Game Design Theory

With every branching path within the creative current of art, there will always exist some abnormalities. Whether if they branch off slightly or radically, whether their flow is more smooth or sporadic, or even if one stream connects with another at a later point, every created work brought about from our collective conscious flows within this unified current. To put this into the perspective of visual media: the one main channel (or goal) within game design is to create a compelling and interesting game that people want to play. Within this main stream, however, millions of diverse diversions begin to emerge. One company might branch off to create the next top horror genre; the next off for pixelated storytelling. No matter the idea, this stream is ever flowing, constantly replenished by the collective effort of every creator existing within it. And it’s with these thoughts in mind that I would like to present a ripple to this pond, so to speak: the existence of a Golden Age, or an era wherein the speed and flow of these channels is as its most rapid–its most efficient. It’s within this era that the public sees the most diversity within title releases, game concepts, and every other aspect within game design.

Within today’s timeline, a myriad of arguments can be made for exactly what time period this acclaimed “Golden Age” applies to. The claim most commonly heard of within the general public is that this age falls somewhere between the late eighty’s and early two-thousands. Along with several other aspects of everyday life, visual entertainment too saw a boom in vitality and enlightenment as creators around the world gathered the resources and motivation to create stunningly unique titles like Super Metroid, Mortal Kombat, Final Fantasy, Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, among so many others. Others, however, claim this Golden Age occurred much later in the history of video games; toward the newest decade with the release of Virtual and (higher quality) Augmented Reality games–Just In Time Inc. and Pokemon GO as respective examples. While another shred of public opinion supports the claim that the Golden Age was long past, that it had occurred alongside the release and revamping of arcade cabinets and their best-selling titles.

If I may present a perspective that is admittedly rather unorthodox in nature: any history does not always have to be bound to only one Golden Age. Sure the advancements made with arcade cabinets were revolutionary for their time, and ushered in an all but unknown and new era for the public, but the first and second waves of three-dimensional rendering as well as the flood of augmented and virtual reality games had the same effect and pull to them. It’s foolish to deny the claim that any one age within its history was the best or brightest, but it is equally folly to assume the apex can be reached at only one point in a concept’s entire history.

I hope you enjoyed this shorter entry into the history of video games. Next time I hope to address two specific games I had made mention of in a post prior to this one: Tron and the very first Super Mario Bros. Until then, I hope you have a great rest of your day!

As always, cheers,

-Ethan