5 ms·

Turning a 1920s Switchboard into a Modern-Day Video Game

44 points by joubert 11y ago

zokier 11y ago
Bit more details on authors website: http://lazerwalker.com/hellooperator http://lazerwalker.com/hellooperator and in Gamasutra interview: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/266470/AltCtrlGDC_Showcase_Mike_LazerWalkers_Hello_Operator.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/266470/AltCtrlGDC_Showcas...
- cnvogel 11y ago
  I really like this project for the aesthetics of the old switchboard. And the guy's blog has many pretty pictures. http://blog.lazerwalker.com/switchboard/2016/02/21/switchboard-part-1.html http://blog.lazerwalker.com/switchboard/2016/02/21/switchboa... What I find funny, though, is his astonishment on the huge amount of wiring, e.g. he writes... “There’s a bit of a mystery here. Conceptually, you’d assume this is very simple: it’s a switch with a neutral state and two other possible states. You could easily represent this with only 3 pins. And yet there are two separate physical mechanisms, one for each direction.” What seems to be hard to fathom for people growing up with today's tech where every single button we press is connected to a small microcontroller with more computing power than what was available on the whole planet in 1920: there is no second level of logic, except maybe one of two relays. And the only reasonable way to build the required functionality, in these days, was to add a few additional cogs, springs, beams, ... in each switch. And route 10 additional wires to it! Having a whole rack of relays just to save on complexity to use simpler switches would have been completely absurd then. Nowadays, in contrast, we like to keep mechanical and wiring simple. And just complement it with software to implement the details.
Animats 11y ago
Heres's a training film for this job.[1] The original article doesn't say much about the gameplay, but the film shows what the job is like from an operator perspective. Both the game machine and the training film are for an company's in-house operator. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1t-K2c8Jbs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1t-K2c8Jbs
orta 11y ago
Laser-Walker also made WhatsApplebees : http://whatsapplebees.com http://whatsapplebees.com - which is a pretty great concept
krisoft 11y ago
The aesthetics of this project reminds me of the "Future Crew" game by NYC Resistor[1]. In that game there were multiple (maybe 4?) stations, all vintage looking interesting equipment. I remember a rotary phone, a piano, switcehs, a bnc plug board and some broadcast equipment. All the stations were manned by a participant, and they received orders which had to be carried out on one of the stations, but not necessarily on their one. Gameplay looked like some scifi where everyone is shouting things like: "Dial the president!" "Modulate the medial truster!" One of happiest memories in my life. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9F5Gvj2vv8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9F5Gvj2vv8
- Qworg 11y ago
  It is a hardware version of Space Team! http://www.sleepingbeastgames.com/spaceteam/ http://www.sleepingbeastgames.com/spaceteam/

44 points by joubert 11y ago

Bit more details on authors website: http://lazerwalker.com/hellooperator http://lazerwalker.com/hellooperator and in Gamasutra interview: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/266470/AltCtrlGDC_Showcase_Mike_LazerWalkers_Hello_Operator.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/266470/AltCtrlGDC_Showcas...

cnvogel 11y ago
I really like this project for the aesthetics of the old switchboard. And the guy's blog has many pretty pictures. http://blog.lazerwalker.com/switchboard/2016/02/21/switchboard-part-1.html http://blog.lazerwalker.com/switchboard/2016/02/21/switchboa... What I find funny, though, is his astonishment on the huge amount of wiring, e.g. he writes... “There’s a bit of a mystery here. Conceptually, you’d assume this is very simple: it’s a switch with a neutral state and two other possible states. You could easily represent this with only 3 pins. And yet there are two separate physical mechanisms, one for each direction.” What seems to be hard to fathom for people growing up with today's tech where every single button we press is connected to a small microcontroller with more computing power than what was available on the whole planet in 1920: there is no second level of logic, except maybe one of two relays. And the only reasonable way to build the required functionality, in these days, was to add a few additional cogs, springs, beams, ... in each switch. And route 10 additional wires to it! Having a whole rack of relays just to save on complexity to use simpler switches would have been completely absurd then. Nowadays, in contrast, we like to keep mechanical and wiring simple. And just complement it with software to implement the details.

Animats 11y ago

Heres's a training film for this job.[1] The original article doesn't say much about the gameplay, but the film shows what the job is like from an operator perspective. Both the game machine and the training film are for an company's in-house operator. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1t-K2c8Jbs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1t-K2c8Jbs

orta 11y ago

Laser-Walker also made WhatsApplebees : http://whatsapplebees.com http://whatsapplebees.com - which is a pretty great concept

krisoft 11y ago

The aesthetics of this project reminds me of the "Future Crew" game by NYC Resistor[1]. In that game there were multiple (maybe 4?) stations, all vintage looking interesting equipment. I remember a rotary phone, a piano, switcehs, a bnc plug board and some broadcast equipment. All the stations were manned by a participant, and they received orders which had to be carried out on one of the stations, but not necessarily on their one. Gameplay looked like some scifi where everyone is shouting things like: "Dial the president!" "Modulate the medial truster!" One of happiest memories in my life. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9F5Gvj2vv8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9F5Gvj2vv8

Qworg 11y ago
It is a hardware version of Space Team! http://www.sleepingbeastgames.com/spaceteam/ http://www.sleepingbeastgames.com/spaceteam/