Game Design Theory

Following the overwhelming success of arcade machines and their equally popular titles, what was next in the history of video games? If you were an active gamer between the years 1978 and 1983, there were an endless array of doors, paths, and quests that became readily available to you. Titles like Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, and Tetris quickly became staples of everyday households and families as more and more video games continued to sweep the globe. In today’s day and age though, people tend to forget the foundations that made these titles the nostalgic masterpieces that they are, and instead opt for efficiency or profit over memorability. This week, I wanted to take the time to analyze the more technical aspects of these popular titles, and examine exactly what it was about these games that resonated so powerfully with their audiences.

The most obvious change within the computational capabilities of machines in those times was the advancement to arcade cabinets, with full color displays and dramatic sound playback to name a few others. No longer did the regular Joe have to settle for relying on imagination to warp simple diode displays, oscilloscope graphs and other rudimentary technology into their personal fantasies. Now they could actually see, hear, and personally interact with the–albeit still simplistic–models of humans, monsters, giant apes with a bloodlust for rolling barrels down slanted pieces of slotted metal, anything and everything the player could imagine was either right there at their fingertips or on the way from up and coming game developers. People were so encapsulated by these graphics and the rugged smoothness in animation that was seen as futuristic at the time, that pouring garbage bags full of quarters into once machine quite literally became just another Tuesday in their everyday lives.

A great game isn’t made up of just how snappy, flashy, or realistic the graphics may look. In their youth, the sky was just one of many starting points–way past the proverbial limit–for ideas, concepts, and characters. As I noted above, anything was a step up from simple light displays that depended on the user’s suspension of disbelief and heightened imagination. With the graphical limitations and barriers shattered, producers, developers, and players alike now had the opportunity to expand their horizons to even greater heights. Barring any controversial out-lash for the sake of the narrative, titles like Street Fighter, Space Invaders, and even the Legend of Zelda provided this generation of gamers the first opportunity to insert their personas into a virtual world; one that was not plagued with the same banal reality as ours is. And for a time, this increased flow of strange ideas sustained the titanic engine, so to speak, that powered this new virtual movement for years to come.

I hope you enjoyed today’s entry into the history of video games. Within the next few days, I would like to explore this “Golden Age of Video Games” era a bit further, and possibly talk about specific titles like the very first Mario Bros as well as Tron. Until then, I hope you have a great rest of your day!

Cheers,

Ethan