Chris Crawford on Game Design

Implementing a Value System

There remained the problem of designing some system that would permit the user to assign numeric values to the components of the simulation while preventing psychotic behavior in the system. It's one thing to design a balanced system of equations when the coefficients are all stable—but preserving balance when the user can change the coefficients seemed beyond the realm of possibility.

An even more serious implementation problem loomed beyond this one: How was I to design a system of equations that would be accessible to the average user? I had handled games with complex internal systems of equations, but a system that the average user could handle? That seemed completely out of the question.

The design problem clearly ...