SID MEIER'S MEMOIR!

A nostalgic trip down gamer Memory Lane with one of the forefathers of computer game design.

Canadian American programmer Meier, founder of MicroProse and designer of such games as “Spitfire Ace” and the Civilization series, takes readers on a journey to the fledgling gaming industry in the 1980s and early ’90s, when video games were transitioning from simple “Donkey Kong”–like amusements to more intellectually immersive pixelated worlds. Nongamers may not remember many of Meier’s battle-focused titles—e.g., “NATO Commander,” “Conflict in Vietnam,” “F-15 Strike Eagle”—but they were undoubtedly popular before the gaming industry began to embrace Hollywood-style hyperviolence. The author tells the story of how he helped build an international game design business from scratch with parentally friendly concepts for his games. Readers looking for behind-the-scenes dirt on the gaming industry should look elsewhere, as Meier doesn’t dig into anything particularly controversial or salacious. The author does offer some interesting technical insight into an age when video game design was in its infancy and there were few standards or restrictions holding designers back; much of it was seat-of-the pants innovation, of which the author was a major part. Meier is sometimes long-winded—especially in a tangential meditation on his love for classical music, Bach in particular (his music seemed “simultaneously surprising and inevitable”), but he is a genial narrator of the highs and lows of his decadeslong career. The primary issue with the memoir is that unless a reader has firsthand experience with the games that Meier created, they may have a difficult time understanding what these electronic artifacts were actually like and the impact his creations had on the gaming world in general. For readers who miss the video games of the 1980s, though, the narrative is heartfelt and informative enough to maintain interest.

Not for general readers but will appeal to old-school gamers with an appreciation for the history of video games.