! is the story of an obsessive young computer enthusiast who helped launch a multibillion-dollar industry. Writing with warmth and ironic humor, Meier describes the genesis of his influential studio, MicroProse, founded in 1982 after a trip to a Las Vegas arcade, and recounts the development of landmark games, from vintage classics like Pirates! and Railroad Tycoon, to Civilization and beyond. Articulating his philosophy that a video game should be ?a series of interesting decisions,? Meier also shares his perspective on the history of the industry, the psychology of gamers, and fascinating insights into the creative process, including his rules of good game design.

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9781324005872

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Reviews

...enjoyable... the book serves as a pocket history of game development itself... -- Alex Hern - The Guardian An entertaining autobiography... Where some games are more like films, gorgeous to look at but where many of the artistic decisions have been taken for you, Meier's games are more like novels, inviting the reader to fill in the gaps. His maxims. -- Ed Cumming - The Independent Depending on your perspective, Meier is either one of the pre-eminent figures in a thrilling artistic form, or one of the greatest time-wasters in human history... His story is that of the industry itself. -- Ed Cumming - I

Any game designer who tries to tell you that he hasn't taken anything away from a Sid Meier game is akin to a film director saying he has never watched a Hitchcock movie. For Sid is our Hitchcock, our Spielberg, our Ellington. [Meier is] the master of turn-based gaming.--Will Wright, developer of The Sims If you ever wished you could stay up all night and hear the most amazing stories from one of the world's most creative people, Sid's memoir is for you. This book is full of incredible tech history and deep insights into what it takes to make a world-class game. But most of all, I loved getting inside Sid's brain and seeing things from his inventive and wise point of view.--Jane McGonigal, author of the New York Times bestseller Reality is Broken: How Games Can Change the World and Make Us Better Sid Meier is a foundation of what gaming is for me today.--Phil Spencer, head of Xbox

If you ever wished you could stay up all night and hear the most amazing stories from one of the world's most creative people, Sid's memoir is for you. This book is full of incredible tech history and deep insights into what it takes to make a world-class game. But most of all, I loved getting inside Sid's brain and seeing things from his inventive and wise point of view. -- Jane McGonigal, author of the New York Times bestseller Reality is Broken: How Games Can Change the World and Make Us Better [Meier is] the master of turn-based gaming. -- Will Wright, developer of The Sims Sid Meier is a foundation of what gaming is for me today. -- Phil Spencer, head of Xbox Any game designer who tries to tell you that he hasn't taken anything away from a Sid Meier game is akin to a film director saying he has never watched a Hitchcock movie. For Sid is our Hitchcock, our Spielberg, our Ellington. -- Gamespot.com

[H]eartfelt and informative....[This book] will appeal to old-school gamers with an appreciation for the history of video games. Any game designer who tries to tell you that he hasn't taken anything away from a Sid Meier game is akin to a film director saying he has never watched a Hitchcock movie. For Sid is our Hitchcock, our Spielberg, our Ellington. [Meier is] the master of turn-based gaming.--Will Wright, developer of The Sims If you ever wished you could stay up all night and hear the most amazing stories from one of the world's most creative people, Sid's memoir is for you. This book is full of incredible tech history and deep insights into what it takes to make a world-class game. But most of all, I loved getting inside Sid's brain and seeing things from his inventive and wise point of view.--Jane McGonigal, author of the New York Times bestseller Reality is Broken: How Games Can Change the World and Make Us Better Sid Meier is a foundation of what gaming is for me today.--Phil Spencer, head of Xbox

Author Information

Sid Meier, creator of Civilization, has been honored with virtually every award in the video game industry. A member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame and founder of Firaxis Games, Meier lives in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

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