Game Development Giant - Chapter 829

c823 The evolution of the handle

In fact, this problem is not complicated. Before the advent of Kinect, this was also called a fantasy. However, since the advent of Kinect, although the handle has not been cancelled, this statement is no longer a fantasy that has been ridiculed.

But it is something that is very likely to be done in the near future.

But it’s just that many players don’t realize this. But having said that, game controllers have been born since the day the game was born. At Brookhaven National Laboratory, Dr. William Singibson’s two-player online game was With the knob-style controller, even that simple two-player online game has many more visitors than other projects in this world-class top nuclear physics laboratory.

To be precise, according to Gibson’s later recollections, he originally used an oscilloscope to make this two-player tennis game just to give visitors something to adjust. However, he did not expect that the number of people who came to try out this two-player online game at that time would be Much more than all other projects combined.

Of course, according to Jester’s memory, this oscilloscope double tennis ball was later permanently collected by Brookhaven National Laboratory. Decades later, when you visit Brookhaven, you can visit this world’s first truly meaningful oscilloscope. This happened again when Jester was discussing the history of the development of video games with people on a forum, and one of his friends happened to be an intern at Brookhaven.

I heard about their laboratory’s glorious tradition in video games, so I took the initiative to go look for it and even took a group photo.

In fact, the handle has evolved from two-player online games, to later light guns, and FPS… It seems that it is more appropriate to call it a handheld game controller. This is a very magical little thing.

When we play shooting games, it is the gun in our hands. With a slight press of the button, “we” on the screen will pull the trigger and pour bullets at the enemies blocking us; when we play flying games, it is us. Joystick in hand. With it, we can soar and fight in the blue sky, making us feel that we are in the cockpit of an F16 fighter jet, rather than in a small room; when we play racing games, it is the steering wheel in our hands. Although our position has not actually moved half a minute, we still feel the pleasure of riding in a Ferrari sports car.

This wonderful thing is a game controller.

The handle is just one of them.

One moment, the game controller is the gun in your hand, helping you knock down the enemies blocking your way; the other moment, it is the sword in your hand, killing ugly monsters for you; the next moment, it is the hand of the magician. Summon lightning bolts.

Perhaps it is because game controllers are so ordinary and common. Although many players are familiar with various games and game consoles, they know little about game controllers. At present, articles about game controllers may stay at the level of introduction and explanation, and rarely discuss the rules of the development of game controllers; or they may be too professional, making it difficult for ordinary people to understand except for people working in related industries.

In fact, Jester is very interested in the history of the controller that accompanies his gaming career.

In the final analysis, the controller is a tool, a tool that facilitates players to interact with video games, in many cases. Without a controller, there is no way to play the game.

There is a movie with an interesting title.

He explained the evolution of the most important thing in the history of human civilization – tools.

There is such a scene in this movie.

As the ancient ape threw up the bone rod in his hand, the camera turned to a spaceship sailing among the stars – this is a classic scene in the famous movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”, covering millions of years of human history. Evolution. Human beings have gone through a process from simple to complex, from being covered in long hair and walking hunched over, to losing their hair and walking upright. At the same time, the tools used by humans have also undergone astonishing changes, such as bone rods to spacecrafts. evolution.

In fact, the development of any tool is like this, from being extremely simple. It is extremely precise, and the handle is the same.

Game controllers, like other tools invented by humans, also have a complex and tortuous evolutionary history.

So what is a handle or a game controller?

Any tool needs to set a standard. Otherwise, wouldn’t it mean that we don’t even understand what kind of thing is called a game controller? And what exactly is a game controller?

It’s easy to say it’s simple, and it’s not complicated to say it’s complicated.

If Kinect represents a new controller, then what does a traditional controller look like?

Jester feels that it must at least meet the following characteristics.

First of all, the first is that when using it, the key operation is mainly used, which is the characteristic of the operation method. Otherwise, why would we call it tradition? Secondly, it appears early, and thirdly, it has a wide range of applications. The first two are easy to understand, and there is no misunderstanding. Thirdly, the third point is still worth explaining.

The so-called wide range of application means that this game controller does not “pick” games and can meet the operating needs of most games, not just limited to certain types of games. For example, the light gun appeared very early, and its operation is mainly based on buttons. However, except for some specific shooting games, it is not capable of operating other games – has anyone seen using a light gun to play “Super Mario” – Therefore, it cannot be included in the scope of traditional game controllers.

However, not all traditional game controllers meet these three standards. For example, the knob controller does not use button operations as its main operation method. However, because it appeared early and was widely used as the default game in the first generation of game consoles, controller, so it is still classified as a traditional game controller.

Local materials were the beginning of the use of tools by primitive humans. Before the birth of specialized game controllers, the controllers used in games and even the game console, the carrier on which the entire game is run, were all “local materials”.

The birth of video games was mainly due to some extremely bored programmers writing some small programs for entertainment for various reasons. Maybe we can’t figure out which came first, the chicken or the egg, even after writing several big monographs, but you don’t need a genius to understand that the birth of games preceded game consoles.

Without eggs, there would be no chickens, and without chickens, there would naturally be no chicken wings. That is to say, the handles as the saying goes – specialized game controllers only appeared after the emergence of specialized game consoles.

Since there is no specialized control equipment, the earliest batch of games can only use the spirit of “use-ism”, imitating the apes who picked up bone sticks and using local materials, and using some existing equipment as game controllers.

People born in the 1980s may still remember the old black and white TV set at home, with two knobs for selecting channels and adjusting the volume.

Knobs are generally used to operate various instruments such as radios, televisions, oscilloscopes, etc. But in 1947, Thomas T. Ditch Smith II and Estor Lehman patented the “Cathode Ray Tube Entertainment Device”, which became a game controller. Yes, it was a game controller at the beginning. scientific name. It’s called a cathode ray tube entertainment device.

The “Cathode Ray Tube Entertainment Device” is an entertainment device that simulates missile launch. Players can control the missile’s route and speed through multiple knobs.

This is the earliest recorded game with a separate game controller.

As mentioned before, “Tennis for Two” designed by physicist William Hint Gibson for the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York in 1958 is generally considered to be the first graphical display electronic game. Two box-shaped controllers with track control knobs and a hitting button are used as game controllers. Be popular with visitors.

The world’s first electronic game console “Odyssey” (Odyssey), released in 1972, and its predecessor “Brown Box” (Brown Box) also used devices with knobs as game controllers. If any of you are fans of the comic “Doraemon”, you may remember scenes of playing video games that appeared in certain episodes, in which the game consoles used knob controllers.

Thinking about the era when Doraemon appeared, it is not difficult to find out why this is so.

This is the prototype of the traditional joystick – the prototype of the knob controller.

But just like human civilization likes to distinguish between the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, etc., tools are constantly evolving during development. Not only the game console itself, but also the controller are becoming more and more Close to the people.

After the knob controller. It’s a joystick controller.

The joystick, also known as the “George Stick”, is said to have been invented and named by several French pilots in the early 20th century. The reason why it can replace the knob controller is simple, that is, it is practical to use. It is much more comfortable and flexible than a knob controller. Therefore, second-generation game consoles generally use joysticks as game controllers. At this time, the joystick is often called a joystick.

The famous Atari 2600 was equipped with a joystick with one button and a set of battle joysticks. There was also the Magna~vox Odyssey 2 in 1978, which abandoned the outdated knob-type controller. Use a joystick that is easier to operate instead.

Moreover, joystick controllers are widely used in arcade machines. This is also generally considered to be the most suitable control method for arcade games, especially in fighting games. Even decades later, using a joystick to play fighting games is no exception for any fighting game, especially some fighting games with strict judgments.

For example, the famous “Blue Wings” or “Guilty Gear” from the same company.

What followed was the game controller that is familiar to almost all players – now or in the future, it has almost become a symbol of game controllers, and the controller can even be abstractly represented as representing games.

For example, if it is represented by an icon. Let anyone know from the first moment they see it that this is about the game, and there is nothing more appropriate than a game controller.

The most classic controller, which can also be said to be the prototype of all subsequent controllers, comes from Gunpei Yokoi, the former director of Nintendo’s first development department, the inventor of the cross-key controller, and now the handheld development department of Mars Entertainment. director.

He pioneered the cross key on GW and carried it forward on FC.

This is really a classic in the history of gaming. The FC controller is the first dedicated game controller to set the direction controller on the left side. From actual experience, for the majority of right-handers, using the left hand Directional control seems to be more comfortable. Its unique cross-shaped direction controller is easy to use and precise in positioning. In addition, when players use the FC controller, their left hand is responsible for direction control and their right hand is responsible for button operations. The reasonable division of labor improves the efficiency and comfort of operation. To this day, most game controllers still follow these designs, which shows how excellent they are.

There is another type of game control, that is, keyboard and mouse, but there is no need to discuss this in detail.

Because the keyboard and mouse were not developed specifically for playing games, playing games is only one of their functions, and it is a less important function.

The reason why a game controller is called a game controller is that its main or all functions are used to play games.

Somatosensory games will be completely different from these traditional game control modes. Moreover, developing somatosensory games is also a new thing for Mars Entertainment. Designers must be very clear about what they can do in a somatosensory environment. What can we do to make a fun game in this environment?

If Miyamoto Shigeru and his intelligence development team could not fully understand the performance and functions of the WII, then the “Super Horse Silver” series would be impossible to talk about.

For games like Super Horse Silver, technical problems are easily solved. In fact, the Mario series is not known for its outstanding technology. It is most famous for its level design. The unique levels are All the best of the Mario series.

Many people in later generations like to criticize games for their bad graphics. For example, players of Fallout 4 like to say that the graphics are not what they play in Fallout.

But the graphics are actually the least worthy of criticism. A game with a bad graphics does not mean it will be criticized. A game is criticized not because of its poor graphics, but because it is mediocre in all aspects, and the graphics are the worst.

For example, Nintendo’s games are recognized as having garbage graphics, but why doesn’t anyone criticize them?

Because for Nintendo, a full-screen mosaic represents full-screen gameplay.

It was impossible for Jester to realize the entire Super Horse Silver series. It was too difficult. He could only recall some very classic level designs, and then asked his game level team to design ideas based on these levels. Create his own level.

But now there is another question before Jester.

Will the Super Horse Silver he is going to build on the next-generation console follow the Super Balotelli series of this world? (~^~)