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I think one of the best constrained system was the original GameBoy. It was voluntary conceived to be cheap and basically impossible to program without hacking
by pjerem 2y ago
I think one of the best constrained system was the original GameBoy. It was voluntary conceived to be cheap and basically impossible to program without hacking it. Hell, there wasn’t even enough memory to hold an entire screen frame.
Interestingly, there were really few bad games on the GameBoy. I think that was because you were forced to invest more than money to create a game. Getting more people wouldn’t help you to get it done, your only solution was to have a smart team who would be capable of working through the insane constraints.
- maccard 2y agoI disagree with there being few bad game boy games. Most of them were shockingly bad at the time, and have aged worse IMO. What there was was a few absolute diamonds that set up some incredible sequels.
- bee_rider 2y agoAlso the system had a quite good lifespan, so there was a long time for gems to show up. And, probably, the designers also became accustomed to the limitations and learned how to design around them well. Plus, we were kids sitting in the back seat of cars and on busses… the nostalgia factor is real, not hard to beat activities like “staring out the window” or “annoying your sibling.”