Re:A 30th anniversary note to Prince of Persia fans
by ben7799 on Thursday June 27, 2019 @03:48PM
(#20297913)
I am a bit younger, graduated HS in 1995. But I'm essentially of the same generation and learned on the same stuff. QBasic -> Turbo Pascal -> C in high school. I made a simple video game in my senior year of high school that cemented my decision to study computer science.
My father had internet access well before the web as an engineer so I was sometimes able to get stuff. I remember buying some programming books to get started and sometimes getting access to text file tutorials that must have originated from BBSes.
But yah.. that was back when our abilities to concentrate were greater, there were almost no distractions, and most of us were working alone.. no product managers, no co-workers to disagree with or have them sow doubt, almost nothing to hold back someone who was talented and motivated.
I almost feel like I got cheated as what I thought work was going to be like basically doesn't exist unless you found your own company.
I actually feel like it was easier in many ways back then. There were fewer resources, yes, but also fewer distractions, fewer decisions to get stuck paralyzed on, and fewer giants to compare myself against.
I wanted to make games that looked and played like the best games I'd played. Well, that was SimCity, which had 16x16 pixel 16 color sprites. I could draw those — not as well, but at least I had the technology available. I didn't need to be able to model, texture, rig, light, and render a 3D model.
I needed a language to program in. Well, my local Waldenbooks only had a couple of books on QuickBASIC and C. I did the former at first and then switched to the latter once I realized the former was too slow. I didn't get stuck trying to decide between C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Rust, and Python. Unity, Unreal, Löve2D, Godot, GameMaker, etc.
I needed time to focus. I didn't have Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, HN, and an endless parade of free-to-play games only a couple of clicks away. I was bored and coding filled the time.
It was lonely and limited, yes, but I believe solitude and constraints are often the most important ingredients in creative work.