Variations on a maze
From Maze
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(→Isometric Games) | (→Context of Expectations: Computer Graphics and Games) | ||
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== Context of Expectations: Computer Graphics and Games == | == Context of Expectations: Computer Graphics and Games == | ||
| − | (NOTE: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_maze_video_games List of maze video games]) | ||
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The representation of mazes in computer graphics was already a staple during the period that finds the ''10 Print'' BASIC one-liner appearing in C64 manuals and journals -- in fact, the use of computers to represent mazes conceptually was common even before the advent of home computer graphics. | The representation of mazes in computer graphics was already a staple during the period that finds the ''10 Print'' BASIC one-liner appearing in C64 manuals and journals -- in fact, the use of computers to represent mazes conceptually was common even before the advent of home computer graphics. | ||
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[[Image:Game-Maze_Craze-Atari2600-(1978).png|thumb|160px|''Maze Craze'' (1978 Atari VCS) -- a large set of games -- complete, race-to-complete, tag, etc. -- all played within classic mazes.]] | [[Image:Game-Maze_Craze-Atari2600-(1978).png|thumb|160px|''Maze Craze'' (1978 Atari VCS) -- a large set of games -- complete, race-to-complete, tag, etc. -- all played within classic mazes.]] | ||
| − | In graphical computer games, one common feature of the many different 2D maze games from the period is orientation: all are rectilinear and aligned to the Cartesian axes, rather than being diagonal. This similarity, it turns out, is constituitive of the category -- in fact, it is even more important than the degree to which given games are maze-like, or what impact their maze-ness has on gameplay. Different games have different maze aesthetics. The arcade game ''Gotcha'' (1973) stages a game of tag between two players in a maze-like field of disconnected partitions which served as an obstacle course. Conversly, the arcade game ''The Amazing Maze Game'' (1976) implements a race (two-player or against a computer) to solve a classic continuous closed maze. A similar implementation on the home Atari VCS, ''Maze Craze'' (1978) provides a playable random maze generator as the field for a very a large number of games, including races and tag, and includes modes with invisible walls where the maze must be interactively felt out and remembered. | + | In graphical computer games, one common feature of the many different 2D [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_maze_video_games maze video games] from the period is orientation: all are rectilinear and aligned to the Cartesian axes, rather than being diagonal. This similarity, it turns out, constitutes the category -- in fact, it is even more important than the degree to which given games are maze-like, or what impact their maze-ness has on gameplay. Different games have different maze aesthetics. The arcade game ''Gotcha'' (1973) stages a game of tag between two players in a maze-like field of disconnected partitions which served as an obstacle course. Conversly, the arcade game ''The Amazing Maze Game'' (1976) implements a race (two-player or against a computer) to solve a classic continuous closed maze. A similar implementation on the home Atari VCS, ''Maze Craze'' (1978) provides a playable random maze generator as the field for a very a large number of games, including races and tag, and includes modes with invisible walls where the maze must be interactively felt out and remembered. |
[[Image:Game-Pac-Man-Atari2600-(1982).gif|thumb|160px|''Pac-Man'' (1982 Atari VCS)]] | [[Image:Game-Pac-Man-Atari2600-(1982).gif|thumb|160px|''Pac-Man'' (1982 Atari VCS)]] | ||
