4 ms·
This is a subtle example of the advantages of the Internet. When people made things like this in 1980, you'd never even hear about it.
by pg 13y ago
This is a subtle example of the advantages of the Internet. When people made things like this in 1980, you'd never even hear about it.
- mratzloff 13y agoI have a coworker who adapts old text adventure games into simple roleplaying games for his young daughters. Planetfall is their favorite. When I was a kid my parents didn't have a lot of money, so instead of playing video games, I would design entire worlds on paper that looked very similar. Of course, I couldn't play them--the D&D aspect to this is pretty neat. (I also designed my own cardboard Transformers that would actually transform! I was really proud of those. I remember I had little sliding bits, like revealing the robot's head.)
- RyanMcGreal 13y ago> I also designed my own cardboard Transformers that would actually transform! Heh. I used to make paper Transformers that transformed. They were at least as fun as the real toys, and a lot more portable. I may even still have them somewhere in a box. Later I graduated to making Lego Transformers that transformed. When I bequeathed my childhood Lego bin to my older son, it still had some Lego Transformers in it. I had to explain to him what Transformers were, because this was before the Michael Bay reboot.
- drivers99 13y ago> When I was a kid my parents didn't have a lot of money, so instead of playing video games, I would design entire worlds on paper that looked very similar. This makes me smile. I actually did this as well in the 80s. I was inspired by games I saw on my friend's computer, so I'd fold a piece of notebook paper into 8 pieces (or 16 if you use both sides) and draw "screens" that you could move between. I'd tear off a small piece of paper and draw the player's character on it. I'd design the game during class-time, then I'd have my friend play it at recess. He'd move the character around and I'd change things around to the correct screens when he moved from screen to screen.
- corin_ 13y agoMany people would argue that the flip side of this is that less people would make things like this now that the internet offers so much more, easier time-consuming.
- pg 13y agoI'm one of them. It is definitely a double-edged sword.
- simonebrunozzi 13y agoWorth a PG essay, for sure.
- icebraining 13y agoCan't get any easier than watching TV.
- cpach 13y agoPerhaps not easier, but for many people (me included), Internet with all it’s diversity is far more addictive than plain old TV.
- wslh 13y agoBut at the same time Internet doesn't offer many games for toddlers, say < 4 years old.
- hammock 13y agoI'm so glad I found this post. It brought back such great memories of when my friends and I used to make mazes, and paper maps and games eerily similar to the ones he shares. In fact the first product I ever sold, was a maze I drew at age 5, to my aunt for $1.
- agumonkey 13y agoOr the author might have been distracted by the web instead of completing his idea.