4 ms·

Lots of older systems had vector rather than raster displays, from what I've heard of people who used them (too young myself) they were highly interactive - you

Lots of older systems had vector rather than raster displays, from what I've heard of people who used them (too young myself) they were highly interactive - you could design movement and animation much more easily, and make the display very responsive. The major downside was not being able to do colour (easily), and not being able to cope with a lot of on-screen complexity (like the line count here not being much to shout about). Rasterised displays are a special case of vector, but with fixed bandwidth requirement.

speeder 12y ago
There was a game console for vector games, named Vectrex. The games that ran on it were really interesting. Many modern games use the now high-resolution of raster displays to imitate Vectrex-style graphics. http://www.binaryzoo.com/games/echoesplus/echoesplus_4.png http://www.binaryzoo.com/games/echoesplus/echoesplus_4.png Note that the corners between straight lines are brighter, it is because on Vectrex the way to control line brightness was to draw it over itself, also line crossings were brighter too. Important to mention that many vector displays could NOT make curved lines though.
- tomswartz07 12y ago
  One of my favorite vector games was Tempest. Vector graphics were some of my favorite, even growing up during the NES/Sega era.
- leoc 12y ago
  Several of the famous commercial arcade cabinets were vector too, including Asteroids, Battlezone and (as tomswartz07 mentioned) Tempest.
  - icelancer 12y ago
    Don't forget the original Star Wars cabinet! http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/50arcadecabinets/star-wars-arcade.gif http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/50arcadecabinets/star-war...
- porsupah 12y ago
  Of possible interest to HN readers is that the system and all the official games are public domain: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3117/a_history_of_gaming_platforms_the_.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3117/a_history_of_gami... "After product rights reverted back to Smith Engineering, an attempt was made in the late 1980s to resurrect the Vectrex as a handheld. Unfortunately, the pending introduction of Nintendo's GameBoy in 1989 put a practical stop to such plans once and for all. In the mid-1990s, Jay Smith generously placed the entire Vectrex product line into the public domain, opening up legal, not-for-profit distribution." Consequently, it's well supported by emulators.
commandar 12y ago
There was an early home gaming system called the Vectrex that was based entirely around this. They got around the lack of color with clear plastic screen overlays. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijc6afTifqI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijc6afTifqI We had one when I was growing up as a kid. It was a pretty cool little machine.

speeder 12y ago

There was a game console for vector games, named Vectrex. The games that ran on it were really interesting. Many modern games use the now high-resolution of raster displays to imitate Vectrex-style graphics. http://www.binaryzoo.com/games/echoesplus/echoesplus_4.png http://www.binaryzoo.com/games/echoesplus/echoesplus_4.png Note that the corners between straight lines are brighter, it is because on Vectrex the way to control line brightness was to draw it over itself, also line crossings were brighter too. Important to mention that many vector displays could NOT make curved lines though.

tomswartz07 12y ago
One of my favorite vector games was Tempest. Vector graphics were some of my favorite, even growing up during the NES/Sega era.
leoc 12y ago
Several of the famous commercial arcade cabinets were vector too, including Asteroids, Battlezone and (as tomswartz07 mentioned) Tempest.
- icelancer 12y ago
  Don't forget the original Star Wars cabinet! http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/50arcadecabinets/star-wars-arcade.gif http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/50arcadecabinets/star-war...
porsupah 12y ago
Of possible interest to HN readers is that the system and all the official games are public domain: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3117/a_history_of_gaming_platforms_the_.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3117/a_history_of_gami... "After product rights reverted back to Smith Engineering, an attempt was made in the late 1980s to resurrect the Vectrex as a handheld. Unfortunately, the pending introduction of Nintendo's GameBoy in 1989 put a practical stop to such plans once and for all. In the mid-1990s, Jay Smith generously placed the entire Vectrex product line into the public domain, opening up legal, not-for-profit distribution." Consequently, it's well supported by emulators.

commandar 12y ago

There was an early home gaming system called the Vectrex that was based entirely around this. They got around the lack of color with clear plastic screen overlays. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijc6afTifqI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijc6afTifqI We had one when I was growing up as a kid. It was a pretty cool little machine.