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The article is long and entertainingly written. It has lots of references to 80s computer games that people might enjoy (like Pirates!). But the key insight, I

The article is long and entertainingly written. It has lots of references to 80s computer games that people might enjoy (like Pirates!). But the key insight, I believe, is: If Covert Action had believable, mimetic, tantalizing — or at least interesting — plots to foil, I submit that it could have been a tremendously compelling game, without changing anything else about it. Instead, though, it’s got this painfully artificial box of whirling gears. I suppose in the 80s, given the limitations of the box, there was a much larger emphasis on "narratology" in games, but this criticism might hold for most failed games. Edit: Never seen this site before. Who is this guy? Now I am going down a rabbit hole...

lakkal 10y ago
He's been going through the history of computer games (with emphasis on 'interactive fiction' and related types of games) for quite a while. Highly recommended if you're interested in gaming history. He's also written a book about the history of Commodore and the Amiga.
zellyn 10y ago
I've been reading the ebookified versions of older posts from his site: I think I'm on volume 8 or 9 now :-) In particular I highly recommend his digression (in the context of Trinity) on the history of the atomic bomb: a coworker recently recommended Dan Carlin's "Hardcore History" podcast on the same subject, and so far… let's just say that Digital Antiquarian's treatment is fantastic. Edit: ebook library: http://www.filfre.net/the-digital-antiquarian-e-book-library/ http://www.filfre.net/the-digital-antiquarian-e-book-library...
jbattle 10y ago
Another article I'd recommend reading from the same site: http://www.filfre.net/2013/02/dan-bunten-and-m-u-l-e/ http://www.filfre.net/2013/02/dan-bunten-and-m-u-l-e/ I really liked a lot of Dani Bunten's games as a kid, and this article lays out that world of early video games as a great story
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
arafa 10y ago
I always find it interesting that procedurally generated games like Spelunky and The Binding of Isaac only embrace procedural generation to a certain extent. They stitch the levels together in a procedural way and in some cases the items and things are random. But, crucially, the hundreds of rooms (or tiles) aren't random, but instead lovingly handcrafted. It's funny when I see a unique room repeat after a hundred hours (like the Isaac room that has a bunch of keys in a key shape). Maybe that's one way to solve these mimetic issues and is similar to the suggestion by Kate Compton given in the article.
- thedz 10y ago
  A similar thing is true of the latest well-reviewed open world game, Horizon Zero Dawn. The game's devs said that a majority of the world is "procedurally generated", but that their process still allowed artists go to in and fine tune spaces.
mwcampbell 10y ago
> Edit: Never seen this site before. Who is this guy? Now I am going down a rabbit hole... There's a lot to take in on this site. I started regularly reading it about two years ago when the first article in his "68000 Wars" series was posted to HN. And I wasn't even that interested in computer games. He's just that good a writer.
hypertexthero 10y ago
One of my favorite posts is Elite (or, The Universe on 32 K Per Day): http://www.filfre.net/2013/12/elite/ http://www.filfre.net/2013/12/elite/

lakkal 10y ago

He's been going through the history of computer games (with emphasis on 'interactive fiction' and related types of games) for quite a while. Highly recommended if you're interested in gaming history. He's also written a book about the history of Commodore and the Amiga.

zellyn 10y ago

I've been reading the ebookified versions of older posts from his site: I think I'm on volume 8 or 9 now :-) In particular I highly recommend his digression (in the context of Trinity) on the history of the atomic bomb: a coworker recently recommended Dan Carlin's "Hardcore History" podcast on the same subject, and so far… let's just say that Digital Antiquarian's treatment is fantastic. Edit: ebook library: http://www.filfre.net/the-digital-antiquarian-e-book-library/ http://www.filfre.net/the-digital-antiquarian-e-book-library...

jbattle 10y ago

Another article I'd recommend reading from the same site: http://www.filfre.net/2013/02/dan-bunten-and-m-u-l-e/ http://www.filfre.net/2013/02/dan-bunten-and-m-u-l-e/ I really liked a lot of Dani Bunten's games as a kid, and this article lays out that world of early video games as a great story

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

arafa 10y ago

I always find it interesting that procedurally generated games like Spelunky and The Binding of Isaac only embrace procedural generation to a certain extent. They stitch the levels together in a procedural way and in some cases the items and things are random. But, crucially, the hundreds of rooms (or tiles) aren't random, but instead lovingly handcrafted. It's funny when I see a unique room repeat after a hundred hours (like the Isaac room that has a bunch of keys in a key shape). Maybe that's one way to solve these mimetic issues and is similar to the suggestion by Kate Compton given in the article.

thedz 10y ago
A similar thing is true of the latest well-reviewed open world game, Horizon Zero Dawn. The game's devs said that a majority of the world is "procedurally generated", but that their process still allowed artists go to in and fine tune spaces.

mwcampbell 10y ago

> Edit: Never seen this site before. Who is this guy? Now I am going down a rabbit hole... There's a lot to take in on this site. I started regularly reading it about two years ago when the first article in his "68000 Wars" series was posted to HN. And I wasn't even that interested in computer games. He's just that good a writer.

hypertexthero 10y ago

One of my favorite posts is Elite (or, The Universe on 32 K Per Day): http://www.filfre.net/2013/12/elite/ http://www.filfre.net/2013/12/elite/