As some of you know I’m highly interested in getting into video game development. I think exposure is the best form of education. What I mean is that I am to establish a solid timeline of iconic and pivotal games that really flesh out the invention and further divergence of what video games are.
I’m talking purely commercial releases.
What is the first platform and first favorite game you can recall?
I had a super nintendo with Super Mario World… though Chrono Trigger wins out by far as the best game on the console in my mind.
I want to set up a highly interactive means of watching the industry expand and really use is as a platform to get into the minds of the developers and get a sense of just where everything comes from. Who truly were the most brilliant and what did they contribute… how did they feel about video games? Theirs and everyone elses.
It’s like the old tile based RPGs… playing a couple of them has seemingly set me up on a quest to review and expand my awareness of video game nerd-dom… a lot of ■■■■ is changing so quickly in the industry I really think that having a huge amount of Retro influences will stand out as an advantage over time… while most new age games really just put a new skin job on the same experience…
First system would’ve been an atari or something similar. I played the famously bad ET on an old black and white tv. Didn’t like it, of course.
My first favorite game for consoles was sonic the hedgehog on sega genesis. I played everything up until sonic spinball, and then stopped playing sonic.
The first game I really lost my head over was monster rancher, an open ended arena sim for playstation. Since then, only open-ended games have entertained me with few exceptions. I’ve played the life out of Daggerfall, mount and blade: warband and it’s predecessors, and various other obscure games that cater to this playstyle.
Eventually I moved onto PC gaming and don’t see myself going back to consoles.
It’s funny it was sega genesis that was spawning all these thoughts in me. I was playing phantasy star.
They had a way of putting a lot more cool and dark themes into their games, where nintendo was more vibrant and kind of basic, even though it had better hardware.
Did some homework. There was a world famous company called DEC “Digital Electronics Company.” There PDP “Programmed Data Processor” line is basically what brought computers to the commercial production line level. $20,000.
Also the first electronic game was called table tennis for two and was actually a more complicated version of tennis. Though it was more of a technology demonstration… as a lot of old mainframe based games were. More projects for computer engineers and scientists to test their hardware and computer theory against.
I saw some neat stuff on the internet today.
I really like looking back at the birth of computers. A lot of really smart people just barely managing to pull of the most basic stuff… years and years… half decade projects. Just to get something that looks archaically basic going… and these were the best the world had at the time. They literally made the field as they went along.
legend of mana ps1… is by far my favorite retro game… its a side scroller action rpg… 2 player… massive amounts of side quests… rich story and i think 5 or 6 endings… if someone were to make a similar game now with the 2 player option it would sell like crazy…
I remember the crafting system was great… to get the uber weapons it required 50+ items in exact order or it would fail… was very very fun…
Tons of unlockable chars various weapon types also…
Yeah man it’s games like that which will probably inspire me most.
I’m going to start from the beginning with the text based ones and then move onto the first graphical releases and whatnot…
Really want to trick my mind into capturing the feel of them all being “new.” Then watch the progression and the development. Take notes on the uniquities and utilize them for inspiration. Sort of hallmark techniques that might breed more acceptance and placement with older gamers.
Ive been trying to give my little one some retro gaming history… but ps4 has spoiled him lol…
After your done with the text based… i would recommend kondor… kings quest 5… pagan ultima 8… and lands of lore most of which are free now on abandonware… all would be the next jump after text…
oo anvil of dawn is now freeware… came out in 95… the only rpg i have failed to defeat… on multiple attempts… the game is a gem… i cannot for the life of me figure it out…
Fallout 2 should be on there… baldurs gate… both pretty fughin ground breakung for their times… the first really decent attempts at open world with freedom of choice…
I started console gaming on nes with mario bros… my first comp game came on 8.5" floppy… you had to write the code for it yourself it just offered the template…
It was a tennis version of pong…
I played text based rpgs and have followed its wonderful evolution since… kind of an rpg junkie…
First multipler games that used seperate comps for me was warcraft…heroes of might and magic and doom…my first modern online gaming experience came from diablo 1 and starcraft…
We played pitfall and oregon trail on crapple comps when i was in grade school. Gamez have come so far…
hah @flameoftherhine thanks for the info… that will help shine some light on things. Glad to see a lot of them are freeware.
I’m in that mid week slump though… interests are a little less genuine. Once I get another break I’m going to be set up pretty well. Just did a whole lot of cleaning and rearranging things. The next time I get a break I will indeed be able to just relax and read up on everything about this.
