I ve collected strategy guides since I was a kid. In fact, my collection got me into trouble more than once. I d slip a guide between the folders of my Trapper Keeper and smuggle them into class, where I d absorb pro tips and expert strats behind a wall of textbooks. Yes, I was that weirdo who read strategy guides like novels. I admired the artistry that went into their layouts and text, and was agog at the info organized so colorfully on their glossy pages.
That s what made talking with David Ellis, strategy guide author for many games, Sid Meier s Civilization II and UFO: Enemy Unknown among them, such a pleasure. He also authored the Civilopedia, Civ II s massive in-game encyclopedia and a game construct that made a huge impact on the development of X-COM.