Designing Games

There is value in having game developers aid in designing interaction with business problems.

The Sims’ Creator Shares His Secrets
“If I was going to teach somebody videogame design from scratch, where would I start?”

That’s how Will Wright, the mastermind behind gaming’s most indelible fantasies, has embarked on an epic quest of his own: to help budding game developers transform their ideas into reality.

The Sims creator has joined MasterClass, the popular education app where extraordinary talents (director Ron Howard, writer Margaret Atwood, chef Alice Waters) teach the finer points of their crafts.

“I felt a little…what’s the word…overestimated, or humbled” by being invited into the MasterClass fold, Wright tells us.

But he certainly has the stature. From the groundbreaking SimCity to the spacefaring Spore, Wright has long been one of the biggest names in game development. What fellow MasterClass teacher Martin Scorsese is to crime films, Wright is to simulation gaming.

Wright spent more than six months distilling his decades of experience into a series of videos. Through 21 lessons and a detailed workbook, he covers everything from the fundamentals of game design to the importance of prototyping and playtesting.

“I really want this class to be focused on aspiring or even very experienced designers,” Wright says. “For aspiring game designers, I think it would be a good starting point to get off on the right mind-set.” .... "