It's interesting to compare this to what we had at Atari. Typically the game would center around the engineers (for consoles, the software guys), and they'd be supported by artists and sound folks who were a shared resource amongst several programmers. There was usually no game designer per se, just a bunch of management.
I think it shows -- the NES games were a lot more fun, more imaginative, more colorful, and (the big test) did much better in the market over time.
If this same book had been written about (say) Star Raiders, it would have been shorter and pretty boring.
Are you talking about the 2600 days or the 7800 days? From what I understand of Atari, the 7800 era was pretty lousy? But Atari sure put out some really great games for the 2600 considering the level of tech available.
2600 games are easy enough to build with a small team and simple enough to have the game mechanics and story completely specified on, say, a single piece of paper. There isn't much room to have a complex story, and there isn't much ability to drift away from the proper story line (since there isn't much of one). By the time of the NES that had definitely changed.
I think it shows -- the NES games were a lot more fun, more imaginative, more colorful, and (the big test) did much better in the market over time.
If this same book had been written about (say) Star Raiders, it would have been shorter and pretty boring.