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On a Brisk March Morning, I Visited Noted Game Designer Mark Herman in His Office in Crystal City, a High-Tech Corporate Distric

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On a Brisk March Morning, I Visited Noted Game Designer Mark Herman in His Office in Crystal City, a High-Tech Corporate Distric there on Wednesday nights and listen On a brisk March morning, I while Dunnigan lectured on what games visited noted game designer were all about and how you designed them. Quite frankly, that was really Mark Herman in his office in where I got started. Ultimately, when I got out of college, I was working as a Crystal City, a high-tech tree expert in the summer of 1976 and I called Howie Barasch, who told me the corporate district in Northern receptionist job at SPI had just become available. Which, by the way, was a Virginia. From his llth floor $5200 a year salary. The reason I took the job was because if you sold games office, he commands a view of over the counter, you had to be knowl- edgeable about games. And the way the Potomac River, as well as they (SPI) were organized, the reception- ist in reality was the lowest job on the many of the monuments R&D staff. The agreement was that I could go to R&D meetings on Tuesday, which make up the and I took the job. These were the days Washington, D.C. skyline. We of the monster games, and Highway to the Reich (SPI, 1977) was going belly up. spent the next hour discussing playtesting sessions. 'After we get to It was late, it wasn't happening, and Jay know you, maybe you'll write some Nelson - the other guy who was laugh- Mark's background in game articles for Moves magazine, and that's ing back at the SPI booth at Origins - also how you start the process.' I started had all these S&T games to design on design and his thoughts on the showing up on Friday nights, and the schedule. Now the S&T games were on first thing I tested was Howie's a very strict production timeline, because present and future of Huertgen Forest (SPI, 1976). of the magazine schedule, so I volun- teered to help Jay out, and that's how I wargaming. Herewith the got the October War (SPI, 1977) project JJV: That was one of the games from (Mark's first design credit). Within SPI's Westwall quad, wasn't it? results of that discussion. another month I was no longer the receptionist -1 was on the R&D staff full MH: Yeah, and it didn't work. Howie time. JJV: Mark, let's start with the basic didn't know how to fix it, so I sat down, interview question for all designers. played it out, suggested what he needed JJV: Every so often, in someone's How did you get your start in wargame to do to fix it, wrote out about four rules, reminiscences, one hears of an amor- design? and those rules went verbatim into the phous "SPI Experience" - the atmo- game. That told the guys at SPI that sphere of working there. Do you have MH: I've been gaming since I was maybe I had my head plugged in, and any particularly vivid memories? twelve, but my real start came at the first then I was invited to come to training Origins national game convention sessions for the Research & Development (Baltimore, Maryland 1975). I went up to staff. (Jim) Dunnigan, (Redmond) MH: In a nutshell, the SPI experience was Jim Dunnigan's philosophy. That's the SPI (Simulations Publications, Inc.) Simonsen, and Irad Hardy, who was the all it was. Jim's a very good friend and a booth and asked how I could become a head of R&D then, would basically great designer, but he did something that game designer, which got me a big lecture the staff on their views on how to no other company president ever did. chuckle from all the people there. I design games. They actually charged - He believed in the concept of apprentice- remember Kevin Zucker was one of people could pay money to come to ship. He acknowledged that the them, and he said to talk to this guy these. I was there for nothing, and Rich economics of the company revolved named Howie Barasch. Howie told me Berg and Greg Costikyan were the only around cheap labor. Jim realized the fact the way to start was to show up on people paying to attend. We would sit Friday nights for the big, open that it was going to be very hard for was really telling me. I learned how to MH: Right, it may mess me up that way. someone to stay here for his career. This explode old myths by taking that I look to see what's going on in a battle, was a place where you came in, you did approach. To carry this forward to GMT, and I draw flow charts to understand the your thing, and at some point you in The Great Battles of Alexander game, situation. From that analysis, I can see f moved on to another job. Jim expected when I looked at the situation, I decided the dynamics coming out of the data. ; that. And I'll tell you, when I did Battle that command was a key factor that had That's where I feel I keep a fresh for Jerusalem (SPI, 1977) with him - I did been missed in earlier designs. Plus the perspective. The other thing I do is try to a lot of games with him, and they were tactical systems. The reason the push the state of the art. I look at the all learning experiences - but in this one, Macedonians were beating everyone - mechanics of game design and keep he taught me what the word 'deadline' fighting larger armies and consistently asking myself if there is a better way to meant. He said, "If you don't cross this winning - is that they had a true present a situation. That comes across in line with this product on this date, combined arms view of the world. They some small ways, too. I may use a you're dead." He would fire people. had the tactical system to beat the other different Combat Results Table to Dunnigan had this process where he guy's tactical system, and they had the present different dynamics of a style of brought in very young people to work command system to effectively employ combat. on the games, he would bring in the their tactics. Alexander is a classic public to test the games, but he insisted example of how I employed Dunnigan's • that the designers had to be in touch philosophy. with their games. He viewed it very JJV: My favorite design of yours is still much as an art. We had a lot of people JJV: Obviously, Jim Dunnigan had a Gulf Strike (Victory Games, 1983). Did there, working very cheap, but there was major impact on you during the you see that as pushing the state of the always the dynamic interaction going on. formative years. Did anyone else have art at the time? We had a lot of talented people there. nearly so strong an influence on your Rich Berg, Kevin Zucker, Irad Hardy, design style? MH: It certainly did at the time. When I Brad Hessel, Frank Davis - the list goes looked at the dynamics of modern on. That creative interchange made for a MH: The only other big influence has warfare for that design, I found that really neat environment. So that was the been the experience of being a father. other games showing land, air and sea SPI Experience for me. With the change in my lifestyle, I now combat portrayed them all as discrete design games differently. I set a time events. You'd have a land phase, and an JJV: You talk about Dunnigan's limit on how long the game is going to air phase, and a naval phase, along with philosophy of game design as an art. take to play. In a sense, I'm trying to a mechanism to link them all together. On the flip side, the design-as-science design so that people who have real lives But what I saw in the dynamics of side, did he also infuse a lot of the can sit down and play these games. But modern warfare is that the combinations statistics-heavy operational research to go back to your original question, no are important. I may want to use a into the design process and apprentice other individual springs to mind. certain sequencing of air or naval strikes, training back then? Collectively, everybody at SPI had some or some combination that couldn't be impact on me. I'd look at a designer and represented in an existing game system. MH: No question about it. The thing I borrow some techniques; from the So, in the sequence of play for Gulf got from Jim - which I think he did negative aspect, I'd also see something Strike, I allowed the player to move any better than anybody else, and I always and say to myself, "I'm never going to piece on the board at any time in any try to emulate this - is how he would work like that!" order, and that was the trick. I think it look at a situation and analyze it for its succeeded, given that Gulf Strike is underlying dynamics. That was part of JJV: We won't mention any names probably one of my best sellers. the Operational Research number- here. Let's move on. You decide on a crunching. He would focus on two or conflict as a topic for a simulation, then JJV: It was received well enough to three elements that he thought were key you distill it to its essence of two or support two update kits.
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