Eric Chahi (and Jordan Mechner) undoubtedly have genius-level IQs which is to say that they stood apart even in that time period. The more important thing to n

Eric Chahi (and Jordan Mechner) undoubtedly have genius-level IQs which is to say that they stood apart even in that time period. The more important thing to note is that the brutal constraints of the day and the extremely high bar to entry acted like a pre-sorting mechanism but also fueled the best and brightest to exceed their perceived limitations and unleash their creativity. Compare and contrast with today, where the low bar to entry has led to a proliferation of garbage-level work (on all levels, not just games) that tends to not only drastically decrease SnR but calibrate the "standard". When everything looks like mediocre garbage, this is what everyone expects.