https://if50.substack.com/p/introduction
"The earliest version of
The Oregon Trail—made long before the green-tinged
ports known by subsequent generations from their school computer labs—was first
played by students in a Minnesota classroom on December 3, 1971. It's now 2021,
so the end of this year will mark the 50th anniversary of that influential
game. In the past half-century, text games have gone from being the only kind
of interactive digital game there was, to mainstream successes, to underground
indie experiments, to viral web phenomena, to word-of-mouth hits on new
generations of platforms that couldn’t even have been imagined in that 1971
winter. In the process they’ve explored countless ways that stories can be
dynamic, debuted influential creators who've gone on to success in the wider
gaming or publishing industries, and been a constant source of inspiration as
sole creators have redefined what games made of words can do, mean, and be,
over and over again.
Today, I’m excited to announce the 50 Years of Text Games project to look back
at this extraordinary body of work.
Every week in 2021, I'll be posting an in-depth look at one text-based computer
game from each year between 1971 and 2021, starting next week with
The Oregon
Trail. For each game, we’ll take a meaty deep dive into what it was like to
play in the context of its original release (on a chattering teletype, over a
dial-up modem in a prototype web browser, on a brand-new iPad) and how its
ideas influenced players and the next generation of makers. When warranted,
we’ll dig into old archives or source code to tease out how each game worked,
why it was built the way it was, and what it did that was new, interesting, or
successful. I’ve been doing extensive research throughout the past year to
prepare for this series, and uncovered so many fascinating stories. I can’t
wait to share them all with you."
Via Esther Schindler.
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
