Variations on a maze
From Maze
(Difference between revisions)
(→Keyboard and Character Map, Hardware and Software) | (→Isometric Games) | ||
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=== Isometric Games === | === Isometric Games === | ||
| − | (NOTE: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_games_with_isometric_graphics Isometric video games]) | + | (NOTE: ) |
[[Image:Game-Ant_Attack-ZX_Spectrum-(1983).gif|thumb|160px|''Ant Attack'' (1983 ZX Spectrum)]] | [[Image:Game-Ant_Attack-ZX_Spectrum-(1983).gif|thumb|160px|''Ant Attack'' (1983 ZX Spectrum)]] | ||
| − | (presence of the diagonal line at all -- isometric projection itself not unheard of, but far from the norm -- Marble Madness not until 1984) | ||
| − | |||
Whether close up or distant, continuous mazes or partitioned obstacle courses, what all these period maze-games have in common is that, unlike the diagonal orientation of ''10 Print'', all are constructed of horizontal/vertical walls that are orthogonal to the edges of the screen and the scan line of the display. | Whether close up or distant, continuous mazes or partitioned obstacle courses, what all these period maze-games have in common is that, unlike the diagonal orientation of ''10 Print'', all are constructed of horizontal/vertical walls that are orthogonal to the edges of the screen and the scan line of the display. | ||
| − | Diagonal orientation did have a place in the design of early maze-like games, but not in simple 2D fields -- instead, it emerged through isometric games that introduced diagonal motion at the same time it challenged the picture plane through the pseudo-3D effect of isometric perspective. In the arcade, two isometric games emerged in 1982: ''Q*bert'', an completion/avoidance platform on an isometric pyramid, and ''Zaxxon'', an obstacle-racer emphasizing pseudo-3D elements. Neither of these game designs is particularly maze-like. | + | Diagonal orientation did have a place in the design of early maze-like games, but not in simple 2D fields -- instead, it emerged through [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_games_with_isometric_graphics isometric video games] that introduced diagonal motion at the same time it challenged the picture plane through the pseudo-3D effect of isometric perspective. In the arcade, two isometric games emerged in 1982: ''Q*bert'', an completion/avoidance platform on an isometric pyramid, and ''Zaxxon'', an obstacle-racer emphasizing pseudo-3D elements. Neither of these game designs is particularly maze-like. |
Later games did incorporate maze-like obstacle elements into isometric gameplay. Part of this limitation was due to available resolution at the time, particularly on home systems. Graphics with isometric effects took up a lot of space, which limited the ability to design large complex level structures like mazes on a unified field. Thus, when ''Ant Attack'' (1983) and ''Marble Madness'' (1984) introduced isometric obstacle course elements on a large field, both did so using scrolling.** By contrast, ''Knight Lore'' (1984) follows the design pattern of ''Adventure'' for the VCS, showing a close-up view of one room at a time in a maze-like castle. | Later games did incorporate maze-like obstacle elements into isometric gameplay. Part of this limitation was due to available resolution at the time, particularly on home systems. Graphics with isometric effects took up a lot of space, which limited the ability to design large complex level structures like mazes on a unified field. Thus, when ''Ant Attack'' (1983) and ''Marble Madness'' (1984) introduced isometric obstacle course elements on a large field, both did so using scrolling.** By contrast, ''Knight Lore'' (1984) follows the design pattern of ''Adventure'' for the VCS, showing a close-up view of one room at a time in a maze-like castle. | ||
