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Back in my day we didn't have Gamasutra! #@$!%@! We got social through BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems) and had Acoustic modems (like you see in the movie War Games). We actually hung out face to face in enthusiast groups like HACE.(Houston Area Computer enthusiast, or [YourCity] Area Computer enthusiast)
We hung out at the local computer store. That's right. And the stores had great names like Megabyte +, or The Floppy Wizard. Who wouldn't want to go to a store called the Floppy Wizard?!? There were stores that just sold computers. Not phones, not dishwashing machines. Just computers. And people hung out there and traded information. Well, they would out smart you on just about anything from the ending of Karate Kid to why the best version of the Okidata color printer they can't afford is 'actually not that good'.
Game Development. Indie Game distribution. Open Source. Game Engines. pphhhft... Really? Get yourself a copy of Compute! and type that latest game in. That's right...type it in! Then you ran the code! And it broke! Always! But you hunted down where and how it broke. Basic had no debuggers. It just would freakin' break! Sometime the code you typed in had a bug and you had to wait until the next month to get the correction in the next issue.
I had to use the Telephone Operator to find the number for Williams/Bally/Midway to cold call their departments and look for an open position. When I applied at Williams/Bally/Midway in 1991 I took a box on my interview with an Atari ST computer so I could load up the games I created and show them. I had a graphics portfolio on multiple VHS Cassette tapes as well! The interview lasted for over an hour and I begged them to show me what they were working on. I was at last able to see the prototype for Mortal Kombat. Six months later I finally got in there as a Computer Artist, which back in those days also meant Technical artist, Designer, Tester, Lighting guy, prop holder, and a variety of other step and fetch it tasks.
It wasn't like today where there are 5000 applicants for every job and schools pumping out game developing hopefuls. But do not fret! Because back then there also were hardly any game jobs, it was really hard to find the ones that did exist and user resources where even more scarce.
One thing I have noticed is that it seems easier for one person to make a big impact (ie. Create a game) than it was in the 1990's early 2000's. This is good news for those who really want to do it. Everything you need is at your fingertips. And it is very bad news for those who are really just out there to talk, pull down a paycheck and or have other people do all the work for their 'great ideas'...but I'll save that for another OldGuyRant rant. ;)
Eric Kinkead
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I miss those days -- when you'd get an idea, plop down in front of the BASIC interpreter, and just wing it. In fact, just the other day I realized I could live that all over again if I downloaded the C-64 emulator for my wife's iPad and hooked up a keyboard...
But I agree as nostalgic as those days were, right now is definitely "the time," you can get anything you want for nothing at all, sucks as far as piracy but it's awesome as far as knowledge and connections. Getting people together to work on a project (which can actually be completed in a reasonable amount of time, and self-published in a worldwide capacity where countless people have the potential to actually see and purchase it) is something that has never existed before, and even for us whiny old men it is extremely exciting!
No free game for you! ;)
I started out play testing Apple II and TRS-80 games at Avalon Hill. Coded my first published title (Conflict 2500) on an Apple II with a cassette tape during the summer of 1980.
Yeah, it was a heck of a lot easier to get into the business in 1979. 1991 too, but by then I was already the VP of Technology at Activison.
CONFLICT 2500!!? You worked on that? MY UNCLE HAS THAT (alas I was too young to purchase anything but bubble gum at that time!) But I loved that game a lot. It was a huge influence with my cousin's Space Conquest.
http://www.hotud.org/component/content/article/37-strategy/24094
I think my uncle still has all of the Avalon Hill sotfware products. Talk about load time... We can't recover that lost time waiting for the thing to load you know!
Hats off to you sir!