It's the graphics! (Or is it?)

Video games today are produced with multi-million dollar budgets, closing in on some movie productions costs. Development studios now have teams dedicated to each component of a game: design, artificial intelligence, audio, music, graphics, etc. In the early days of the industry, games were developed by very small groups, sometimes one person would even be handling several roles! The technologies and tools were also less advanced, requiring studios to pretty much develop many things from scratch. Studios today have the option of licensing tool kits from other companies to cut the development time.

Some people judge the success of games based on the graphical element, as it is the first thing we would take notice when we start playing. If we applied this line of thinking to games in the past, the industry wouldn't have grown to the size and success it is today. Graphics then were limited to 2D and pixel art, and in the case of the PC during its early years, limited to just green-colored pixels due to the technology of the time. And, in some cases, the programmer and artist were the same guy, so the objects depicted in the games wouldn't look sophisticated or realistic.

Due to the simplicity of graphics at the time, game designers focused their efforts on making games that could generate attention through:

• an immersive gameplay
• good replay value even after completing the game
• a good storyline

 

Don't you recognize me? It's a-me, Mario!

 

Many early successful games tended to have attributes 1 and 2, but not so much on 3. Great console classics like Super Mario Bros had simple graphics, but a gameplay that was instantly likeable to many gamers, as well as bringing in some very difficult challenges in later levels.

PC classics like Ultima 4, from the role playing game genre, had even simpler graphics as illustrated here, but is considered one of the definitive RPG games that would influence future designers. Undoubtedly the storyline, about the protagonist's journey to achieve 8 virtues of Good, was attributed to the success of the game.

Ultima 4: Your father's video game

Another all-time classic, Wolfenstein 3D, which used pseudo-3D graphics had a rather quirky storyline taking liberty with World War 2 history, but had a very fun gameplay (it was one of the pioneers of the First Person Shooter genre).

Wolfenstein Pseudo-3D

Each of the titles I mentioned above continued to spawn sequels, with each one showing improvements over graphics, but not necessarily bringing the same success as the predecessors. Wolfenstein's most recent title in 2009 showed very sophisticated graphics, but its retail sales figures were below expectations.

 

 

Wolfenstein: Bling 3D!

 

 

Of course, I am not saying that today's game are worse compared to the 'Golden Age' of the 1990's. There have been many games showing off very good graphics and special effects, combined with creative gameplay, and cinematic storylines to bring video games to the acceptance of the masses. One game that I have seen, but not played, is L.A. Noire. The facial scan technology used to render character faces is nothing short of amazing, and may set the standard for future games. The storyline is well written, but the gameplay doesn't bring anything new.

You have the right to like the graphics!

It ain't easy being a gamer back then

I would be what people call a Generation X-er, those born between the 60's to the late 70's. Back then, people didn't have HDTVs, Home Theatre systems, or video games as entertainment. If we wanted to watch a movie, we only had one choice: the cinemas. If we wanted to play a video game, tough luck. I lived in a country called Malaysia, in a small town about 3 hours drive from the big city Kuala Lumpur. When Dad got me the Atari 2600 in 1981, I was too young to think about how he managed to buy one, let alone find it. It came bundled with just one game: Space Invaders. I was hooked on it, and needed more games for the console. Just one problem, there wasn't a single game retail store to be found in that town back in '81. So Grandpa came to the rescue. He made frequent trips to Kuala Lumpur, and I would fill him in on my wishlist. That was my only channel of getting new titles to play. Eventually, the Atari became obsolete during the video game crash of the 1980's, and I moved on to looking for another platform.

Remember me?

 

I joined the computer club in my school, and together with friends, would take the opportunity to load games into the school's PCs (PC use policies weren't very strict then). The school was equipped with Apple computers, quite similar to the Apple IIe that my uncle had. When I got my first home desktop computer, the IBM XT, I brought back copies to play on it, but I didn't realise that IBM and Apple computers didn't "speak the same language". Oh derp!!!! I would later source the IBM-compatible games from friends who also happened to have IBMs at home, or through Grandpa again when he visits the big city. At around this time, one of the shopping malls in town started selling the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), but they also had this business model where people could pay to play in their premises. This probably sounds strange, if not downright illegal, to those of you from the Western nations, but I think this practice was common place in Asia then.

Another major obstacle to gaming in Malaysia at that time was the lack of game guides, and walkthroughs. The internet didn't exist, and bookstores didn't have a section for game-related material. One of the major newspapers, strangely enough, did have a Q&A section for games, and that was how I would get my info. It was also mostly based on luck, because the paper didn't always discuss the same game I had in my collection. So it wasn't uncommon for me to take months to finish one game, because I really was using my brain to figure out how to solve every puzzle!

Using my head: not really what I had in mind

Today, with the ease and speed at which information is shared worldwide, I really couldn't believe how I managed to maintain my interest in video games in those old days. I guess I am now old enough to say "you young 'uns today have everything easy"!

Intro: A quick run down memory lane

Hi! Thanks for stopping by my very first blog post. I started this blog with a focus on my thoughts on the video gaming scene, and my personal experience growing up around games.

I started playing games since the age of 6, and this year is, interestingly enough, the 30th anniversary of that fateful event. 30... freaking... years! So it's fitting that I start this blog to reminisce about the 'good old days', not that I am saying today's games are bad or anything. Heh!

I was first introduced to a PC by my uncle who owned an Apple IIe at his place. If I recall correctly, the only game on that machine then was Loderunner. It was a Pacman-style game in which your controlling character grabs treasure while avoiding the treasure guardians.

The Apple IIe system

Loadrunner

I was immediately hooked on the game, even though I played terribly and didn't progress beyond level 2. After returning home, I kept talking about how I wanted my own game system that on Christmas Day 1981, my parents got me my very first console: the Atari 2600. Unfortunately, Loadrunner wasn't a game that came bundled with it, and I don't think I ever got it for my console during it's lifespan. I did play E.T. and Superman, which in retrospect, were awful, awful games.

Atari 2600 with iconic Joystick

Eventually the software for the Atari dried up due to the hardware's drop in popularity, and I next got a home desktop PC: the IBM XT, which had only 128KB of RAM (yes, that's Kilobytes!), no hard drive, no mouse, and the operating system was something called Microsoft DOS. Booting up the system involved using a floppy disk containing the DOS files, and then replacing the disk with another that contains the application programs or games I wanted to run. Despite the inconvenience most people will think of, I credit that machine for bringing me into the world of PC gaming. Adventure, and RPG (Role Playing Game) games in particular were experiencing a Golden Age at that time. These games emphasized on the element of storytelling as opposed to the common 'button mashing kill everything in sight' play style found in arcade shooters or fighting games. Some very memorable titles include the King's Quest, Space Quest, and Police Quest series by defunct Sierra Entertainment.

King's Quest 1

I did not go back to console gaming until I was studying in Australia, where I met a group of like minded gamers. One of the guys owned a Sega MegaDrive (Genesis in USA). About a year later, Sony launched the Playstation console, and I was one of the early adopters. Games around this time were moving into 3D graphics rendering. Note, this is not the same as 3D vision, which makes images appear to be coming out of the screen. Older games with 2D restricted their in-game characters and objects to movements of left, right, up and down. With 3D rendering, this meant objects could now move along a Z-depth axis (I paid attention to my maths/physics classes!).

Sega Mega Drive / Genesis

Sony Playstation 1

Between '97 and now, I would switch between gaming on the desktop PC and consoles, as some games which are exclusive to consoles wouldn't be available for PC. I do not consider myself a hardcore fan of any brand or platform, as I have seen great games across all hardware.
Will I continue to game even as I approach 40 in a few years time? Definitely!  Will I continue to blog beyond today? Let's see what tomorrow brings.