History of Video Game Design
- When video games were first introduced, game designers doubled as the lead programmers and were more often than not the only programmers for a particular game. Often, they also would create and implement all of the art that went into a game. Designers from the early days of computer and arcade gaming such as Sid Meier and Chris Sawyer were examples of these all-in-one game designers.
- The first semblances of video game design took place at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the late 1950s. William Higinbotham, a researcher at the lab, developed a simple program called "Tennis for Two" using an analog computer. The purpose for the game was to entertain people at an upcoming open house at Brookhaven. The program combined the computer with an oscilloscope, an electronic test device that lets signal voltages appear on a CRT display. The finished product was an ancestor to what would be called Pong in later years.
- The first actual video game was a program called Spacewar, designed by computer techs at MIT in 1961. Wayne Witanen, J. Martin Graetz and Steve Russell collaborated on the concept of putting two spaceships in conflict with each other. This program became the first video game that allowed complete interaction. In the next decade, the designers refashioned the game to work as a standalone in pubs, turning it into the first coin-operated arcade game.
- Following Spacewar and Pong, the arcade scene became all the rage in the late 70s, filling up with kids waiting to play the latest scrolling shooters. One game designer grew tired of the sameness in the shooting games and wanted to try something different. His name was Moru Iwatani and he was a designer for Namco in 1980. He revolutionized design by backing away from the shooting space-style and creating a new game based on a Japanese folk hero named "Paku." The result was Pac-Man. Video games would never be the same.
- Video game design has changed greatly in the time since those early attempts at game production. Through the era of the Atari and into today's world of Playstations and Xbox 360s, game design is more likely to be handled by a huge group than a single designer. For complex games, this can mean designers number in the dozens. Every year, there are innovations in design--attempts to innovate the artform and keep gamers interested in coming back for more.
