{"id":1732,"date":"2015-08-17T13:14:43","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T13:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/?p=1732"},"modified":"2023-01-15T08:11:16","modified_gmt":"2023-01-15T08:11:16","slug":"marking-30-years-in-video-game-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mertboru.com\/?p=1732","title":{"rendered":"Marking 30 Years in Video Game Development"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Cover Photo: Mert B\u00f6r\u00fc, December 1986)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Developing video games is a way of life for me.<\/span> The day I saw River Raid<\/a> at a local arcade saloon, I knew I was going to spend rest of my life PUSH<\/strong>ing and POP<\/strong>ing pixels.<\/p>\n

If you have ever wondered how\u00a0people used to develop games during the 80s,\u00a0please keep on reading this article. I am proud to present you\u00a0Les M\u00e9moires of a<\/em><\/strong> . . . [ehem<\/em>] . . . [cough!<\/em>]\u00a0 – \u00a0OK, I admit it. As far as 3 decades of game development is concerned, “dinosaur”<\/em> will be the most appropriate word \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Retro is in the air!<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s quite easy to bump into retro video gaming<\/strong><\/em> nowadays. Thanks to the current\u00a0trend, I have noticed several books, articles and interviews that my former\u00a0colleagues showed up. I am really very happy to see that researchers finally started shedding some light\u00a0on the history of video game development. You can read\u00a0and learn\u00a0a lot about\u00a0who the early game developers were, how they started writing games, which company they worked for, how much money they earned, and even where\u00a0they used to hang around…<\/p>\n

With respect to\u00a0recently published materials,\u00a0I have different<\/em><\/span> things to tell you. Humbly being\u00a0a part of the history both\u00a0as a gamer and a developer,\u00a0I have witnessed the glory and gore of game development scene in UK. Without\u00a0falling into the trap of telling clich\u00e9<\/em> technobabble that readers (you) would like to hear, I will assess pluses and minuses of the\u00a0industry from a very personal<\/strong> point of view.\u00a0I’ll concentrate on the essential elements of game development workflow<\/strong> from a retro perspective, and try to give specific examples by\u00a0showing you original\u00a0works (including both released and previously unreleased materials) that I produced almost 3 decades ago.<\/p>\n

Through exposing my personal workflow, exclusive tips & tricks, and particular game development assets,\u00a0you’ll hopefully get a glimpse of what it meant to be a game developer\u00a0in those days, and notice that some things never change even after\u00a0so many years\u00a0of technological evolution.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

PART I<\/h2>\n

“Game Design”<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Out of nothing\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

To be honest,\u00a0game design\u00a0was the most underrated aspect of video game development during the early 80s.\u00a0It was the golden age of coding wizardry<\/strong>. In order to come up with new game ideas, developers had to\u00a0concentrate on\u00a0squeezing each and every bit of\u00a0CPU performance by using\u00a0clever programming tricks. It was a time-consuming process full of trial and errors. Due to limited time and resources, small development teams\/companies were naturally more interested in programming, rather than game design. Considering the circumstances,\u00a0lack of interest in game design was quite acceptable for such an immature industry.<\/p>\n

Well-managed\u00a0video game developers\/publishers with good cash flow\/sales ratio,\u00a0like\u00a0Ultimate<\/a>, Elite<\/a> and Ocean<\/a> (inc. Imagine<\/a>), were the true pioneers of\u00a0artwork oriented game design workflow. These companies raised the bar for the entire industry by\u00a0investing<\/strong> in artwork design.\u00a0Title screens, menu frames, character designs, level maps and\u00a0various technical\u00a0sketches became a part of the production pipeline. These companies proved that spending time\/money in game design had more things to offer in return,\u00a0in addition\u00a0to multiplied profits;<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 Well defined story, characters and puzzles<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 Error-proof production chain<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 Cost-effective workflow<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 Reusable artwork for advertising & promotion<\/p>\n

Regarding the efforts mentioned above,\u00a0I\u00a0literally witnessed the\u00a0birth of game design in 1985. As a freelancer<\/a>\u00a0working for some of the best game development companies in UK, I\u00a0had the chance of\u00a0being a part of “the change”<\/em>. It was inevitable,\u00a0and somehow very slow. It almost took a few years for the contractors to get rid of asking for quick and dirty jobs. At the end of the transition period, in-house expectations were higher than average. In order to serve and survive, I was forced to sharpen my skills, and supposed to\u00a0deliver more planned<\/strong>, precise<\/strong> and polished<\/strong> works. In terms of self improvement, it was a turning point in my life!<\/p>\n

\n

“For 16-bit game development, game design was more than essential.”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In 1987, the\u00a0trial and error days of game development were gone. As we shifted from bedroom coding sessions to\u00a0collaborative teamwork meetings, we were also making a\u00a0transition from 8-bit to 16-bit. The\u00a0release of\u00a0Amiga 500<\/a> and Atari ST<\/a> heralded more complex computer architectures, offering faster CPUs, larger RAMs, and custom chips\u00a0dedicated to specific tasks. In order to develop better<\/strong> games, we had to take advantage of these\u00a0custom components. At that point, we realized that programming such complex devices required\u00a0a more systematic approach, which\u00a0emphasized the necessity of proper game design and documentation. For 16-bit game development, game design was more than essential.<\/p>\n

Simple, but effective!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We used to design games using conventional tools; Pen & Paper. Until modern methods emerged during\u00a0the mid 90s, 2D\/3D computer aided design was not<\/em><\/span> a part of game design process at all. Everything was\u00a0designed manually.<\/p>\n

Due to homebrew\u00a0spirit of early game development era,\u00a0teams were limited with only\u00a02-3 developers, excluding hired musicians. As a result of the “minimalist”<\/em> human resource capacity, either the programmer or one of the\u00a0graphic artists had to\u00a0take the responsibility\u00a0of game design process. Most of the time, the guy with adequate artwork skills\u00a0was the best candidate for the job.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0the heyday of\u00a08\/16-bit game development, I\u00a0served mostly<\/em> as\u00a0an Assembly Language<\/a> programmer. Besides programming, I used to\u00a0do game design as well,\u00a0thanks to my less than average technical drawings skills. It was better than nothing, actually. As a multidisciplinary game developer, I had the luxury of conceptualizing a scene in my mind, then sketching it on a piece of paper, and\u00a0finally coding it.\u00a0Regarding productivity and efficiency, it was an uninterrupted workflow. – Frankly speaking, being a “one-man-army”<\/em>\u00a0has always been fruitful in terms of creativity, as well as payment.<\/p>\n

Pen & Paper<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let’s have a look at how we used to design games using pen & paper only. Here\u00a0comes\u00a0some\u00a0of my\u00a0drawings\u00a0from the late 80s…<\/p>\n

These are the\u00a0sketches\u00a0of a physics puzzle for an unreleased Amiga action adventure game that never saw the light of day. It was\u00a0Spring 1989<\/strong>, when\u00a0Elite<\/a> asked me to design & code\u00a0a\u00a0puzzle mechanism similar to the one in the opening scene of “Raiders of the Lost Ark”<\/a><\/em> movie.\u00a0Nothing original in terms of puzzle design, actually. In order to overcome the lack of originality, I decided to concentrate on ‘gameplay mechanics’<\/strong>,<\/em> and that is\u00a0simply how I sketched the blueprints below.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\" Sketch: “Corridor Puzzle”<\/span> (1989)<\/strong> – A pseudo 3D representation of temple corridor, with moving wall\/floor stones in focus.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\" Sketch “Puzzle Detail”<\/span> (1989)<\/strong> – A 2D representation of the moving floor stone. Upper graph\u00a0indicates the idle position, and the lower\u00a0one shows what happens when you step on it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\" Sketch “Puzzle Overview”<\/span> (1989)<\/strong> – The big picture, including Sketch 2. Stepping on the floor stone triggers a huge rolling stone ball.<\/p>\n

By today’s standards, these drawings obviously look childish<\/strong><\/em>. However, considering lack of proper game design documentation routine of the 80s, the amount of detail given to such a simple puzzle is quite high. Appraising the mid\/late 80s as a transition period for game development industry – (for leaving egocentric habits of homebrew 8-bit game development period behind, and moving on to team based corporate 16-bit projects) –<\/em> these sketches clearly illustrate the importance that Elite had given to quality & professionalism in game design process during that time.<\/p>\n

Since this was the\u00a0preview<\/em> of the design, I kept the rough copies in Turkish for myself, and delivered the\u00a0final version in English to Elite. I no longer have the latest version. – The game was cancelled due to budget shortfall. Something so natural in those days. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Game design goes hand in hand with artwork design. Two different disciplines so close, so related to each other. As a game designer, it was inevitable for me to do artwork as well…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

PART II<\/h2>\n

“Artwork”<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back to the 8-bit days<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the early 80s, I used to draw on semi-transparent graph papers<\/a> using colour pencils. Working on these glossy, oily and super-smooth graph papers had many advantages.<\/span><\/p>\n

Assuming each tiny box on the graph paper is a pixel<\/a>, the workflow was quite creative and self-intuitive. Contrary to sitting in front of a TV set and trying to a paint a pixel on a blurry screen while squeezing my eyes<\/span>,<\/span> – (yep, we had no monitors in those days, computers were connected to regular TV sets!) –<\/em>\u00a0drawing on a piece paper was more natural for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to semi-transparency<\/em> of graph papers, it was very easy to copy the image underneath. If the original image had the same size of a graph paper, it was super easy. If not, the original image had to be scaled to graph paper size. As I had no luxury of using a xerox machine in the early 80s, I had to do it manually. It was a painstaking process.<\/p>\n

I can clearly recall the day when my dad advised me to use an ancient<\/span> photography technique…\u00a0As I was drawing faint reference lines on the original image and manually scaling the image on to the graph paper, he looked at me and said; “Why don’t you place the original image at a distance where you can look at it through the graph paper?”<\/em> – He helped me building 2 wooden frames with adjustable paper clippers on them, and it worked like a charm! I used this technique for most of the artwork I did for Ocean<\/a> and Coktel Vision<\/a>. A few years later, I had a clear conception of the principle; it was camera obscura<\/a> \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The downside of using graph papers was time consuming paper-to-computer transfer process. I had to paint each pixel one by one. As you can imagine, counting painted boxes on a piece of graph paper and painting the same amount pixels on to the screen of a humble Sinclair ZX Spectrum<\/a>\u00a0was quite tough.<\/p>\n

This time consuming process was\u00a0quite simplified when I switched to an attribute (colour) clash<\/a> free Amstrad CPC 464<\/a>. I wrote a very simple tool capable of moving a crosshair (cursor) on screen using cursor keys<\/strong>, painting a pixel by pressing Space<\/strong>, and switching to the next colour by pressing Enter<\/strong>. – Simple, but effective.<\/p>\n

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”<\/em> – (Confucius)<\/span><\/p>\n

Worth a thousand words<\/strong><\/p>\n

In order to capture the essence of the era, let’s have a look at some of my 8-bit sketches\u00a0from the mid 80s.<\/p>\n

All sketches are drawn on graph papers. In order to simplify the copy\/scale method that I mentioned above, I have used black<\/strong> for outlines and various colours\u00a0as fillers.\u00a0It\u00a0was –and still is<\/em>–\u00a0a very common technique used\u00a0by anime<\/a> artists.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\" \u00a0Sketch: “Title Screen Frame”<\/span> (1985)<\/strong> – Outsourcing generic artwork to freelancers was a time\/cost effective method for most game development companies. This is\u00a0one of my “template”<\/em> Sinclair ZX Spectrum title screen\/menu frames that I designed for Ocean<\/a>.\u00a0I did it in a modular way, so\u00a0that\u00a0it\u00a0can be precisely divided into 4 quadrants.\u00a0Without saving the whole image, it can be\u00a0easily regenerated from a single quadrant by flipping and copying in both x\/y axis. A good example of memory efficient menu frame design.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\" \u00a0Sketch: “Top Gun”<\/span> (1986)<\/strong> – The very first sketch of Top Gun<\/em> logo and title screen.\u00a0It\u00a0was used as is\u00a0on Ocean’s “Top Gun”<\/em><\/a> release for Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. Below the logo, you can clearly see how I started sketching Tom Cruise using\u00a0a very limited number of colour pencils for better Amstrad colour palette compatibility.\u00a0The final version illustrating the famous Kelly McGillis and Tom Cruise pose\u00a0was hand-delivered to Ocean. Greetings to Mr. Ronnie Fowles for his great multicolour Mode 0 conversion on Amstrad CPC loader screen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\" \u00a0Sketch: “Wec Le Mans”<\/span> (1986)<\/strong> – Speaking of car racing games, switching to a new colour palette and changing the billboards along the highway was a proven method for creating “new level”<\/em> illusion! In order to\u00a0simplify the process of developing rapid level\/scene variations, I designed many generic\u00a0billboards similar to this one, including a\u00a04 colour Ocean billboard later used in “Wec Le Mans”<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0For conversion requirements, I was asked to design\u00a0the\u00a0Pepsi<\/em> billboard to be compatible with both Sinclair ZX Spectrum and\u00a0Amstrad CPC. – Apologies for the bad condition of this sketch. I am afraid, some parts of\u00a0it has been eaten by Kiti<\/em>, my guinea pig<\/a>\u00a0\ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\" \u00a0Sketch: “Lucky Luke”<\/span> (1986)<\/strong> – This is the Amstrad\u00a0CPC title screen that I designed for “Lucky Luke – Nitroglycerine”<\/em><\/a>. Halfway through the development schedule,\u00a0Coktel Vision<\/a> decided to convert the game from Mode 1 to Mode 0. Due to time constraints, I preferred sketching 3 more Lucky Luke images from scratch, instead of converting this one. All published, except this one.<\/p>\n

Beyond 8-bit<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I switched from 8-bit to 16-bit, using Deluxe Paint<\/a> on an\u00a0Amiga<\/a> was a larger-than-life experience; something similar to driving a Rolls Royce maybe. Plenty of colours, crop tools, adjustable brush sizes, cycling colours, and no graph papers. More than a dream!<\/p>\n

Today,\u00a0I have the luxury of using a colour calibrated multi-touch Wacom Cintiq tablet. It is absolutely a “what you see\/draw is what you get”<\/em> experience. Truly way beyond painting pixels on a 4 MHz Amstrad CPC, but quite similar to Deluxe Paint when using it with Adobe Photoshop. – Well, at least for me.<\/p>\n

No matter what kind of equipment I use, still stick to the 8-bit spirit within me. It’s not what you’ve got, it’s how\u00a0you use it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

PART III<\/h2>\n

“Programming”<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

A subjective definition<\/strong><\/p>\n

Programming is black magic. It is the use of computational “powers”<\/em> for selfish game development purposes. By definition, more close to heresy than engineering \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>\n

Joking apart, programming is the melting pot of game development. Just like cooking, it is more than mixing ingredients. Programming amalgamates different types of assets and makes them look as “one”, so that the game will be greater than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n

First things first<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the early 80s, we used to code a proof of concept<\/a> (a working copy of game with dummy graphics) before doing anything else. Coding a working prototype was at the top of our to-do list. Even the game design phase was one step behind it. I know, it sounds bizarre today, but it was actually a way of ensuring gameplay quality and testing technical limitations at the very beginning of the project. We used to sit in front of the TV set for days, play with the proof of concept, add\/remove features, and make it more modular so that we can come up with tweakable ideas here and there. Due to technical limitations of 8-bit home computers, we had to guarantee a smooth gameplay experience right at the beginning of the project.<\/p>\n

\n

“Theory without practice is unacceptable.”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Nowadays, this is considered wrong! Regarding huge development companies releasing AAA games with budgets soaring to multiple hundreds of millions of dollars, programmers meet and argue for weeks without writing a single line of code. They don’t start coding until everything is clearly written down on the game design document. Yes, this method certainly makes sense for some projects. However, no matter how many weeks you spend for writing a game design document, if your proposal doesn’t make sense in terms of programming, I’m afraid you have a big problem. I have seen many promising projects that looked super great on paper, but didn’t work at all. Speaking of video game development, theory without practice is unacceptable.<\/p>\n

Double Trouble<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in the good old days, we used to chase two goals for achieving a great gameplay experience:<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 Fun factor<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 Playability<\/p>\n

Games with both factors maximized were considered “successful”<\/em>. If you pay attention to 8-bit classics, such as Donkey Kong<\/a>, Manic Miner<\/a>, and Knight Lore<\/a>, you’ll notice that there is something more than what you see on the screen. They’re addictive. Despite the aged chunky graphics, there is something special that makes us hooked on these games!<\/p>\n

Yes, it is the precise combination of fun<\/strong><\/em> and playability<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

“Above all, video games are meant to just be one thing: Fun for everyone.”<\/em> – (Satoru Iwata, Nintendo CEO)<\/span><\/p>\n

Even today, I stick to this formula. I try to design and produce games with these factors in mind. Sometimes, I’m criticized for making too much of these factors, which I really don’t mind at all. I know that it works all the time \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Nobody taught me how to write games. So, how am I so sure about these\u00a0two relic<\/em> success parameters?! What makes me think that this formula works even after 3 decades?<\/p>\n

Well, let me tell you the whole story then…<\/p>\n

The Age of Innocence<\/strong><\/p>\n

I started programming on a Sinclair ZX81<\/a>. I knew that I had to go beyond BASIC, and start programming in assembly language<\/a>. After realizing the fact that loading an assembler\u00a0editor to a computer with 1K of RAM was almost impossible without a memory expansion pack, I switched to Sinclair ZX Spectrum<\/a> with 48K of RAM. HiSoft Devpac<\/a> assembler was my Swiss Army knife<\/em>. I was finally able to write more larger and complex codes. After developing a few business utilities for TEPUM, the local distributor of Sinclair in Turkey, I deliberately decided to write games.<\/p>\n

Due to lack of engineering and programming books in Turkey, I started disassembling games. Through reverse engineering<\/a>, I learned that developing a great game required more than proficiency in Assembly language. I became aware of unorthodox programming methods for the sake of code size\/speed optimization, and started developing awkward solutions to\u00a0generic debugging problems, such as using a second Sinclair ZX Spectrum for instant disassembly, full memory dumping to ZX Microdrive<\/a> cartridges, and disabling ROM page for more low-level control and free space.<\/p>\n

The Power of the Dark Side<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I was very comfortable with reverse engineering games, some of my friends started asking me if I could crack<\/a> this-and-that game, and add a trainer<\/a> mode (with infinite lives) to it. It was a challenging request. I knew that it was immoral, as well as illegal, but couldn’t resist feeding my hunger for more information. Cracking speed loaders of Sinclair ZX Spectrum games\u00a0could have been an opportunity for sharpening my skills. So, I said “Yes!”.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was precisely<\/em> the\u00a0Spring of 1985\u00a0that I realized I\u00a0was developing games as a day job, and cracking\u00a0some other games\u00a0as a night job – typical Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde<\/a> case!<\/p>\n

Through cracking speed loaders of the original releases, I gathered invaluable information about low-level programming. Then, I started\u00a0implementing custom<\/strong> loaders for my cracked\u00a0ZX Spectrum releases. In order to\u00a0build a\u00a0good reputation in the warez scene<\/a>, I\u00a0wrote various less than 2K intros<\/strong>,<\/em> and embedded them into my custom loaders. These were mostly tiny technical demonstrations showing off limited capabilities of the Z80 CPU, such as real-time game logo rotators,\u00a0and silky smooth text message scrollers at 50Hz.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>
My Amstrad (left) and Amiga (right) assembly language programming notebooks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In less than a year, in addition to cracking ZX Spectrum games, I started distributing them as well. It was an opportunity\u00a0for buying and cracking more games in return. The more I cracked, the better I coded. It was a true vicious circle! The best part of this mind jogging lifestyle\u00a0was playing games. As a cracker, I had hundreds of\u00a0games in my library. Inevitably, I used to play for hours and hours. I played so many games that I started taking down notes about my gameplay experience and keeping a list of the things that I liked\/hated. In a way, it was DOs and DON’Ts of game design and development. Priceless information! – In addition to these notes, I also wrote down my reusable subroutines and generic piece of codes. A personal database, if I may say so. I still keep those notebooks for nostalgic purposes \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

[ Although keeping a notebook may sound a bit old school today, actually I still stick to doing so. Instead of working in front of the computer for many hours, I do most of the work on paper, as I sit back at a caf\u00e9 and enjoy the sun! ]<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Goodfellas…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I switched to Amstrad CPC 464, one of the first things that I did was buying a Romantic Robot Multiface II<\/a>. Regarding the extra 8K of memory on this device, it was\u00a0possible to load the dissassembler to Multiface II and get a total of 64K free memory on the computer! This was the opportunity that I was looking for since the days I had used Sinclair ZX81. As a developer, I was finally able to dedicate the whole memory to my games. So, I started using various techniques for developing better games, such as switching 16K banks, off-screen scrolling, and double buffering. Although Multiface II\u00a0was designed to be a game\u00a0copier device, I preferred using it as a debugging tool.<\/p>\n

[ Despite the general consensus, you weren’t allowed\u00a0to run\u00a0dumped copies with anyone else\u2019s machine.\u00a0Multiface II\u00a0was copy protected! ]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking of the dark side,\u00a0I kept on cracking and distributing games; this time for the Amstrad CPC scene! I wrote various checksum protected<\/em> custom loaders for my cracked Amstrad releases.\u00a0Lamers<\/a> couldn’t\u00a0crack them, naturally. They\u00a0simply tape-to-tape copied and released them as they were,\u00a0including my new intros. In a way, they spread the word for me. Through modifying Amstrad games by adding trainer<\/a> modes and embedding intros, I became so popular that consumers started asking if the game had [cracked by matahari]<\/strong> logo on the game, before buying it.\u00a0A seal of approval!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the original font that I designed for\u00a0the logo. It became more and more popular\u00a0with\u00a0each release that I cracked\u00a0and distributed, as it finally turned into my trademark. – OMG, it’s totally unleashed now <\/em>\ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

The Summer of 1988\u00a0turned out to be the peak of my underground career.\u00a0With the help of a true<\/em> friend, we dominated the whole local Amstrad CPC game distribution channel.\u00a0As a result of\u00a0this fruitful collaboration, my cracked releases were everywhere!<\/p>\n

[ Don’t worry, I’ll go into details of that period in an another article\u00a0]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

So, what the fuss?!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even after all those years, I can justify the benefits of “disassembling”<\/em>. To be honest, I wouldn’t be who I am today if I hadn’t cracked games.\u00a0Today, reverse engineering is a proven method for sharpening programming skills.\u00a0A piece of cracked code can offer more hidden gems than a technical reference book.\u00a0– Give it a try, you’ll not be disappointed.<\/p>\n

However, a game is more than bits and bytes. Developing a good game\u00a0requires more expertise than\u00a0coding subroutines and pushing pixels on to the screen. Many people can show you the technical aspects of developing games, but no one can teach you how to write a\u00a0great<\/strong> game.\u00a0I’m afraid, you have to\u00a0do it by yourself! Play as many games as you can.\u00a0Concentrate on the gameplay, feel the tension, and analyze the experience\u00a0you had. Keep a notebook, and take down notes about these analyses. Frequently, review you notes. The more you do this, the more you develop a sense of good and bad. And, that is<\/em> what I did over the years. – Oh, does that\u00a0make me a great game developer? Do I really know everything about writing GREAT games? Absolutely not!<\/p>\n

I simply know what not<\/em><\/span> to do.<\/p>\n

“To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge.”<\/em> – (Confucius)<\/span><\/p>\n

Privacy is everything<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the 80s, I was a humble programmer. With the exception of my family and\u00a0a bunch of\u00a0colleagues, nobody was aware of the things that I\u00a0had been\u00a0doing for the British game development industry. Unless necessary, I have never exhibited my talent. Even today, I still take advantage of privacy. No publicity, less headaches, more freedom \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

“The Wise Man chooses to be last, and so becomes the first of all; Denying self, he too is saved.”<\/em> – (Lao Tzu)<\/span><\/p>\n

It is also worth mentioning that, I have never been a member of a cracker\/scener group. I worked alone. Due to contradictory condition\u00a0of being both a member of the game development industry and the\u00a0warez scene, I took a vow of silence and kept things to myself.<\/p>\n

What about today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I stopped all my warez activity in 1990. Since then, I don’t do illegal stuff anymore. No more cracking, no more illegal game distribution… Period.<\/p>\n

Alas, still programming video games! I have so many things to learn, and to do. As a programmer addicted to game development, this is a never-ending journey. No time for retirement.<\/p>\n

Closing words for Programming<\/strong><\/p>\n

After 30+ years\u00a0of programming, my perspective towards coding has evolved in a very positive way. For me, programming has become more than engineering; something more close to art!<\/p>\n

In case you wonder, let me tell you why…<\/p>\n

Independent of programming languages used, programmer creates mathematical patterns<\/span><\/em> using a set of pre-defined building blocks; commands, keywords, opcodes, etc.\u00a0When\u00a0we decompose a\u00a0video game,\u00a0we can see that it\u00a0is made up of various complex patterns.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0\u00a0Composite Patterns<\/a>\u00a0– (code workflow, state machine)<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 Algebraic Patterns<\/a>\u00a0– (artificial intelligence, animation)<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 Geometric Patterns<\/a> – (level design, animation, music)<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 Behavioral Patterns<\/a> – (object oriented programming)<\/p>\n

The interesting thing is, all programmers use the same commands, keywords, opcodes, and somehow come up with unique<\/span> code patterns<\/span><\/em>. Just like poetry, literature, music, painting… you name it, where\u00a0the artist uses a limited number of elements (words, notes, strokes, etc.), and comes up with unique patterns<\/span><\/em> for expressing emotions.<\/p>\n

Khayy\u00e1m<\/a>, Wordsworth<\/a>, Pynchon<\/a>, and Hemingway<\/a> have one thing in common; they all have an understanding of life through art. What makes these people so great is, not because they are genius in mathematics, but because they are capable of expressing emotions using mathematical patterns in a way that common people<\/span> can understand and appreciate both.<\/p>\n

From my point of view,\u00a0a good game developer should be doing the same thing! – Well, if\u00a0a video game is all about creating an emotional experience through various mathematical patterns,\u00a0am I asking too much?<\/p>\n

“A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. I am interested in Mathematics only as a creative art.”<\/em> – (Godfrey Harold Hardy, mathematician, University of Cambridge)<\/span><\/p>\n

All right… ALL RIGHT!<\/p>\n

I’ll cut the crap, and go back to the 80s as promised. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

PART IV<\/h2>\n

“Audio \/ Sound FX”<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

More than Chiptune<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are thousands of webpages dedicated to chiptunes<\/a>\u00a0produced on\u00a08-bit home computers. If you are interested in retro computer music, I’m sure you have already visited some of these websites, listened to your favourite game tunes, and most probably downloaded them as well.\u00a0Catchy tunes, earth shattering C64 basses, creepy Spectrum buzzings… I think, we all\u00a0agree that 8-bit era audio was made up of 3-channel tracker music using “eerie blips-and-blops”<\/em>.<\/p>\n

– “So, 8-bit audio<\/span> simply means chiptune<\/span>, right?”<\/em><\/p>\n

– “Partly true, sir!”<\/em><\/p>\n

During the early 80s, besides simple waveform generating chips that started chiptune craze, we had sample playback<\/span> technology as well. Not mentioning the holy-mighty-worthy SID<\/a> and enormous variants of AY\/YM chips<\/a>, even the humble buzzer of Sinclair ZX Spectrum was capable of playing samples. And yet,\u00a0sample playback technology was the most underrated aspect of 8-bit audio. Yes, it wasn’t up to today’s standards for sure, but it was better than having nothing!<\/p>\n

In terms of gaming experience, it’s worth mentioning that “Ghostbusters”<\/a><\/em> (Activision), “Impossible Mission”<\/a><\/em> (Epyx),\u00a0“A View To a Kill – James Bond”<\/a><\/em> (Domark), and almost all CodeMasters releases made a real difference thanks to surprising samples embedded within them. “Robocop”<\/a><\/em> (Ocean) and “Jail Break”<\/a><\/em> (Konami) raised the bar so high that, sample playback technology justified itself being restrictively available for 128K versions of games. – Pride of an underrated technology!<\/p>\n

Under the Hood<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, how did these companies sample those <\/a>speeches? You need a piece of hardware that samples your analogue voice and converts to digital using n<\/em>-bits, right? Simple!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here comes the tricky part… Do you know any Analogue-to-Digital Converter (ADC) expansion device (similar to Cheetah Sound Sampler <\/a>released in 1986)<\/em>\u00a0for Sinclair ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64 available in 1982?<\/p>\n

I am afraid, there was no such device. – So, how did they do it?<\/p>\n

Well, most of the time, huge game development companies of the\u00a0early 8-bit era\u00a0(Imagine<\/a>, Melbourne House<\/a>) used inhouse designed proprietary hardware. These were simple Analogue-to-Digital converter boards inserted into expansion ports of 8-bit home computers. Due to complexity and immature nature, only a few number of employees were allowed to use these special devices.<\/p>\n

The\u00a02nd option was getting in contact with\u00a0ESS Technology<\/a>, a multimedia company offering electronic speech systems. It was founded in 1984. Same year, both “Ghostbusters”<\/em> (Activision) and “Impossible Mission”<\/em> (Epyx) successfully\u00a0demonstrated that Commodore 64\u00a0can actually speak, thanks to an expensive license agreement with ESS Technology.<\/p>\n

Last but not least, there was an easier –and cheaper<\/em>– way of dumping samples into an 8-bit home computer, that many people weren’t aware of… Connecting a ZX Interface 1<\/a> fitted underneath a 48K Sinclair ZX Spectrum to a professional audio sampler<\/a>\u00a0through the 9 way D type RS-232 serial port connector. – (Huh?!)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

During the early 80s, professional audio samplers were widely available in high-end music studios in UK. E-mu Emulator<\/a> (1981), Fairlight CMI<\/a> (1979) and Synclavier<\/a> (1977) were the kings of 8-bit sample era. It was quite easy to hire these VERY<\/strong><\/span> expensive devices for a few hours. All you had to do was; ask for a rendez-vous<\/i>, bring your computer to the studio, sample your speech\/music via mighty sampler, connect your computer to the serial port of that sampler, set the baud rate, dump raw 8-bit data within minutes, save it to a disk\/cassette, and pay a few \u00a3\u00a3\u00a3 for each hour you’ve been there. – Well, that was the easiest part!<\/p>\n

When you’re back home, you had to handle the task of squeezing 8-bit sample data to a much lower quality. – (You’re not going to use the whole 64K of memory for a few seconds of speech, right?)<\/em> – Depending on the number of volume envelope steps available on the sound chip, decimating the sample rate from\u00a017 kHz to 4.7 kHz, and reducing the bit depth from 8-bit to 5-bit would be OK… But how?<\/p>\n

Well, that’s the tricky part. You had to know how to downsample<\/a>, and write a piece of downsampling code in Assembly Language for the humble Z80 CPU. – (Remember, we’re in 1982. No sample editing tools available, yet.)<\/em> – And, that was simply what I used to do for pocket money during the early 80s. I was in touch with a few game development companies that would literally give an arm for that piece of code. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

“Scientia potentia est – [Knowledge is power]”<\/em> – (Sir Francis Bacon)<\/span><\/p>\n

In-Game Usage<\/strong><\/p>\n

Using samples in games wasn’t limited\u00a0to speech, for sure. It was possible to use musical instrument sounds as well; mostly drum samples. Although a few games tried to use kick (bass drum) samples on menu\/title songs, using\u00a0this trick\u00a0during gameplay was technically an expensive approach on 8-bit computers. CPU had to take care of the meticulous process. Computer was literally\u00a0halted until the playback was over. In other words, gameplay had to freeze during the sample playback. – Impractical? Well, not for “The 5th Axis”<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Loriciels) programmers! This game certainly demonstrates a\u00a0clever way of sample playback usage during gameplay.<\/p>\n

This limitation was naturally history, when multi-tasking Amiga <\/a>came up with DMA (Direct Memory Access) driven custom sound chip; Paula<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0In regards to making sound sample playback without CPU intervention possible, Amiga opened the gates of 4 channel 8-bit sample playback era. It was finally possible to play any sound\u00a0sample you\u00a0like during the gameplay, with no hiccups at all.<\/p>\n

With\u00a0the introduction of Amiga 500<\/a> in 1987, using sound samples in games became an industry standard. The days of chiptune\u00a0blips-and-blops<\/em> were gone. Game developers\u00a0became more\u00a0interested in visiting music studios and using pro-audio equipment. It was a next-gen game development era full of hunger for new tools. In other words, a new opportunity for multidisciplinary video game developers, like me.<\/p>\n

Regarding the announcement of Sound Blaster<\/a> audio cards for PCs in 1989, sample playback technology became more than essential for game development.\u00a0Thinking of the advanced specs, such as 23kHz sample playback, AdLib-compatibility, and MIDI, these were quite affordable cards. – Oh yes, I bought one!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In 1991, I decided to upgrade my modest audio tools to a higher level, for the sake of Core Design<\/a> projects that I was involved in. I sold my noisy\u00a0Sky Sound Sampler<\/strong>\u00a0that I used during the development of “Paradise Lost”<\/a><\/em>, and bought 2 brand new samplers for my Amiga:<\/p>\n