It is the Year 1994…

In North America, turn-based strategy games were trampled by flashier video games like Doom and Mortal Kombat. All but one: Sid Meier's Civilization, a game of conquest and megahit developed by Maryland-based MicroProse.

Over in southwest England, the producers at MicroProse UK aspired to design a tactical game that matched or exceeded the success of their American counterparts, who viewed the UK branch as nothing more than a support studio. Nearby, a bespectacled teenage boy toiled away on his home computer, dreaming of the day his programming aptitude would catch up to the epic campaigns unfolding across his imagination.

From his early experiments in board games to digital battlefields that lit up bestseller charts, Monsters in the Dark charts the career of legendary designer Julian Gollop through the creation of 1994's X-COM, a terrifying and terrifyingly deep wargame hailed as "the finest PC game" (IGN) and "a bona fide classic" (GameSpot).

Review

Monsters in the Dark is an engaging history of not just X-COM, but of Julian Gollop's path to creating one of the cornerstones of strategy gaming. -Soren Johnson, lead designer of Sid Meier's Civilization IV

Reading Monsters in the Dark was like traveling back in time to one of the great periods of PC game development. David not only tells the untold story of X-COM's development, but the incredible adventure its creators underwent to bring the game to life. -Chris Taylor, creative director of Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander

When we see an amazing game, we rarely see the years of trial and error that came before it. I remember being blown away when I played X-COM, but until Monsters in the Dark, I didn't know about Rebelstar, Laser Squad, or any of Julian Gollop's other early works. The story is wonderful and well told, and I am so glad this piece of our history has been captured and preserved for us to enjoy. -Ed Fries, former vice president of game publishing at Microsoft, and general manager of 1Up Ventures

X-COM was probably every developer's favorite strategy game from my generation. I must have played the demo—included on a 3.5-inch floppy disk that came with a PC gaming magazine—for more hours than I put into full games released these days. It still sits at the top of my list of my favorite games. Monsters in the Dark brings back memories of the intricacies and hurdles developers faced back in the earlier days of game development and highlights the incredible journey of an incredible game designer. It is a must-read for any developer past or present. -John Johnson, producer/creative director of Company of Heroes and Age of Empires: Castle Siege, and CEO of Smoking Gun Interactive Inc.

Craddock writes exhaustive and fascinating investigations into how games are made, and Monsters in the Dark is no exception. X-COM is one of my favorite games and a huge influence on my work, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about its development. -Erich Schaefer, co-creator of the Diablo, Torchlight, and Rebel Galaxy franchises

David's book brought back a flood of memories from my youth, when I got my first home computer with a 100-megabyte hard drive. X-COM was one of the games I lost sleep over, and Monsters in the Dark divulges an amazing amount of detail about the game, its creators, its humble beginnings, and its lasting legacy. An absolutely fascinating story worthy of a Netflix original. -Rick Goodman, co-creator of Age of Empires

Through a tight biographical lens, Craddock offers a compelling glimpse at the infancy of a genre—and an entire industry. -Maximilian Olbers, content design lead on Stellaris and Crusader Kings III

I have been a rabid X-COM fan since the first moment I saw the game running on one of our dev machines at LookingGlass. X-COM ended up consuming us all, and that bright time is one of my favorite memories about that era in games, and indeed my life at that time. Unsurprisingly, X-COM slipped the schedules on at least two LookingGlass games, but we didn't care, and therein lies the unexpected joy I found in the manuscript. Craddock is able to tease out not only the story of a favorite game, but, more poignantly to me at least, the story of the beginning of the industry we all love, that we have given our lives to, and that has changed entertainment forever. -Seamus Blackley, father of the Xbox

A thorough retelling of the early career of one of gaming's most important figures, with deep insight into one of the greatest games ever made. -Troy Goodfellow, game developer and strategy game historian

David has written the definitive account of one of the greatest PC titles of the 1990s, distilled in an easy-to-read style that pulls you right in and with never-before-seen interviews with the designers. -Jamie Lendino, author of Attract Mode: The Rise and Fall of Coin-Op Arcade Games

About the Author

David L. Craddock lives with his wife and business partner in Ohio. He is the author of the bestselling Stay Awhile and Listen trilogy detailing the history of Blizzard Entertainment, the Gairden Chronicles epic fantasy series for young adults, and Monsters in the Dark: The Making of X-COM: UFO Defense. Follow him online at davidlcraddock.com and @davidlcraddock on Twitter.