
Japan’s ’golden coder’ making games apps aged 82 [video] - Dangeranger
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-40852480/japan-s-golden-coder-making-games-apps-aged-82
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zerr
I wonder what happened to the generations of 70s/80s/90s
arcade/NES/SNES/etc... game developers. Where are they now..

~~~
sdrothrock
A surprising number of NES/SNES developers are still employed, if not at their
original companies, at other game companies. I bet for every Shigeru Miyamoto
you hear about, there are hundreds of other 50-something programmers who are
still plugging away at games... and from what I hear, a lot of them have
refused to adapt to modern languages/approaches/IDEs, which would explain why
those particular people are not doing so well.

~~~
icebraining
_a lot of them have refused to adapt to modern languages /approaches/IDEs,
which would explain why those particular people are not doing so well._

Seems a bit shortsighted from the management's part. Retro and casual gaming
is pretty hot right now, especially on mobile. I would license a good
emulator, and then gather a good old-school team and let them make a few games
their own way. Has anything like this been tried?

~~~
dandellion
I'm pretty sure that most modern retro games are not written in assembly,
which is what they used in the 80s for consoles.

Most modern games are written using modern tools, most old developers that are
still making games successfully are those that have adapted to modern tools,
the others struggle. I think parent is referring to that.

~~~
icebraining
I get that games nowadays, even retro, are made using modern tools. My
question is whether that's absolutely required, or if you could make a modern
game using old tools.

For example, one guy ported Canabalt to the Commodore64:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yibnVB9iXfU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yibnVB9iXfU)

But instead of porting, the team would develop new games like Canabalt using
old tools, and then sell the games integrated with an emulator.

~~~
the_af
But why? There's a reason we don't use the old tools anymore.

~~~
icebraining
To take advantage of the skills and experience of the programmers mentioned in
sdrothrock's post.

~~~
the_af
I understand that. I guess I'm saying that while it _can_ be done, the
drawbacks offset the advantages. Soon there won't be any games programmers
that only want to program in assembly language anyway.

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fenomas
I don't know if the video goes into this, but she also gave a talk at a TedX
event some years ago, on digital stuff for seniors and making art in Excel.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUjXiYtOC7Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUjXiYtOC7Y)

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ksec
I notice the mouse, I really hope Apple do acknowledge they make crappy mouse.

Another thing I am wondering, what makes a company not hiring programmer at
old age when their brain are still functioning properly?

~~~
elldoubleyew
With more age usually comes more experience, and with that higher wages.
That's the canned answer.

But in this case I see your point. Many of these young CEOs just don't want
older people in their offices. They have youth as part of "their culture".
They also generally assume that older workers will be slower to adapt and less
welcoming of a more volatile work environment; both frequent traits of many
tech companies.

~~~
tonyedgecombe
>>With more age usually comes more experience, and with that higher wages.

I'm not sure that is true, if you can't get a job because you are old then
your wage is zero.

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cyanexttuesday
Wow, I hope I'm still productive at that age.

~~~
copperx
Though luck. In Americans, coding powers disappear at 40. It's a known fact.

~~~
chj
Knuth is still writing code this year and he's now 79.

[http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/programs.html](http://www-cs-
faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/programs.html)

~~~
droidist2
True! I think parent was being sarcastic though.

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Grustaf
Absolutely amazing, well done!

But shouldn't it be "silver coder"?

~~~
Cursuviam
Both rare metals are good for this case.

[https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/golden%20years](https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/golden%20years)

~~~
wst_
I thought so far that silver is chosen because of a hair changing color with
age.

~~~
Broken_Hippo
I'm of the understanding that you hit silver first, then you are golden. It is
the same for anniversaries, isn't it? 25 years of marriage is silver and 50 is
gold?

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Grustaf
I don't think there is any connection with silver and golden anniversaries.

Referring to old people with "silver" probably refers to the hair, "golden
years" I guess is because of relaxing in retirement and the wisdom of old age.

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jkw
can someone list the games she's made? would love to try them out!

~~~
kawera
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hinadan/id1199778491?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hinadan/id1199778491?mt=8)

~~~
droidist2
Her website is interesting looking. It reminds me of the sites I used to make
when I first learned to code HTML from scratch.

[http://marchan.travel.coocan.jp](http://marchan.travel.coocan.jp)

~~~
aikinai
That probably has more to do with her nationality than her age. Many Japanese
websites still look like this, in particular for small businesses.

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sergiotapia
She's so inspiring! I wonder if actually programming regularly kept her sharp
mentally.

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Scarbutt
nice coding setup ;)

Interesting how she seats, my legs would hurt.

~~~
yodsanklai
Interesting indeed. We talk a lot alternatives to sitting, but I don't recall
reading anything about this position. Maybe worth trying.

~~~
rangibaby
My baby did it without being taught, so maybe it is a natural thing.

