Bruce Shelley

“Playtesting is the single most important part of game design.”

“You have to give the player a clear goal. What am I supposed to be doing here?”

“Make the best game you can, and you will find an audience.”

“We believe that if you make an excellent game, it will sell itself.”

“If the core mechanic isn't fun, the rest of the game won't save it.”

“A game is a series of interesting decisions.”

“We wanted to make a game that was about history, but not a history lesson.”

“The best strategy games are easy to learn and difficult to master.”

“My role on Age of Empires was to be the guy who didn't know how to program... I represented the average gamer.”

“History is just a wonderful source of ideas for games.”

“The player should feel smart for making good choices, not stupid for making bad ones.”

“Our goal with Civilization was to give players the chance to build an empire to stand the test of time.”