Digital Antiquaria – The Retro Gaming Treasury

The Shareware Scene, Part 5: Narratives of DOOM

On June 19, 2020June 20, 2020 By Jimmy Maher

Let me begin today by restating the obvious: DOOM was very, very popular, probably the most popular computer game to date. That “probably” has to stand there because DOOM‘s unusual distribution model makes quantifying its popularity frustratingly difficult. It’s been estimated that id sold 2 to 3 million copies of […]

The Shareware Scene, Part 4: DOOM

On June 5, 2020June 6, 2020 By Jimmy Maher

The full extent of Wolfenstein 3D‘s popularity during 1992 and 1993 is difficult to quantify with any precision due to the peculiarities of the shareware distribution model. But the one thing we can say for sure is that it was enormously popular by any standard. Apogee sold roughly 200,000 copies […]

The Shareware Scene, Part 3: The id Boys

On May 15, 2020May 16, 2020 By Jimmy Maher

On December 14, 1990, Scott Miller of Apogee Software uploaded the free first installment of his company’s latest episodic game. He knew as he did so that this release would be, if you’ll pardon the pun, a game changer for Apogee. To signal that this was truly a next-generation Apogee […]

The Shareware Scene, Part 2: The Question of Games

On May 1, 2020May 2, 2020 By Jimmy Maher

In one of the last interviews he gave before his death, shareware pioneer Jim Button said that he “had written off the idea of shareware games” prior to the beginning of the 1990s. At the time, it seemed a reasonable position to take, one based on quite a bit of […]

The Shareware Scene, Part 1: The Pioneers

On April 17, 2020April 18, 2020 By Jimmy Maher

The digital society which we’ve created over the last few decades has upended many of our traditional notions about commerce. Everyday teenagers now stress over their ratings and advertising revenues on YouTube; gamers in “free” games pay staggering sums for the privilege of advancing through them a little faster (wasn’t […]

The (7th) Guest’s New Clothes

On April 3, 2020April 4, 2020 By Jimmy Maher

Once upon a time, two wizards decided to remake the face of computer gaming with the help of a new form of magic known as CD-ROM. They labored for years on their task, while the people waited anxiously, pouncing upon the merest hint the wizards let drop of what the […]

Lemmings 2: The Tribes

On March 20, 2020March 21, 2020 By Jimmy Maher

When the lads at DMA Design started making the original Lemmings, they envisioned that it would allow you to bestow about twenty different “skills” upon your charges. But as they continued working on the game, they threw more and more of the skills out, both to make the programming task […]

The 68000 Wars, Part 6: The Unraveling

On March 6, 2020March 7, 2020 By Jimmy Maher

Commodore International’s roots are in manufacturing, not computing. They’re used to making and selling all kinds of things, from calculators to watches to office furniture. Computers just happen to be a profitable sideline they stumbled into. Commodore International isn’t really a computer company; they’re a company that happens to make […]

Myst (or, The Drawbacks to Success)

On February 21, 2020February 22, 2020 By Jimmy Maher

Robyn Miller, one half of the pair of brothers who created the adventure game known as Myst with their small studio Cyan, tells a story about its development that’s irresistible to a writer like me. When the game was nearly finished, he says, its publisher Brøderbund insisted that it be […]

The Deal of the Century (or, The Alliance of Losers)

On February 7, 2020February 8, 2020 By Jimmy Maher

+ = ? I think [the] Macintosh accomplished everything we set out to do and more, even though it reaches most people these days as Windows. — Andy Hertzfeld (original Apple Macintosh systems programmer), 1994 When rumors first began to circulate early in 1991 that IBM and Apple were involved […]

Master of Orion

On January 24, 2020January 25, 2020 By Jimmy Maher

Given the shadow which the original Master of Orion still casts over the gaming landscape of today, one might be forgiven for assuming, as many younger gamers doubtless do, that it was the very first conquer-the-galaxy grand-strategy game ever made. The reality, however, is quite different. For all that […]

Buzz Aldrin’s Race into Space (and Space-Program Games in General)

On January 3, 2020January 4, 2020 By Jimmy Maher

“Demography is destiny,” wrote the French sociologist Auguste Comte in the nineteenth century. That truism has been taken to heart by many in the time since — not least by our political classes. Yet it applies equally in the world of the arts and entertainment. For in any free market, […]

Companions of Xanth (Preceded by the Worrisome Case of Piers Anthony)

On December 20, 2019December 21, 2019 By Jimmy Maher

I first read Piers Anthony’s thick 1969 novel Macroscope when I was in my early teens, and haven’t returned to it since. Nevertheless, I still remember the back-of-the-jacket text on my dog-eared old first paperback edition: “Existence is full of a number of things, many of them wondrous indeed — […]

Eric the Unready

On December 6, 2019 By Jimmy Maher

In September of 1991, Bob Bates of Legend Entertainment flew to Florida for a meeting of the Software Publishers Association. One evening there after a long day on the job, still dressed in his business suit, he took a walk along the beach, enjoying a gorgeous sunset as he anticipated […]

New Tricks for an Old Z-Machine, Part 3: A Renaissance is Nigh

On November 22, 2019November 23, 2019 By Jimmy Maher

In 1397, a Byzantine scholar named Manuel Chrysoloras arrived in Florence, Italy. He brought with him knowledge of Greek, along with many ancient manuscripts in Greek and Latin that had been lost to the West in the chaos following the collapse of the Roman Empire. This event is considered by […]

New Tricks for an Old Z-Machine, Part 2: Hacking Deeper (or, Follies of Graham Nelson’s Youth)

On November 8, 2019November 9, 2019 By Jimmy Maher

Earlier this year, I reached out to Graham Nelson, the most important single technical architect of interactive fiction’s last three decades, to open a dialog about his early life and work. I was rewarded with a rich and enjoyable correspondence. But when the time came to write this article based […]

Summer Daze

On October 30, 2019October 30, 2019 By Jimmy Maher

I want to bring a new project by this blog’s friends Corey and Lori Ann Cole to your attention today. Summer Daze at Hero-U builds upon their earlier Hero-U: From Rogue to Redemption, which was a fine revival in spirit of their much-loved Quest for Glory games of yore. This […]

New Tricks for an Old Z-Machine, Part 1: Digging the Trenches

On October 18, 2019October 19, 2019 By Jimmy Maher

One of the most oddly inspiring stories I know of in all computing history is that of the resurrection and re-purposing of the Z-Machine, Infocom’s virtual machine of the 1980s, to serve a whole new community of interactive-fiction enthusiasts in the 1990s and well beyond. Even as the simple 8-bit […]

Betrayal at Krondor

On October 4, 2019 By Jimmy Maher

During the 1960s and 1970s, a new type of game began to appear in increasing numbers on American tabletops: the experiential game. These differed from the purely abstract board and card games of yore in that they purported to simulate a virtual world of sorts which lived behind their surface […]

Opening the Gold Box, Part 6: A Troubled Marriage

On September 20, 2019September 21, 2019 By Jimmy Maher

This pie chart prepared by the investment firm Piper Jaffray Research provides a snapshot of the American computer-game industry as of 1993. Sierra leads the pack with a market share of 11.8 percent, trailed closely by Spectrum Holobyte, who have just increased their profile dramatically by acquiring MicroProse Software. Electronic […]