From cassette tapes to blocky graphics, modern computing has taken away some things we really rather miss…
This articles comes courtesy ofDen of Geek UK.
Were you a Spectrum owner?
Did colour clash rule your life?
Did you experience tape load errors, and did you ever poke when you meant to peak?
Note that this article might make Amstrad owners feel like theyre being made fun of.
Its okay, theyre used to it.
Loading games off tape
Why we miss it:Ah, soothing…
In the 1980s, cassette tape was the most common format for games distribution on home computers.
The main downside of the tape medium was that it was slow.
If you were lucky, you could load a game in about five minutes.
Worse case, you could be looking at fifteen minutes before you could start playing.
This required a bit of planning.
Ha, ha were joking about that last one.
It got worse: one tape error and youd have to start again from scratch.
This is now called dubstep and young people dance to it in clubs.
First time installs on modern systems often eclipse those of typical loading times on tape-based systems.
The originalSpace Invaders, released in 1978, is actually a black and white game.
By the time home computing went mainstream, color graphics were a minimum expectation.
However, lots of colors on screen meant great demands on the memory and CPU.
Again, memory and CPU were a limiting factor here.
As with all aspects of the early era of home computing, the limitations fostered creativity.
At the same time, the player would usually have to use a bit of imagination.
In an interview, one designer was complimented for his commitment to ethnic diversity in his game.
Nowadays, modern games sometimes evoke the style of so-called pixel art for the nostalgic effect.
High scores and extra lives
Why we miss it:Simpler times.
Back in the early days, computer games were still in the process of being invented.
In addition, the hardware itself placed limitations on what the game could consist of.
Of course, the player needed some sort of mechanism to determine their progress through the game.
Destroy an entire wave and youd go to the next level.
Arcade units typically allowed you to enter a three-letter moniker by using the joystick.
You could put words like BUM in if you were feeling in the mood for wry, classy humor.
Its debatable whether life was simpler back then, but the first generation of games typically were.
Playground rivalry
Why we miss it:Friendly combat.
My one is better, youd say.
No, mine is better, the other boy would reply.
Fair enough, to outsiders, it doesnt sound that good, but it was.
Amstrad owners, well…
They were nice people, generally.
By the next generation, the Commodore Amiga was the king of the playground.
There was another group: the console kids.
Unless it didnt work.
Then, you could try… blowing on it!
And it usually worked after that.
Back then, there were a lot of systems and a lot of exclusives.
There was an aspect of unfairness to playground computer rivalries.
Nine times out of ten, the parents did the paying.
Credit where its due, a few kids did just that.
There were various types of computer clubs.
School ones, afterschool or lunchtime, were surprisingly good.
Often youd get a chance to mess around with expensive gear that you didnt have at home.
There were also privately run clubs in most towns.
In the very early days, these would be concerned with computing in general.
Later, when computers were more common, the clubs were typically defined by a brand of computer.
Whatever the setting, getting together with some like-minded people to discuss a common interest was golden.
The sounds
Why we miss it:Always something new to amaze our ears.
Early home computers like the original ZX Spectrum could only make a beeping sound of variable pitch.
This led to beautiful, complex game music that is highly evocative of the era.
Of course, sound was meant for laser blasts, explosions, and revving engines as well as music.
These days, theres quite a scene around so-called chip music.
Learning to program
Why we miss it:A rewarding activity that taught us a lot.
10 PRINT DEN OF GEEK IS COOL!
;20 GOTO 10
jot down that into an old computer.
Then pop in RUN.
What we have above is an example of a small program listing.
Theres a serious point to all of this.
Typing in massive games listings from books and magazines was often part of the hobby back in the day.
You might even tell yourself that you were getting a free game in return for a bit of effort.
Youd learn a lot about programming in the process.
In fact, that is how many professional programmers got started.
Amazing, when you think about it.
Attribute clash
Why we miss it:Because its a cute little limitation.
Many early computers used an attribute system to control the use of color on the screen.
The ZX Spectrum had the most famous example of this, where it was affectionately known as color clash.
It gave a very colorful display but with some limitations.
Lets say youve got a guy on screen, and hes red.
Things get worse they were both standing next to something that was blue.
Welcome to the wonderful world of color clash.
The Amstrad CPC was a good, successful machine.
Great for screenshots, not so great for actually playing.
Playground piracy
Why we miss it:Dont miss this one so much.
Piracy was a big part of the computer gaming scene in the 1980s and 1990s.
Software publishers fought back by implementing copy protection schemes on disks and tapes.
The demo scene
Why we miss it:It amused and sometimes amazed us.
Serious applications allowed you to create things, games made you do things, and demos didnt do anything.
The Amiga Boing Ball, created during the 1984 CES show, is a famous example of a demo.
The demos would be traded, often physically, via the post and also via BBS systems.
Memory limitations
Why we miss it:It fostered creativity and was something to be overcome.
The Sinclair ZX81 was released with 1K of memory, or 1024 bytes.
Thats not bad, if you think about it.
Imagine adding together 500 of those numbers in your head.
Well, in its defence, the humble ZX81 could do that almost instantly.
Rather than storing the game world, a formula was used to generate it as required.
Youll recognize the technique in modern games likeMinecraft.
There came a time when 1K, 16K, or even 48K of RAM wasnt enough.
youll proclaim to that young person, who will try not to look embarrassed by your mad ranting.
Buying the wrong computer
Why we miss it:All part of the game.
Released in 1984, the Sinclair QL is a good example of this problem.
The Commodore 16 was a cut price alternative to the Commodore 64 that quickly fizzled into obscurity.
The 16-bit era
Why we miss it:The first really big upgrade of the classic era.
Early home computers were based on 8-bit technology.
For one thing, this meant that they could only handle numbers between 0-255.
In contrast to consoles and arcade machines, the appeal of home computers was never solely as games machines.
Creative digital applications came into their own with the arrival of the 16-bit era.
16-bit computers offered facilities that rivaled those of professional workstations in the creative arts.
Early 3D
Why we miss it:Our first look into a virtual world.
Some of these attempts were examples of whats called pseudo 3D.
That is, 2D graphics that tried to give a sense of perspective to the proceedings.
This is called isometric perspective and often looked good, but the viewing angle is always fixed.
Despite the resourcefulness of the programmers of that era, severe compromises had to be made.
To a kid whose first system was an Xbox, these efforts are difficult to decipher.
At the time, it was pretty amazing.
However, on 8-bit machines, frame rates would never reach double figures.
The 16-bit era made color and solid 3D with a decent frame rate a reality on home systems.
As the systems improved in power, the 3D graphics continued to increase in complexity.
It was at this point that the entire industry moved over to 3D rendering.
This seriously hurt Sega in the long run.
Some early games only had basic graphics, but some games had no graphics at all.
The first text adventure,Colossal Cave Adventure, was released in 1976 for the PDP-10 mainframe.
A large and complicated game, it was inspired by the programmers real-life experiences of exploring cave systems.
The first adventure games for home systems kept up these traditions, often offering a large gameworld.
GO NORTH you would bang out.
YOU HAVE BEEN KILLED BY GIANT SPIDERS the computer would reply.
For some reason, adventure gamers liked things hardcore.
As time went on, more and more, graphics dominated the gameplay.
By the middle of the 1990s, the text adventure itself was pretty much dead as a commercial entity.
Some early magazines were subscription only and produced on a low budget by enthusiasts.
The magazines that were published could be divided into the platform specific ones and those that were multi-format.
A further division could be made between the tone of the magazine, serious or games oriented.
Later, the tapes gave way to floppy disks, and later still, CD ROMs.
Another concept of relevance is community.
They still exist, in fewer numbers, but its secondary to the internet for most people.
Getting a modem
Why we miss it:Our first taste of being connected to the world.
But what were these computers, you may ask?
These facilities included file upload/downloads, discussion forums, news pages, and a throw in of email.
This might sound like an early version of the internet, and thats what it was.
There was also an underground feel to a lot of what was going on.
One BBS might specialize in adult content and contacts.
Gradually, the internet took over in popularity, and the majority of BBSes closed down.
One advantage of a home computer over a console is that it could be upgraded.
The mouse is another ubiquitous gadget that was once a luxury.
Disk drives were a marvellous upgrade, if you could afford one.
What a tape drive could transfer in minutes, a floppy disk drive could accomplish in mere seconds.
It was the dial-up to broadband upgrade of that era.
Once you got an upgrade home, you were faced with the problem of where to plug it in.
Old controllers
Why we miss it:They were weird and wacky, and generally, simple.
Some of the early controllers used a combination of switches and dials.
On the home computer front, before long the joystick soon started to dominate.
Enter the d-pad controller of consoles like the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Mega Drive.
Whats not to like?
Lately, theres been talk of people buying into a system just to get the latestZeldagame.
Oh, and to get the latestZeldagame, too.
For a while, in the classic era, platformers were the headline platform sellers.
The character of Mario had gradually risen to fame.
He was, first, the protagonist in early arcade platform gameDonkey Kong.
It even featured the little fellas that you jump on top of to kill without actually killing.
In fact, many home computer platformers were considered to be arcade adventures for that reason.
Ultimately, as with most gaming, platformers transitioned from their 2D side-on roots to the world of 3D.
The end of the era
Why we miss it:A bittersweet farewell that led to other things.
In the early days, we were amazed to see a few colored blobs flitting around the screen.
A smile would come over our faces when wed experience something genuinely new.
We were the first generation that had seen these amazing new things.
Yup, we surmised, computers are going to take off.
One thing that computers are certain to do is to continue to improve.
After that first wave of machines and concepts, things seemed to die down a bit, though.
Are we genuinely surprised by anything a new one does?
You move on, but you never fully get over your first love.
And weve not run out of computer history yet.
What we are living through at the moment is still the primitive, early stage of computing.
The most exciting chapter of all, my geeky friends?
