Ever since the 1980s when consoles started hitting the market, video games have been an intrinsic part of life for people all around the world. Just as technology has continued to advance ever since so too have the capabilities of video games. While this is great news for players, it provides modern game developers with the challenge of turning game design expectations into reality – and they’re only getting more and more complex.
Game development, as a career, has changed a lot over the past few decades. The job of those who brought Pong into being would’ve been very different to those currently working on the next AAA release! This article explores the ways that the industry has evolved in tandem with technology over the past few decades.
1980s
The 1980s saw the release of Sega, Nintendo and Atari’s first offerings in the market. At that time, the majority of games belonged exclusively to one console. Sonic the Hedgehog titles, for example, could only be found on Sega. Meanwhile, Mario would become (and still is) the mascot for Nintendo’s systems – including the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), which was first released back in 1985. This allowed developers to focus solely on optimising one version of each game for a specific system.
1990s
The 1990s perhaps saw the biggest sea change in video gaming history. Gaming became more mainstream, with graphics transitioning from spite-based animations to becoming truly 3D. This opened up endless possibilities for new genres to rise, from MMOs and real-time strategies to first-person shooters and survival horror.
This raised the bar for what was expected of game developers and, due to the increasing appeal and demand of video games, the pressure to deliver quality games to tight deadlines was ratcheted up. They also faced the advent of a new gaming platform: the PC. Today, more than 1.8 billion people use their PC to play games, a number that has almost doubled since the start of the 2010s. Many games which are exclusive to one console will still, now, have a PC version – so this has therefore become important for developers to recognize too.
By the end of the 1990s, developers were creating more games, for more platforms and in greater numbers than in the 80s. And this trend would only continue into the new millennium.
2000-2020
Today’s game developers have more to keep in mind than those in the past. If the 1990s were a veritable gaming revolution, especially where PC gaming is concerned, the 2000s have so far been something of a rebellion. Gone are the cookie-cutter concepts that some popular publishing houses adopted to produce as many games as they could in the shortest time possible. The gamers of today want to see constant innovation, new features and incredibly detailed, almost photorealistic graphics.
With there being many more platforms available today, developers must be ready to take the specific needs and specifications of each into account. Designing for online casinos, for example, requires intricate processing knowledge about things such as RNG (Random Number Generator) and virtual reel mapping, which are key elements of any slot machine algorithm. These ensure that the outcomes remain fair and that each spin is different. Other platforms require other knowledge. Mobile games require specific attributes when compared to games designed to be played on desktop computers, for example. The rise of mobile gaming parallels the rise of PC gaming in the ‘90s, with similar widespread effects.
The current state of indie game development
Game developers today are part of a vibrant and bustling market. Teams are being afforded bigger budgets than in the past, which provides much more room for innovation. That doesn’t mean, however, that indie games aren’t able to thrive. In actual fact, independent studios with shoestring budgets are often an ideal starting point for developers to showcase their ideas and break into the industry.
Indie games, more so than their AAA counterparts, are typically based around a simple, unique premise, in-game mechanic or plot point. The execution of that idea will determine whether the game sinks or swims. While many have failed to gain traction, there have also been some incredible success stories originating from small studios in the recent past, including the likes of Welcome to the Game and Five Nights at Freddy’s – both of which have been adapted for the big screen, with the latter set to release in cinemas later this year. In fact, today’s video gaming market is increasingly receptive to independent developers, who are offered an alternative career route.
Game development, as we can see, has been constantly evolving just as games themselves have been continuously improving. The quality of the games we play today wouldn’t have seemed possible a couple of decades ago, and who knows what technical boundaries will be being pushed in the years to come.
