Thief: The Dark Project – 20th Anniversary Oral History

The development history of Thief: The Dark Project.

Unofficial Slogans for Famous Game Publishers

This will be a fun little experiment. I've compiled a list of famous game publishers and decided to come up with a slogan for each, reflecting both the good and the bad of the company. Below each will be an explanation for the sometimes esoteric concepts. I thought it would be an enjoyable way to …

Patented Heroes

One of the most fascinating places to go to look for information on technology are in the paperwork and legal language which hold them up. Patents are the most accessible document form one can look into interesting video game artifacts. Not only can the history of a patent itself reveal more information, such as the …

Exploring the First Microprocessor Video Games

I have been writing and discussing a lot about the early microelectronics industry recently with other researchers. There are still a lot of mysteries about the formative period, before true foundations for single chip designs and mass production came into the picture. It's been interesting to think about the true how and why people came …

Historical Methods: The Genre Question

This post is a little outside the realms of the normal historical flare, but it’s something that I feel is important to discuss. I’ve previously mentioned in determining my boundaries for how I like to talk about games that the current genres we use are woefully inadequate. In terms of games, what I consider a …

How Do You Make a Game? Part 2: Development Tools

The sequel you've all been waiting for! Last time we had a look at what happens before code is put to the stack, this time we plunge into the meat and bones of making games. We'll look at the fascinating yet far too brief windows we've been provided into the game making process through the …

Historical Methods: Interviews

I sent out my first request for an interview for a person in the games industry in March of 2015. Since then I have collected the stories of over 100 people, some well known names and others scarcely mentioned in any source. It has been a very fulfilling enterprise and it's the first step in …