4 ms·

Everything I Learned About Game Development I Learned From the 80s

37 points by davidtyleryork 15y ago

sosuke 15y ago
I'm at a loss for words or analysis but I love this article, it really pumped me up, time to get back to development.
jes5199 15y ago
But no mention of game development that actually happened in the 80s? How odd.
- alanfalcon 15y ago
  Game development that happened in the 80s (at least outside of Nintendo) is a beast so far removed from even what indie devs do today alone in a basement that I was fearing this was a retro-love-fest article about distilling game design or something. This article is spot on with great advice, and the cheesy 80s movie motivators work here because they're fun and actually motivating because they're not so serious. For those still disappointed that there were no lessons from 80s game development, read this article instead; it might be what you want and at any rate it inspired me: http://tevisthompson.com/saving-zelda/ http://tevisthompson.com/saving-zelda/
  - batista 15y ago
    * Game development that happened in the 80s (at least outside of Nintendo) is a beast so far removed from even what indie devs do today alone in a basement* Really? Because 90% of, say, iPhone games would not feel out of place in an 80's Amiga.
    - alanfalcon 15y ago
      The process of creating and distributing them is totally different. There were more Wild West coders making things for the Amiga than there are today. That's how I feel at any rate.
      - batista 15y ago
        The process of creating and distributing them is totally different. How they are distributed is different, yes. But the creation part, not that much. There were more Wild West coders making things for the Amiga than there are today. Not sure. There were a few large-ish software houses back then that made the most games (Psygnosis, Ocean, etc). Nowadays there are many more 1-man shops for mobile games. --Of course I only talk about iOS/Android games. The situation re: desktop is completely different and more like you say--. And certainly, Amiga didn't have 500,000+ apps (= hundrens of thousands of games), as the iPhone has... I think 10-20,000 would be a better estimation (just guessing though, from what I read at the time and of App Store statistics).

sosuke 15y ago

I'm at a loss for words or analysis but I love this article, it really pumped me up, time to get back to development.

jes5199 15y ago

But no mention of game development that actually happened in the 80s? How odd.

alanfalcon 15y ago
Game development that happened in the 80s (at least outside of Nintendo) is a beast so far removed from even what indie devs do today alone in a basement that I was fearing this was a retro-love-fest article about distilling game design or something. This article is spot on with great advice, and the cheesy 80s movie motivators work here because they're fun and actually motivating because they're not so serious. For those still disappointed that there were no lessons from 80s game development, read this article instead; it might be what you want and at any rate it inspired me: http://tevisthompson.com/saving-zelda/ http://tevisthompson.com/saving-zelda/
- batista 15y ago
  * Game development that happened in the 80s (at least outside of Nintendo) is a beast so far removed from even what indie devs do today alone in a basement* Really? Because 90% of, say, iPhone games would not feel out of place in an 80's Amiga.
  - alanfalcon 15y ago
    The process of creating and distributing them is totally different. There were more Wild West coders making things for the Amiga than there are today. That's how I feel at any rate.
    - batista 15y ago
      The process of creating and distributing them is totally different. How they are distributed is different, yes. But the creation part, not that much. There were more Wild West coders making things for the Amiga than there are today. Not sure. There were a few large-ish software houses back then that made the most games (Psygnosis, Ocean, etc). Nowadays there are many more 1-man shops for mobile games. --Of course I only talk about iOS/Android games. The situation re: desktop is completely different and more like you say--. And certainly, Amiga didn't have 500,000+ apps (= hundrens of thousands of games), as the iPhone has... I think 10-20,000 would be a better estimation (just guessing though, from what I read at the time and of App Store statistics).