Keeping a Genre Alive

Iria · Nov 16, 2005, 05:46 AM

You are at the edge of a clearing with an impressive view of the mountains. A trail splits off toward some standing stones to the southwest, while the main road emerges from the forest to the east and continues westward down the hill, via a series of switchbacks.

So begins "A New Life," a computer game created by Alexandre Owen Muñiz, a 31-year-old programmer who lives in Tigard, Ore. Unlike today's hit videogame titles, Mr. Muniz's creation doesn't include splashy graphics or booming sound effects. Instead, "A New Life" consists of nothing more than text on a screen, and a blinking cursor awaiting players' commands.

Mr. Muñiz is part of a cult group of gamers that are going back to basics. Their craft recalls a time before "Grand Theft Auto" or "Doom," when computer games were about as visually compelling as a Microsoft Word document. The scene was set with a block of text, and the player advanced the action by typing simple commands like "go west" or "read sign." In the early days of home computing, such games were a hit: A company called Infocom was one of the leaders of the genre, and sold more than one million copies of its flagship game, "Zork," before being acquired by Activision Inc. in 1986. In that game, the player's first move was to type the words, "open mailbox."
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Read More / Source: WSJ Free Feature

**dj_stick** · Nov 16, 2005, 07:43 AM

ahhh oldschool

Nov 16, 2005, 05:46 AM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 89	Keeping a Genre Alive You are at the edge of a clearing with an impressive view of the mountains. A trail splits off toward some standing stones to the southwest, while the main road emerges from the forest to the east and continues westward down the hill, via a series of switchbacks. So begins "A New Life," a computer game created by Alexandre Owen Muñiz, a 31-year-old programmer who lives in Tigard, Ore. Unlike today's hit videogame titles, Mr. Muniz's creation doesn't include splashy graphics or booming sound effects. Instead, "A New Life" consists of nothing more than text on a screen, and a blinking cursor awaiting players' commands. Mr. Muñiz is part of a cult group of gamers that are going back to basics. Their craft recalls a time before "Grand Theft Auto" or "Doom," when computer games were about as visually compelling as a Microsoft Word document. The scene was set with a block of text, and the player advanced the action by typing simple commands like "go west" or "read sign." In the early days of home computing, such games were a hit: A company called Infocom was one of the leaders of the genre, and sold more than one million copies of its flagship game, "Zork," before being acquired by Activision Inc. in 1986. In that game, the player's first move was to type the words, "open mailbox." ___________ Read More / Source: WSJ Free Feature