Sprites were, not unexpectedly, first used in arcade video games and were often generated by hardware. In computer graphics, sprites are independent objects that are added on to a background. Which, if you think about it, is what a simple game like Space Invaders is all about – an animation that can be controlled by a user. The idea is quite straightforward – a while back I stumbled on a hack in iTerm2 that allows me to display images on the screen and that led me, one thing to another, displaying a number of images one after another, resulting in an animation. Essentially, this is a variation of the flocking simulation I wrote earlier. Instead what I tried to do is to build a game by creating individual frames and displaying them rapidly one after another. Most game development uses some sort of game engine or at least a graphics engine, but the game I wrote uses neither. The game ends if the aliens reach the cannon or all your cannons are destroyed. The aliens try to destroy you by dropping torpedos at you, while you are partially protected by a few stationary defending bunkers. The laser cannon can only move horizontally across the bottom of the screen as the aliens move back and forth, and slowly descending upon you. As the player you control a laser cannon to battle rows of alien invaders. The premise of the game, in case you’re not already familiar, is quite simple.
Even after the decline of arcade video games, it simply transcended the medium and moved to video game consoles. It was first released in 1978 and is generally accepted as start of the golden age, which lasted from late 70s to the early 90s. Space Invaders was one of the most successful arcade video games during the golden age of arcade video games. This time round I tried the grand old dame of arcade video games – Space Invaders. Of course that didn’t stop me from trying my hand at it once again. Even though eventually I succeeded in writing some simple games, I came to realise that even seemingly simple games are in fact not easy to write. And as with many as well programmers, I failed many times miserably. Days of blinking lights, intense music, frantic tugs at the joystick, furious mashing of the buttons then the groans of dismay as the last life was lost.Īs with many aspiring programmers starting out, one of my secret dreams was always to recreate that magic, to write the next big game. Those were the magical days of Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Galaxian, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Centipede and many, many more. While our parents were at the other types of games Genting Highlands was more popularly known for, we were generally let loose to play arcade games to our hearts' content.
The earliest memory I had of arcade video games was watching my older brother and cousins going at the video game machines at Genting Highlands.
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