The World According to Will Wright

Will Wright is the best known game creator in the US. His signature invention was the Sims series--very original and very pooh poohed when released ("Nobody wins in this game" was the criticims). It has since become one of the best selling PC games. He is yet another example of the square peg in the round hole--a college drop-out with a quirky, off-beat way of game development. The New Yorker had this to say about his new game:

The game draws on the theory of natural selection. It seeks to replicate algorithmically the conditions by which evolution works, and render the process as a game. Conceptually, Spore is radical: at a time when most game makers are offering ever more dazzling graphics and scenarios and stories, Wright and his backer, Electronic Arts, are betting that players want to create the environments and stories themselves—that what players really like about games is exploring what Wright calls “possibility space.” “Will has a reality-distortion field around him,” his former business partner, Jeff Braun, told me. “He comes up with the craziest idea you’ve ever heard, and when he’s finished explaining it to you the world looks crazy—he’s the only sane person in it.”

I encourage you to read it--a good exposition on the creative mind.