Okay, game history 101 here.

  • Woz created Breakout. He then went on to create the Apple line of computers.
  • Nishikado took Breakout and extrapolated it into Space Invaders.
  • After Ed Logg updated Breakout into Super Breakout, he took SpaceWar! and extrapolated it into Asteroids.
  • Asteroids and Space Invaders each has more of an overt narrative structure than its predecessors. In the former there is a complex and ever-shifting set of goals and a gameworld that changes with every decision the player makes. In the latter there is a distinct, inevitable progression toward a story-based conclusion. These two models effectively shape the American and Japanese schools of design, the former eventually leading to the open-ended, procedural, and sandbox design we see over here and the latter leading through Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Super Mario Bros., to the linear, controlled design we tend to see over there.
  • Yeah, the whole deal with Activision and Electronic Arts was that they were positioning their designers as individual authors. That was the focus of their advertising campaigns. The whole premise of Activision was that authors wanted individual credit. The whole premise of EA was, well, right in the company’s name. They packaged their early games like records, and publicized their authors like rock stars.

If you can’t follow along, that’s your fault. Not mine. So back the fuck off.