How We Got Here - Game Design Theory - page 72

games with computers became viable. The very first game we have on
record as being created using computers was called OXO , and it was
simply a computer form of tic-tac-toe. I'm glossing over this because
first, everyone already understands tic-tac-toe, and second, the use of
the medium didn't allow for anything that couldn't have been done with
a pencil and paper.
One of the first original games we have on record was one called Te n -
nis for Two , created by physicist William Higinbotham at Brookhaven
National Laboratory. Sometimes considered a precursor to the famous
Pong , Tennis for Two actually included much more interesting gameplay
despite having been created nearly 15 years earlier. Tennis for Two in-
volved two players hitting a ball back and forth, and the ball not only
responded to gravity but also to hitting the net (or even just grazing it!).
Further, you could fake the other player out by waiting to hit the ball
or by hitting it very quickly. There's quite a lot to this game, despite the
fact that it was created on such primitive hardware—a 1950s computer
and an oscilloscope display. The game physics (as they often do) serve to
make decisions more ambiguous. We see physics used this way in sports
too (most games have a ball throwing, tossing, or hitting mechanism for
the same reason), and in most genres of real-time video games.
In 1961 Steve Russell, Martin Graetz, and Wayne Witaenem created
Spacewar! , a one-on-one space combat game. he game was created on a
PDP-1 computer at MIT. What's interesting about Spacewar! is just how
well it holds up today. If one were to create a modernized version for Xbox
or PS3 with a well-designed online hub for meeting players, a ranking sys-
tem, and other such features that we've become accustomed to for on-
line play, it could certainly achieve great popularity. The reason is that the
gameplay, while extremely simple, is actually very deep and interesting.
To me, Spacewar! is the first true video game, in that it set out to cre-
ate a completely original experience that could only have happened on
computers. The gameplay involves a top-down game in which you and
an opponent each pilot a rotating ship on a two-dimensional (2D) axis
in real time. In the center of the screen there's a planet, which has grav-
ity. Colliding with this planet will kill you, but a skilled player can use
its gravity to help maneuver, dodge, and get a better position. You fire
projectiles with one button and try to hit the other player to destroy him.
You also can accelerate, but what's really interesting is that you also have
a warp-speed function. This should only be used in emergencies, firstly
because it teleports you to a random position (which is unsafe in and of
itself ), but also because with each use you increase the chances that us-
ing it will simply cause you to explode.