Conceptual Texts and Research
Seriously Considering Play
A thoughful piece about the place of play within the realm of instructional design by Lloyd Rieber of the University of Georgia.
Bernie DeKoven's Deep Fun
Like most Bernie's, Bernie DeKoven is interested in making fun happen. His page describes ways of building enjoyment into meetings, groupwork, and daily life.
Hipbone Games
Charles Cameron's site is a huge collection of thoughtful writing about the nature of play. A major feature here is a collection of games inspired by Hermann Hesse's Magister Ludi - The Glass Bead Game.
The Art of Computer Game Design
This 1982 book by Chris Crawford is still relevant in today's world of 3-D shoot-em-ups. It's thoughtful, quirky, and out of print.
ERIC - Educational Resource Information Center
ERIC, of course, is the best way to find articles, research reports, lesson guides, conference papers... anything that has to do with education. You'll find a lot here about simulation and gaming.
Epistemic Forms and Epistemic Games
This article by Lorraine Sherry and Maggie Trigg lays the groundwork for designing game structures that are tightly related to structures in the content.
Puzzles, Card and Board Games
The House of Cards
This site is a central resource for all information related to playing cards. Its primary focus is solitaires, but you'll also find links to all sorts of other card games and card game information.
The Card Game Site
This British site includes the rules for many card games, both familiar and obscure.
Net Board Game Resources
Links to information about board game publishers and designers. (Slow link)
The Game Report Online
A quarterly publication dedicated to board, party, dice, card, family, and strategy games. (Slow link)
The Game Cabinet
A bimonthly magazine, the Game Cabinet holds rules, rule variants, reviews and random information about board games from around the world.
rec.games.playing-cards
Card games newsgroup.
rec.games.board
Board games group.
Computer Games
Gamasutra
A regularly updated publication and online community. Features articles about the computer game industry, design issues, and job listings.
The Games Domain
With over 26,000 pages, this is the King of all game sites. It contains links to game-related magazines, home pages, patches, newsgroups, FAQs, and downloadable software.
GameWeek
Bills itself as the newspaper of the interactive entertainment industry. Includes industry news and job listings.
Mac Gamer's Ledge
E-zine updated weekly.
Inside Mac Games
A monthly e-zine.
C|Net's Download.Com Games
Searchable directory of shareware and demos of Mac games.
comp.sys.mac.games.action
Newsgroup about action games (like Doom, Marathon, Havoc, etc.).
comp.sys.mac.games.flight-sim
Newsgroup about flight simulator software (like A-10 Attack, F/A-18 Hornet, etc.).
comp.sys.mac.games.misc
Newsgroup about games that don't fall into the usual categories.
Interactive Fiction
The Spot
The Spot was a pioneering interactive soap opera told from the point of view of half a dozen people living in a house in Santa Monica. New episodes were posted every day, and each character was open to receiving e-mail. Imagine an historical story being told in the same way! The site is still up, frozen in time at the story's end in December, 1997.
Hypertext Fiction from Hell
Links to concept papers and examples of non-linear narrative.
Interactive Fiction Archive
Stories, novels, and the tools to create them.
rec.arts.int-fiction
Newsgroup about interactive fiction, particularly as serious literature.
rec.games.int-fiction
Newsgroup about recreational interactive fiction, like Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe.
rec.games.design
Newsgroup about game design issues.
comp.sys.mac.games.adventure
Newsgroup about adventure games (like Myst, Burn:Cycle, Realmz, 7th Guest, etc.).
On-line Games and MUDs
Go2Net's Playsite
Free java-based multiplayer games
BU's Interactive WWW Game List
A list of games you can play on the Web.
Funster
A page with several interactive games written in Java.
MOO-Based Collaboration
A conference paper about the possibilities of creating virtual worlds in which people work together at a distance.
The MUD Resource Collection
MOOs, MUDs and MUSHes around the world are listed and described.
MacOS MUDding Resources
Tools and servers for doing Multi-User Dungeons on the Mac.
Companies and Associations
The Computer Game Developer's Association
The home page of the Association which holds the best annual conference on this topic.
GAMA: The Game Manufacturers Association
GAMA is an international non-profit trade association serving the adventure games industry--the companies that bring you strategy, roleplaying, and historical games for the tabletop and the computer.
Envelope Games
A game design company and service organization dedicated to the betterment of the indy gaming community. Our growing network of game testers, artists, manufacturers and information specialists helps to keep the indies on the right track.
Workshops by Thiagi
The home page for Sivasailam Thiagarajan, one of the simulation-game world's luminaries and younger-than-elder statesmen. The focus is on experiential learning activities. There's a page with such activities described.
Yahoo's List of Game Companies
Want to work in the game industry, or buy some games by mail order? Yahoo maintains this list of companies with a presence on the Web.
MC+ Creations
MC+ is a small company that designs games and markets a fantasy role playing system.
The Inspiracy
This multimedia design company carries interesting articles about the game design business, including the convergence between Hollywood and Silicon Valley.
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