

Everything I Learned About Game Development I Learned From the 80s - davidtyleryork
http://altdevblogaday.com/2012/03/02/everything-i-know-about-game-development-i-learned-from-the-80s/

======
sosuke
I'm at a loss for words or analysis but I love this article, it really pumped
me up, time to get back to development.

------
jes5199
But no mention of game development that actually happened in the 80s? How odd.

~~~
alanfalcon
Game development that happened in the 80s (at least outside of Nintendo) is a
beast so far removed from even what indie devs do today alone in a basement
that I was fearing this was a retro-love-fest article about distilling game
design or something. This article is spot on with great advice, and the cheesy
80s movie motivators work here because they're fun and actually motivating
because they're not so serious.

For those still disappointed that there were no lessons from 80s game
development, read this article instead; it might be what you want and at any
rate it inspired me:

<http://tevisthompson.com/saving-zelda/>

~~~
batista
* Game development that happened in the 80s (at least outside of Nintendo) is a beast so far removed from even what indie devs do today alone in a basement*

Really? Because 90% of, say, iPhone games would not feel out of place in an
80's Amiga.

~~~
alanfalcon
The process of creating and distributing them is totally different. There were
more Wild West coders making things for the Amiga than there are today. That's
how I feel at any rate.

~~~
batista
_The process of creating and distributing them is totally different._

How they are distributed is different, yes.

But the creation part, not that much.

 _There were more Wild West coders making things for the Amiga than there are
today._

Not sure. There were a few large-ish software houses back then that made the
most games (Psygnosis, Ocean, etc). Nowadays there are many more 1-man shops
for mobile games.

\--Of course I only talk about iOS/Android games. The situation re: desktop is
completely different and more like you say--.

And certainly, Amiga didn't have 500,000+ apps (= hundrens of thousands of
games), as the iPhone has... I think 10-20,000 would be a better estimation
(just guessing though, from what I read at the time and of App Store
statistics).

