Obj 1.02 Game Industry History

The Royal Game of Ur

~3000 BCE, oldest complete game to date. Originated in Mesopotamia. Used knucklebone dice.

Senet

~3500-3100 BCE Ancient Egypt. Another race game using sticks or bones to determine how a player moved around a board consisting of 30 spaces.

Donkey Kong (1981)

added a narrative, though simple, and formed the foundation for platform games; the first time meeting Mario, although he was originally named Jumpman

Pac Man (1980)

first game to attract a large female audience, it also introduced different levels of gameplay, power-ups, early versions of cutscenes, and the world's first game mascot

Moon Patrol (1982)

first game to use parallax scrolling, giving players the illusion of depth

Dragon's Lair (1983)

first game with film quality animation inserted into gameplay

Publishers

help developers create the game by removing the financial burden needed to create the finished product. Publishers have a voice in development decisions to maximize sales, as well as examine market trends and strategies.

Virtual Reality Gaming

immerses gamers in a completely digital environment.

Retailers

include both the brick-and-mortar stores and online stores. They are responsible for selling the product to consumers/customers.

Lunar Lander (1979)

introduced the world to vector graphics in a video game, followed shortly by Asteroids that same year

Gauntlet (1985)

introduction of multiplayer dungeon crawl gameplay

Pre-Modern Games

involved the use of commonly available objects - beans, sticks, stones, dirt/wood carving or bones as key components.

Augmented Reality

overlays digital content on the real-world environment.

Generation 2 Consoles

popularized by Atari 2600 & Magnavox Odyssey2. Showed shift to microprocessor logic and change in gameplay to more complex mechanics using A.I, improved graphics, and flip-screen formats.

Space Invaders (1978)

revolutionary in its time, leading to other popular similar shoot-em-up style gameplay such as Galaga and Galaxian

Battlezone (1980)

the basis behind the military simulator, this game featured dual joysticks in controlling a tank

Consumer

the individual who plays the game.

Customer

the individual who purchases the game

Developers

the individuals most students think about when talking about the game industry; the team or company that is responsible for creating games and the content contained within.

Ullamaliztli (Ōllamaliztli; Aztec Ballgame)

1400 BCE. Popular in Mesoamerica. Featured teams competing to place a ball through a hoop mounted sideways on a wall. Players were not allowed to use their hands to move the ball but instead bounced it off their hips or other body parts. It is believed that there was a human sacrificial component to this game.

The Mansion of Happiness

1843. Originated in America. Similar to pre-modern games, it was a race game and became the gold standard for producing future board games.

The Checkered Game of Life

1860. Focus on secular accomplishments such as getting married, going to college, getting rich.

Pachisi

1863. Originated in India. It is a race game in which players move their pieces around the board before moving into the middle to win.

The Landlord's Game

1904, published by Elizabeth Magie. Designed to illustrate social injustice of land ownership and "rental poverty". Popularized by Monopoly.

Collectible Card Games

1904. Allowed players to collect a wide variety of cards with differing abilities and statistics and create different teams with these cards.

L'Attaque

1910. Originated in France. Featured imperfect military knowledge as its core game mechanic.

Bertie the Brain

1950. First video game ever created. Built by Josef Kates. It featured an arcade style of gameplay where players tried to beat the computer at a game of tic-tac-toe with an adjustable difficulty level.

Gettysburg

1958. Became the first of several military style board games that focused on a single historical battle. Inspired Civilization series.

Computer Space

1971. First known coin operated arcade video game. Involved two rockets fighting one another while avoiding a gravitational pull to the center of the screen which signaled certain destruction.

Dungeons & Dragons

1974. Players take on the responsibility of acting out their character's moves as they are led by the dungeon master (also known as the game master in some RPGs) through a narrative style of gameplay.

Golden Age of Arcades

1978-1986. Period of time where arcades flourished and games could experience a wide variety of technological advancements. Experimentation led to new game ideas.

Rise of PC Gaming

1990s- huge surge in PC gaming, PC provided gamers with better graphics and higher gameplay quality.

Settlers of Catan

1995. Players build roads and establish settlements while trying to reach a specific point goal before their opponents.

Carcassonne

2000. A German game that revolves around building the board while playing. The game ends and points are totalled when the last piece has been played.

Tafl

400 CE. A family of Germanic and Celtic board games. These games featured uneven forces for each player, with one trying to escape and the other trying to capture.

Distributors

Are responsible for supplying the game to the market. They are involved in assisting with advertising and promotion of the game. Distribution can refer to brick-and-mortar storefronts, Internet distribution, and downloadable content without the use of any physical media.

Eurogames (German style games)

Broad class of games that can be categorized by a few common features including: Simple rules, A focus on social play over domination, Short play time, Lack of player elimination, Designed for an international audience with a focus on graphics over words, Use of innovative game mechanics, Differing replay features

Magnavox Odyssey

Considered the FIRST video game console ever. Featured several different games that players could enjoy, such as Tennis, Table Tennis, Hockey, and Basketball.

Tennis for Two

Created using an oscilloscope in 1958 by William Higinbotham, sparked the Pong industry when it inspired Ralph Baer to create the first game console that could use a television for gaming.

Generations 4 - 6 Consoles

Drastic improvements in gameplay quality/visuals and audio. Improved storage capacity and access speed allowed for higher quality games to be created. Included multi-button controllers. Gen 6 experimentation with online gaming and later interactive competition. These generations were dominated by consoles such as the SEGA Genesis (Gen 4), Sony Playstation and N64 (Gen 5), and the Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox (Gen 6).

Electronic & Video Games

Evolution from modern games; used electronic resources to create an experience/game.

Modern Games

In the 19th century, modern games rose in popularity, especially board games. The popularity spike was due to production improvements, lower cost to consumers, and an increase in the amount of leisure time people experienced as a result of changes in labor practices.

Generation 7 Consoles through Today

Introduction to motion detection infrared (IR) tracking technologies and wireless controllers. More focus on making the gameplay experience more interesting rather than the game itself. Began to be distributed across the internet.

Generation 3 Consoles

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) singlehandedly rejuvenated the console gaming industry. Improved graphics, d-pad controller, & multi-directional scrolling gameplay

The Brown Box

Originally featured only two dots that chased each other around the screen, but it led to the first generation of home consoles: the Magnavox Odyssey.

Playing Cards

Originated in China. Originally a form of paper-like Dominoes that could be shuffled and dealt out to players. Because of their ease of transportation and the large variety of games one could play with them, the popularity of card games spread quickly across the globe. Each time cards moved to a new location, they were individualized to match the local culture

Weiqi (Go)

Originated in China. Strategy game where players place pieces on the board to surround their opponents pieces (each side representing the different players) to flip them in an attempt to control the majority of the playing board.

Moksha Patam (Snakes and Ladders)

Originated in India. Has a moral basis where players move from one end of the board using virtues, represented as ladders, to advance faster and vices, represented as snakes, to knock players backwards and lowering the advantage of winning.

Shatranj

Originating in ancient Persia, a strategy game where players attempted to capture the most valued piece of their opponent - the shah. Forefather of Chess

Mancala

Popular in Africa. This family of games is often referred to as "sowing" games. Players moved seeds around the board in an attempt to gather more pieces than their opponent by moving them off the opposite side.

Patolli

Popular in Mesoamerican Cultures. This popular race game had players moving pieces around an oval board to reach the end before their opponent. It also included an important gambling aspect.