[stella] OT: classic status

Subject: [stella] OT: classic status
From: Glenn Saunders <krishna@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 15:38:02 -0700 (PDT)
On Thu, 21 May 1998, Ruffin Bailey wrote:
> Is Oystron a 
> classic and why?  What defines a classic and how is that missing (other 
> than age) from today's games?

Today's games are "spectator experiences" like Titanic or Godzilla with a
beginning, a middle, and an end.  They are meant to be "beaten" and
discarded, disposable, unreplayable.

The older games were more like sporting experiences, where hand-eye
coordination and quick-thinking strategy was key.  The worlds were simple,
abstract, and randomized, constantly challenging.

Pitfall sold 7 million copies.  Back then games sold consistently over
periods of years due to their timeless gameplay.  Today games have a shelf
life of a few months before they reach the bargain bins as new "better
mousetraps" or sequels displace them.

Most of today's game programmers do not even know how to write a decent
hand-eye game, at least not without littering it with powerups which
destroys game balance most of the time.  Even if they do know how, they
just don't want to write that sort of game.  They have to outdo eachother
with fancier artwork and production values to the point where you are
really watching more of a movie than playing a game, in an experience that
is far too linear and predictable.

This is even true of games which purport to be different every time you
play them like Westwood Studio's Bladerunner (the hype didn't pan out in
my experience).

I'm not just pontificating, as these were sentiments voiced to me by the
classic programmers themselves.

The industry has changed a lot in the last 10-15 years.  The games that we
all recognize as being "classic" on the 2600 were created in a
freewheeling and experimental atmosphere that no longer exists. 

The success of Oystron represents a willingness on the part of Piero to
recapture the spirit of pre-crash game programming, and to adopt a similar
cooperative development cycle that was used at Activision. 

By writing for the 2600 it gives a programmer a license to create a game
in this style whereas if he wrote a game like that for the PC people would
be crying "why isn't it 3D" or "where are the powerups" or "where are the
bosses" or "where are the 24-bit backgrounds??".




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