Chris Crawford on Game Design

Early Efforts

My first written reference to this design comes from April 1984, just after I was laid off by Atari. I called the game Arms Race, and here is the complete description:

This is…the game I have been wanting to do for a long time. I propose a game that shows why the US and the Soviet Union are locked into a dangerous balance of terror. You are the President during the entire 40-year span of the game (1960–2000). All you have to do is get to the turn of the century without igniting Armageddon. It's not easy. The game is actually about geopolitics, not the arms race per se. You are tied into numerous alliances with small countries the world over. The complex web of obligations is constantly being strained by the petty disputes of the ...