In
a new Gamasutra feature interview,
Pinball Construction Set creator Bill Budge discussed how he's "not a really good game designer," and that his interest in the medium is more about creating elegant tools.
"I think a really good game designer has to love games, and they know what they love about games," Budge said. "They want to create that experience. I couldn't do that. I like building stuff, and that I can understand. So, I guess I built a game or program -- a software toy -- that I would want to play with."
In the interview, Budge recalled how creating new tools gave him the same kind of thrill that games do. "There's a certain amount of excitement because you're seeing something for the first time, and you're building it," he said. "And you want to see it work in addition to using it. There's that extra thrill."
Budge also expressed in the interview -- conducted earlier this year -- his admiration for recently resigned Apple CEO Steve Jobs, calling him a visionary who knows how important iteration is to creating a successful product.
"You've got to give it time," he said. "You build it, you love it, then you realize it sucks and you want to make it better. Then you go through about five or 10 iterations of that. In the end, you're kind of tired of it, but for the rest of the world it’s amazing."
The full interview contains many more of Budge's thoughts on programming, including a deep discussion of the pros and cons of various languages and tools.
