Fun and Games with the Computer: Hobbyist Game Programming

in the Microcomputer Era

Matthew Wells, PhD Student, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

investigating the relationships between the hardware
and software design of standardized computing
systems platforms and the creative works
produced on those platforms. [1]

o In the 1970s, the costs of
computer components memory,
CPU, etc. began to fall
dramatically.
o By the late 1970s, the home
computer a small, standalone
machine designed (in part) for the
hobbyist home programmer
arrived. These machines were
also known as microcomputers.
o Microsoft BASIC licensed to most major vendors,
becomes the lingua franca of home computing.
o Most machines boot directly to BASIC interface,
allowing for instant coding.
o Problem: microcomputers competed with early game
consoles (e.g. Atari VCS) for at-home market. As
such, vendors marketed them as both gaming and
programming machines





o Primary source materials from the period describe the
tasks these displays were intended to perform:
The display equipment now in use with [Whirlwind] is
intended primarily for demonstration purposes. It
gives a qualitative picture of solutions to problems set
up in test storage, and it illustrates a type of output
device that can be used when data are desired in
graphical rather than numerical form. [2]
1. Bogost, I., & N. Montfort (2007).
New media as material constraint:
an introduction to platform studies.
Presented at the First International
HASTAC Conference, April 2007.
2. Servomechanisms Laboratory,
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (1949). Summary
Report No. 20: Third Quarter, 1949.
Cambridge, MA.

3. Hurst, J., M. S. Mahoney, N. H.
Taylor, D. T. Ross, and R. M. Fano
(1989), Retrospectives I: the early
years in computer graphics at MIT,
Lincoln Lab, and Harvard, in: AEM
SIGGRAPH. SIGGRAPH '89.
Boston, 31 July-4 August 1989.
4. Graetz, J. M. (1981). The Origin of
Spacewar. Creative Computing, 7
(8), 5667.
REFERENCES
ARRIVAL OF THE MICRO

o In the 1970s, the costs of
computer components memory,
CPU, etc. began to fall
dramatically.
o By the late 1970s, the home
computer a small, standalone
machine designed for the
hobbyist home programmer
arrived. These machines were
also known as microcomputers.



o Primary source materials from the period describe the
tasks these displays were intended to perform:
ARRIVAL OF THE MICRO