The modern gaming industry boasts projects with colorful graphics, hours of gameplay, a variety of genres and so on. But few people turned to history and know which games it all started with. An important role in the formation of the current industry was played by the Space Invaders project (the original name was Space Monsters). Let's talk about the history of the creation of the game and its impact on society.
Background
To begin with, the development was handled by the famous Japanese programmer Tomohiro Nishikado. The history of creation originates 6 years before the release of the mentioned game. Mechanical entertainment called Space Monsters formed the basis of the future hit. Already at that time, children could spend hours playing this simple game. As conceived by the creators, the player should shoot gradually approaching enemies. Opponents come in waves, so gamers need to hold out a certain number of levels.
Inspired by the game Space Monsters and similar counterparts for automata (yes, the game "Space Invaders" did not become an innovator in the genre, but it was it that received the most recognition), Tomohiro set about creating his project, which was released in 1978. The game was released on machines from Taito. It is also noteworthy that the arcade and the device itself were a single whole, since the gameplay and equipment was created by Nishikado himself.
History of creation
The developer claims that his game was influenced by another project called Breakout, from which the mechanics and gameplay were taken. The choice of space subjects was made thanks to Star Wars, and the design of monsters was influenced by the War of the Worlds. Opponents in the "Space Invaders" are a mixture of crabs and star ships. Initially, the creator wanted to diversify the gameplay with several types of enemies, but did not figure out how to fit their movement on one field, so he abandoned the idea. With a similar concept, improved graphics and animations, Space Invaders went on sale.
Game device
In addition to the ideological and technical implementation of the game, it was necessary to create a platform from scratch. Over the year, the Japanese formed a gaming machine that worked on an Intel 8080 processor. In appearance, the device is a table in which there is an integrated display. A static picture was selected for the background of the game. In the original, this is the base on the moon.
The whole action took place on the screen. The player controlled one defender who could move between bunkers. The hero shoots from a laser cannon at slowly, but confidently approaching invaders. Every five waves, the speed of approach of enemies to the Earth increased. The death of a character is inevitable, only how many waves he can hold out depends on the player. The results were compared by the number of points.
Impact on the industry
It was enough for several months for the game "Space Invaders" to become the most popular in Japan. The manufacturer of automatic machines Taito released more than 100 thousand copies in the first years for the domestic market. About 60 thousand machines were sold in the United States.
It is worth noting that the popularity of Space Invaders is also attributed to the shortage of Japanese coins with a face value of 100 yen (this is how much you need to pay the slot machine for one attempt). According to official figures, the project brought the creators more than $ 500 million. All over the world, these slot machines are currently the subject of a collection.
The arcade "Space Invaders" appeared a lot of followers and imitators. The original has been reprinted many times and released on several platforms. They even include modern smartphones and Nintendo portable consoles. The original game had several sequels, which also became collectible and especially rare. The entire Space Invaders series was reissued in an anniversary version in 2003 for the Play Station 2 console. Until now, this project is an example of a high-quality and revolutionary game that has left an indelible mark on the history of computer entertainment.