Computing History of Mazes
From Maze
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==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
| − | The phenomenon of mazes as a staple of computer culture is not distinct from the other cultural and historical instances of mazes. As the earlier sections of this chapter make clear, mazes have been a significant part of human culture for millennia. With the arrival of the computer in the sixties, and graphical displays in the seventies, however, the maze entered what might be thought of as a renaissance. There are two important developments in this period to consider: (1) the first appearance of procedural mazes, that is mazes traversed not through physically walking through space nor through tracing a pencil on a page, but through reading ergodic, interactive text; and (2) the ability to easily generate maze-like structures on a screen. | + | The phenomenon of mazes as a staple of computer culture is not distinct from the other cultural and historical instances of mazes. As the earlier sections of this chapter make clear, mazes have been a significant part of human culture for millennia. With the arrival of the computer in the sixties, and graphical displays in the seventies, however, the maze entered what might be thought of as a renaissance. There are two important developments in this period to consider: (1) the ability to easily generate maze-like structures on a screen; and (2) the appearance of procedural mazes, that is mazes traversed not through physically walking through space nor through tracing a pencil on a page, but through navigating ergodic, interactive text. |
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| + | ==Screen Mazes== | ||
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| + | One is tempted to pin the advent of maze craze to the release of ''Pac-Man'' in the U.S. in October 1980, followed by ''Ms. Pac-Man'' in 1981, and the popular (though problematic) subsequent ports of those games to the Atari VCS in early 1982 (''Pac-Man'') and late 1982 (''Ms. Pac-Man''). ''Pac-Man'' appeared on the Commodore 64 itself in 1983. Early descriptions of ''Pac-Man'' often described the playing field of the game as a "maze." For example, in 1981, the ''New York Times'' characterized Pac-Man as "a circle with a big mouth that eats up dots in a maze while other big mouths try to eat it up" (Latham 1981), while ''Newsweek'' mentioned the "maddening ''Pac-Man'' maze" the same year (Langway 1981). | ||
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| + | But even before they hit the mainstream in ''Pac-Man'', mazes were a staple of computer culture, and on-screen maze-like structures abound [http://weizenbaum.mit.edu/mediawiki/index.php/Talk:Maze_walking%2C_solvability%2C_generate-and-test] in the early days of video arcades and home computers. | ||
==Procedural Mazes== | ==Procedural Mazes== | ||
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Both of these maps utilize the standard ASCII character set---especially underscores and pipes---to "draw" the maze, and in this way they seem to be precursors to the 10 Print maze, which appears to use slashes and backslashes for its wall. Though this comparison is not strictly true, as the Commodore 64 maze relies on non-standard graphical characters that only resemble typographical characters, a topic that will be covered later in this volume. | Both of these maps utilize the standard ASCII character set---especially underscores and pipes---to "draw" the maze, and in this way they seem to be precursors to the 10 Print maze, which appears to use slashes and backslashes for its wall. Though this comparison is not strictly true, as the Commodore 64 maze relies on non-standard graphical characters that only resemble typographical characters, a topic that will be covered later in this volume. | ||
| − | The use of ASCII to make these maps was necessary, since text files were more easily shared across platforms via BBSes than graphical files, as the graphical formats that are standard today were not yet prevalent. | + | The use of ASCII to make these maps was necessary, since text files were more easily shared across platforms via BBSes than graphical files, as the graphical formats that are standard today were not yet prevalent. The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), for example, was only introduced in 1987, by the online service provider CompuServe. |
| − | detailed map apparently drawn by a gamer named Steven Jones, which was originally published in DEC Professional in November 1982: | + | Of course, the restriction to ASCII did not apply when maze maps were shared via other means, such as mimeographs of hand-drawn maps, or this detailed map apparently drawn by a gamer named Steven Jones, which was originally published in DEC Professional in November 1982: |
[[Image:Steven_Roy_Zork_Map_for_DEC_Professional.jpg|400px]] | [[Image:Steven_Roy_Zork_Map_for_DEC_Professional.jpg|400px]] | ||
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===Visual Procedural Mazes=== | ===Visual Procedural Mazes=== | ||
| − | ==Screen Mazes== | + | The 10 Print program that is the focus of this book should be considered a ''visual'', ''procedural'' maze, an on-screen maze generated by an algorithm. From its very beginnings, the pattern generated by 10 Print was called a maze. Consider the earliest known iteration of the program, found in the ''Commodore 64 User’s Guide'' that was included with every C64 computer (1982). The Advanced Basic chapter offers "an introduction to designing graphics" and provides a "neat little program" that uses the RND function--the random number generator--to draw on the screen: |
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| − | One is tempted to pin the advent of maze craze to the release of ''Pac-Man'' in the U.S. in October 1980, followed by ''Ms. Pac-Man'' in 1981, and the popular (though problematic) subsequent ports of those games to the Atari VCS in early 1982 (''Pac-Man'') and late 1982 (''Ms. Pac-Man''). ''Pac-Man'' appeared on the Commodore 64 itself in 1983. Early descriptions of ''Pac-Man'' often described the playing field of the game as a "maze." For example, in 1981, the ''New York Times'' characterized Pac-Man as "a circle with a big mouth that eats up dots in a maze while other big mouths try to eat it up" (Latham 1981), while ''Newsweek'' mentioned the "maddening ''Pac-Man'' maze" the same year (Langway 1981). | ||
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| − | ==The Appearance of 10 Print== | ||
| − | This chapter argues that the use of the word "maze" to describe what by many definitions is not a maze is rooted in the cultural history of the word in the 1970s and early 1980s, when "maze" conjured up specific images that resonated with home computer users. | ||
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| − | From its very beginnings, the pattern generated by 10 Print was called a maze. Consider the earliest known iteration of the program, found in the ''Commodore 64 User’s Guide'' that was included with every C64 computer (1982). The Advanced Basic chapter offers "an introduction to designing graphics" and provides a "neat little program" that uses the RND function--the random number generator--to draw on the screen: | ||
10 PRINT "{CLR/HOME}" | 10 PRINT "{CLR/HOME}" | ||
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Twice, then, in the span of two years this design was described in print as a maze. Why? Why describe the output as a maze and not the more general terms design or pattern? The reason likely depends upon the position that mazes held in computer culture in the 1970s and 1980s. Quite simply, this was the era of the maze craze. | Twice, then, in the span of two years this design was described in print as a maze. Why? Why describe the output as a maze and not the more general terms design or pattern? The reason likely depends upon the position that mazes held in computer culture in the 1970s and 1980s. Quite simply, this was the era of the maze craze. | ||
| − | But even before they hit the mainstream in ''Pac-Man'', mazes were a staple of computer culture in its more marginalized forms. | + | This chapter argues that the use of the word "maze" to describe what by many definitions is not a maze is rooted in the cultural history of the word in the 1970s and early 1980s, when "maze" conjured up specific images that resonated with home computer users. |
| − | In addition to ''Pac-Man'', ''Adventure'', and ''Zork'', other mazes abound [http://weizenbaum.mit.edu/mediawiki/index.php/Talk:Maze_walking%2C_solvability%2C_generate-and-test] in the early days of video arcades and home computers, but these are the most prominent examples. It would simply be impossible to use the word "maze" within the semiotic domain of computers and not create some association with these games. Therefore, there's some cultural capital at work whenever 10 Print's design was called a maze in the early eighties. It is reasonable to conclude that the various sources from the early eighties that called the 10 Print design a "maze" were explicitly (though perhaps not consciously) tapping into a cultural history of mazes that home programmers and game players would be aware of. | + | It would simply be impossible to use the word "maze" within the semiotic domain of computers and not create some association with these games. Therefore, there's some cultural capital at work whenever 10 Print's design was called a maze in the early eighties. It is reasonable to conclude that the various sources from the early eighties that called the 10 Print design a "maze" were explicitly (though perhaps not consciously) tapping into a cultural history of mazes that home programmers and game players would be aware of. |
Finally, though there’s no evidence to prove this, one wonders whether the program would have the program have had the same viral-like persistence if its description had made no mention of mazes? | Finally, though there’s no evidence to prove this, one wonders whether the program would have the program have had the same viral-like persistence if its description had made no mention of mazes? | ||
