Chris Crawford on Game Design

Clean User Interface and Strong Visual Presentation

The game had to be easy to play. The players would have no patience for complicated and obscure displays that required understanding some complex symbol code. Also, it was imperative that players be able to see everything about the game in a single view. Thus, the map clearly showed the terrain in each square, and units were shown with icons plainly indicating the mode. The player had available a wide variety of special displays showing particular aspects of the game. For example, the player could elect to show the game using icons that indicated the strength of each unit. Strong units were big on the map, and weak units were small on the map. With a display showing American or German flags ...