Sid Meier's Memoir!
A Life in Computer Games
8 September 2020
Description
The life and career of the legendary developer celebrated as the "godfather of computer gaming" and creator of Civilization.
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 multi-million-pound industry. Writing with warmth and ironic humour, 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 videogame 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 ten rules of good game design.
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
