Timothy Cain said that old games had to be focused and hyper-efficient.
Timothy Cain, one of the co-creators of the Fallout series, shared his thoughts on the key strengths of 1980s video games and what modern titles could learn from them.
The creator expressed his opinion in a new video on his YouTube channel, responding to a question from one of the players. The question was about what we can learn from old games and whether there is any "lost wisdom" among them. In response to the second part, Timothy Cain gave a definitive "yes."
The developer recalled games from the 1980s, his teenage years, and noted that the games had a lot of limitations: there were no standards in hardware, software, or design. "The games were really focused because they had to be," Tim Cain said. According to the developer, the main problem of today's games might be that they "don't know what they want to be." The dev said, "They try to be everything to everyone."
Nintendo
Because of the limitations in memory and processing power, old games had "hyper-efficient code," which determined whether the game would run at all. "It was you write efficient code or your game doesn't work on the Atari console." Apart from this, the gameplay was also highly focused – you were always playing and didn't spend time on "watching the game show you things." There were no five-minute cutscenes, and the narrative elements were brief. The overall story of a game could be summed up in a minute or two and usually centered on a simple task – rescuing someone or finding an artifact.
The developer noted that today's indie games often share some of those traits and stay focused, as they are often created by a single person. In his opinion, the key is to make a project that is simple, focused, and extremely well-executed – without adding too many extra elements.
Timothy Cain often shares his industry experience and thoughts on game development. Before, he talked about game preservation, making sequels to his games, discussed his studio's pitch for Baldur's Gate 3, and shared insights into the Fallout franchise.
You can find more of the developer's videos on his YouTube channel.
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