Weekly Links #79

You know how every time somebody points out sexism in games, people point at the traditional, stereotypical audience composed of horny frustrated boys? Never mind those are now a minority of people who play (no, I won't use the 'g' word). But as it turns out, even that audience is bothered by sexist games. So much for that myth. I'm beginning to suspect the real brodudes in gaming are in fact part of a very specific (and older) age group. Identify it, and you'll know where they come from.

In other news, Jimmy Maher writes about an 8-bit, 2D game that was essentially like Second Life, except 15 years earlier. It's a fascinating read, both for people who don't get what's so hard about making a MMORPG, and for those who think anarchy is a good idea.

While it's all about old games, it turns out there are people who still make arcade-style pseudo-3D racing games. Note the remarks on cutting features to fit the target system. Gee, turns out I wasn't crazy after all.

And if people still making games like in the 1980es blew your mind, wait until you read about this developer who ported his brand-new game to DOS. Cue more writing about optimization, and cutting stuff when nothing else works — also in order to fit a game on a mobile device with limited resources.

You see, making games like in the old days isn't about nostalgia. It's about all the hardware we have right now that people actually use, for all kinds of reasons, and that's not a multi-thousand-dollar gaming PC. Not to mention that the latter aren't getting any faster these days, either, while software keeps getting bulkier.

Code smartly, folks.