Fun and Games on the Computer
1
Fun and Games with the Computer: Hobbyist Game Programming in the Microcomputer Era Matthew Wells, PhD Student, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto “investigating the relationships between the hardware and software design of standardized computing systems – platforms – and the creative works produced on those platforms.” [1] PLATFORM STUDIES CRT DISPLAY AS PLATFORM o The cathode ray tube (CRT) was first implemented as an output device in 1948 for the Whirlwind mainframe at MIT. All Whirlwind displays used oscilloscope technology. o Primary source materials from the period describe the tasks these displays were intended to perform: o From a platform studies perspective, however, we can study how the display actually served as a tool for innovative work in graphics and interactivity. o Whirlwind’s programmers recognized that the displays could be leveraged for more innovative purposes. Among the most well-known display-based programs produced at the time was “Bouncing Ball”: “The display equipment now in use with [Whirlwind] is intended primarily for demonstration purposes. It gives a qualitative picture of solutions to problems set up in test storage, and it illustrates a type of output device that can be used when data are desired in graphical rather than numerical form.” [2] “Something is always happening on a TV screen, which is why people stare at them for hours. On MIT's annual Open House day, for example, people came to stare for hours at Whirlwind's CRT screen. What did they stare at? Bouncing Ball.” – Martin Graetz [4] “Charlie Adams...invented what we call the Bouncing Ball Program...You see that the bouncing ball finds a hole in the floor and the trick was to set the frequency such that you hit the hole in the floor. This kept a lot of people interested for quite a while and it was clear that man-machine interaction was here to stay.” [3] 1. Bogost, I., & N. Montfort (2007). New media as material constraint: an introduction to platform studies. Presented at the First International HASTAC Conference, April 2007. 2. Servomechanisms Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1949). Summary Report No. 20: Third Quarter, 1949. Cambridge, MA. 3. Hurst, J., M. S. Mahoney, N. H. Taylor, D. T. Ross, and R. M. Fano (1989), Retrospectives I: the early years in computer graphics at MIT, Lincoln Lab, and Harvard, in: AEM SIGGRAPH. SIGGRAPH '89. Boston, 31 July-4 August 1989. 4. Graetz, J. M. (1981). “The Origin of Spacewar.” Creative Computing, 7 (8), 56– 67. REFERENCES Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spacewar!- PDP-1-20070512.jpg
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Transcript of Fun and Games on the Computer
Fun and Games with the Computer: Hobbyist Game Programming in the Microcomputer Era
Matthew Wells, PhD Student, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
“investigating the relationships between the hardware and software design of standardized computing systems – platforms – and the creative works produced on those platforms.” [1]
PLATFORM STUDIES
CRT DISPLAY AS PLATFORM
o The cathode ray tube (CRT) was first implemented as an output device in 1948 for the Whirlwind mainframe at MIT. All Whirlwind displays used oscilloscope technology.
o Primary source materials from the period describe the tasks these displays were intended to perform:
o From a platform studies perspective, however, we can study how the display actually served as a tool for innovative work in graphics and interactivity.
o Whirlwind’s programmers recognized that the displays could be leveraged for more innovative purposes. Among the most well-known display-based programs produced at the time was “Bouncing Ball”:
o Bouncing Ball demonstrated the viability of “real-time” interactive computer programs.
“The display equipment now in use with [Whirlwind] is intended primarily for demonstration purposes. It gives a qualitative picture of solutions to problems set up in test storage, and it illustrates a type of output device that can be used when data are desired in graphical rather than numerical form.” [2]
“Something is always happening on a TV screen, which is why people stare at them for hours. On MIT's annual Open House day, for example, people came to stare for hours at Whirlwind's CRT screen. What did they stare at? Bouncing Ball.” – Martin Graetz [4]
“Charlie Adams...invented what we call the Bouncing Ball Program...You see that the bouncing ball finds a hole in the floor and the trick was to set the frequency such that you hit the hole in the floor. This kept a lot of people interested for quite a while and it was clear that man-machine interaction was here to stay.” [3]
1. Bogost, I., & N. Montfort (2007). New media as material constraint: an introduction to platform studies. Presented at the First International HASTAC Conference, April 2007.
2. Servomechanisms Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1949). Summary Report No. 20: Third Quarter, 1949. Cambridge, MA.
3. Hurst, J., M. S. Mahoney, N. H. Taylor, D. T. Ross, and R. M. Fano (1989), Retrospectives I: the early years in computer graphics at MIT, Lincoln Lab, and Harvard, in: AEM SIGGRAPH. SIGGRAPH '89. Boston, 31 July-4 August 1989.
4. Graetz, J. M. (1981). “The Origin of Spacewar.” Creative Computing, 7 (8), 56–67.
REFERENCES
Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spacewar!-PDP-1-20070512.jpg
