Ask HN: Technical Milestones in Gaming

#1

Post by k0doque » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 1:36 PM UTC

I love reading about obscure games that pushed the technical enveloppe one way or another, like alpha waves (one of the very first 3D game on console) or I robot (arcade game with shaded polygons in 1983),habitat (one of the first massively online game) or trespasser (ill fated action game that tried to push the enveloppe on so many front, from physics to AI to rendering). Do you have any secret gems that you would like to talk about?

Bonus points if it includes war stories, I really loved the whole series by andy gavin on crash bandicoot development or reverse engineering adventure like the ones done by fabien sanglard.

Re: Ask HN: Technical Milestones in Gaming

#2

Post by FroshKiller » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 1:50 PM UTC

This was posted just a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22069057

It's a great article about technical innovations in PlayStation 1 games. It's part of a series with other consoles: http://www.racketboy.com/guide/games-that-pushed-the-limits-...

Re: Ask HN: Technical Milestones in Gaming

#3

Post by ArtWomb » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 2:16 PM UTC

Great list so far k0doque! Honestly you should keep digging and publish your own findings ;)

Hardly a secret but one of the all time greats is the Nintendo Duck Hunt gun. Good hacks are like magic. And this one made people think the TV was actually conscious. But actually understanding the trick behind it is also very enlightening

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NES_Zapper

Re: Ask HN: Technical Milestones in Gaming

#4

Post by k0doque » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 3:45 PM UTC

FroshKiller wrote: post #2

This was posted just a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22069057 It's a great article about technical innovations in PlayStation 1 games. It's part of a series with other consoles: http://www.racketboy.com/guide/games-that-pushed-the-limits-...

Interesting list but a lot of them are very well known, and with Reason, Crash bandicoot and the gool language is just so fascinating.

Re: Ask HN: Technical Milestones in Gaming

#5

Post by k0doque » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 3:46 PM UTC

ArtWomb wrote: post #3

Great list so far k0doque! Honestly you should keep digging and publish your own findings ;) Hardly a secret but one of the all time greats is the Nintendo Duck Hunt gun. Good hacks are like magic. And this one made people think the TV was actually conscious. But actually understanding the trick behind it is also very enlightening https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NES_Zapper

Thanks, maybe it will turn into a show HN :)

Game that use hardware hack are also fascinating, the superfx chip story is very nice.

Re: Ask HN: Technical Milestones in Gaming

#6

Post by karmakaze » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 5:00 PM UTC

Karateka and Prince of Persia had the most fluid character animations and PoP had swordfights and other timing critical actions that were really tuned to your input.

Just realized that there's Mobile/console remakes:

http://karateka.com/

Re: Ask HN: Technical Milestones in Gaming

#7

Post by karmakaze » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 5:02 PM UTC

Descent was my favorite game of the day. The first 6dof game I ever played and they're still pretty rare. Getting lost during your escape after starting the reactor detonation countdown is the best.