I thought about the breakout connection...But it seems like more than just a "spin-off" of that, at least IMO. The guy definitely deserves more credit--it definitely seems like a, forgive the pun, breakthrough.
Absolutely, which is why I hedged it at the end of the Pong chapter, but, in thinking it through, I can't help but see the connection. It's almost like if there was no Breakout the logical next step to a Space Invaders might not have happened. I think a lot of game creation back then was building off one or two breakthroughs. Pong begat clones that added more paddles and balls, Breakout changed Pong into a vertical single player game, once that was changed the top-down perspective was established, which led to more profound ways to utilize the perspective and basic concepts, a la Space Invaders. Regardless, some of our theories in the book can be crazy or fun, if not necessarily 100% right... ;-)
But again, I do agree that Space Invaders was no knock-off, it was its own original creation, but certainly Breakout being there years earlier helped in the building block sense. It's like if there was no Space Invaders there would be no Galaxian/Galaga with scrolling starfield, which then led to top-down games with actual scrolling.
Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
*************************** Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
I thought about the breakout connection...But it seems like more than just a "spin-off" of that, at least IMO. The guy definitely deserves more credit--it definitely seems like a, forgive the pun, breakthrough.
Absolutely, which is why I hedged it at the end of the Pong chapter, but, in thinking it through, I can't help but see the connection. It's almost like if there was no Breakout the logical next step to a Space Invaders might not have happened. I think a lot of game creation back then was building off one or two breakthroughs. Pong begat clones that added more paddles and balls, Breakout changed Pong into a vertical single player game, once that was changed the top-down perspective was established, which led to more profound ways to utilize the perspective and basic concepts, a la Space Invaders. Regardless, some of our theories in the book can be crazy or fun, if not necessarily 100% right... ;-)
But again, I do agree that Space Invaders was no knock-off, it was its own original creation, but certainly Breakout being there years earlier helped in the building block sense. It's like if there was no Space Invaders there would be no Galaxian/Galaga with scrolling starfield, which then led to top-down games with actual scrolling.
Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.