Eclipse: The Demo that Sold 3D to Nintendo
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Eclipse: The Demo that Sold 3D to Nintendo
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Re: Eclipse: The Demo that Sold 3D to Nintendo
#2Eclipse, hailed as proof that one person game dev teams could work. Then he ended up chasing his tail with eclipse2, releasing it late, looking like a game from 2 years prior to the release date. Proving the days of the solo game dev was over, at least for a while.
Re: Eclipse: The Demo that Sold 3D to Nintendo
#3Eclipse, hailed as proof that one person game dev teams could work. Then he ended up chasing his tail with eclipse2, releasing it late, looking like a game from 2 years prior to the release date. Proving the days of the solo game dev was over, at least for a while.
It didn't need proof, that was just a couple years after a time when that would have been the norm. There have always been great, notable and successful games been developed by solo developers and bedroom studios, at any time. Introversion, Stardew Valley..
Gaming simply exited niche culture and the market became humongous. And of course in total numbers, the share of the lone wolves has dwindled when compared to the eight-figure production cost triple-A market. But does that really mean anything?
Re: Eclipse: The Demo that Sold 3D to Nintendo
#4[dead]
Re: Eclipse: The Demo that Sold 3D to Nintendo
#5It's good to see BallBlazer mentioned, but the article/video feels like it's incomplete without mentioning Dimension X (which also alternates between tank realtime combat and tunnel travel dodging walls) and Atari’s Battlezone.
Re: Eclipse: The Demo that Sold 3D to Nintendo
#6It's good to see BallBlazer mentioned, but the article/video feels like it's incomplete without mentioning Dimension X (which also alternates between tank realtime combat and tunnel travel dodging walls) and Atari’s Battlezone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimension_X_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlezone_(1980_video_game)
There's an arcade near me that has a functioning Battlezone cabinet. The use of a periscope in combination with the 3D graphics is so genius.
Re: Eclipse: The Demo that Sold 3D to Nintendo
#7On the topic of solo game devs... if this sounds like your jam (and modern mobile games isn't your jam) then consider the console homebrew scene as an outlet. All the "retro" platforms still have a pulse and several are thriving enough to have competitions and forums and podcasts.
8-bit NES and 16-bit Genesis (Mega Drive) both have a supportive community and one or two publishers who can take your game from ROM.BIN to physical cart and/or digital purchase.
Hardware limitations naturally demand fewer man-hours to build out a "complete" game. You won't make a fortune. Or a dime. But then neither did a lot of one-person shops in the original 8-bit days.
[1] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-assembly-line-an-n...
[2] https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/homebrew-game-club/id1...
Re: Eclipse: The Demo that Sold 3D to Nintendo
#8This was a good read up until it began sounding like an advertisement for the "videogame history foundation".
Re: Eclipse: The Demo that Sold 3D to Nintendo
#9[flagged]
Re: Eclipse: The Demo that Sold 3D to Nintendo
#10It's good to see BallBlazer mentioned, but the article/video feels like it's incomplete without mentioning Dimension X (which also alternates between tank realtime combat and tunnel travel dodging walls) and Atari’s Battlezone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimension_X_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlezone_(1980_video_game)
There's an arcade near me that has a functioning Battlezone cabinet. The use of a periscope in combination with the 3D graphics is so genius.
Post-covid, it's hard for me to imagine replaying today how, as a kid, I used to press my face into that periscope viewfinder. I remember it sometimes still smelled of cigarette smoke from the previous adult player before I popped in a quarter. Was that salt on my lips?
Awesome 3D game, amazing cabinet design. Holy smoke super gross, too.