The first game to ever feature background images?

Started by Glenjamin, Tue 25/07/2017 02:40:48

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Glenjamin

Hey everyone,

I'm working on writing a script for an educational video series about the technical end of different aspects of game art.

I've got three episodes so far, Tilesets,sprites, and backgrounds.

It's always good to include a little history, s does anyone know what the first video game to use a background image was? (Not including tilesets arranged to form a background)


milkanannan


Glenjamin

QuoteMaybe Mystery House?

I think you've got it, or at least you've got me on the right track.

This is really interesting, as the game has backgrounds, but the color depth and complexity led me to believe that they were created via vectors, instead of a single bitmap image.

However, it was released for the appleII, which was capable of displaying composite artifact colors, AKA 8-bit territory, implying sprites and image files. (Even though the term sprites didn't even exist yet)

Also, one of the creators mentioned drawing 2D images, which I'm not entirely sure what that could imply considering the image creating capability of computers at the time.

milkanannan

Yeah I think the graphics were drawn with that LOGO turtle. Remember that? (laugh) Flashbacks to Grade 3 computer class!

Gilbert

Yeah. Mystery House uses vector graphics to save space, as is the case with the other Sierra Hi-res adventure games.
Also(if you don't know this already), ALL AGI games use vector backgrounds. This is also the case for most of the SCI games. I think at least most of the SCI1.x games use vector backgrounds, and probably they did not start using straight bitmaps until the 256 colour games (KQ5, SQ4) kicked in. That they looked so good was simply a case of craftsmanship.

Snarky

#5
Back in the day, when computers were slow, you could sometimes see the backgrounds being drawn element by element when you changed screen.

BTW, Mystery House was probably the first adventure game with backgrounds, but hardly the first video game in general. In early computer gaming it is hard to define "background" specifically. Is the labyrinth in Pac-Man a background? If so, the 1952 game OXO displayed a grid for playing tic-tac-toe.

Glenjamin

So mystery house used vectors, and it's safe to say we didn't start seeing full bitmap backgrounds until 8-bit color depth was available.

Of course I could go back to when games were made with radar equipment but I think it's a bit out of focus for the short video.

QuoteIn early computer gaming it is hard to define "background" specifically.

Good point. I think out best bet is to narrow it down as much as possible, and define it as the use of a bitmap image, as that's the kind I'll be instructing about.

I'll be sure to mention the vectors and mystery house too, it's really interesting.

I'm still researching, I'll let you guys know any neat stuff I find.


Snarky

Quote from: Glenjamin on Tue 25/07/2017 17:20:40
Good point. I think out best bet is to narrow it down as much as possible, and define it as the use of a bitmap image, as that's the kind I'll be instructing about.

You can talk only about bitmap graphics if you want, but a background is a background whether it's made with bitmaps or not (and some bitmap-style backgrounds are made with tilesets and some "vector graphic" tricks, BTW).

The limitation in the early days was storage and memory: even in a low resolution like 160x100, a full-screen 16-color bitmap image takes up 8 kB â€" and the Atari 2600 originally only had 4 kB of storage on each cartridge. Only by the mid 80s do bitmap graphics for game backgrounds start to make sense over just storing the drawing instructions.

Incidentally, the Magnavox Odyssey (first video game console) used printed plastic sheets that you stuck onto your TV screen to provide "backgrounds" (or foregrounds, rather) to the games, since its graphical rendering capability was limited to three dots and a vertical line.

Glenjamin

QuoteHere are two Amiga games from 1985 that used bitmaps: http://www.lemonamiga.com/games/list.php?&list_year=1986&list_year_option=less&list_genre=Adventure

Thanks, It's probably the closest thing to what I was originally looking for, even though I have a lot more info to include now!(laugh)

QuoteOnly by the mid 80s do bitmap graphics for game backgrounds start to make sense over just storing the drawing instructions.

That's a really interesting point, I failed to take into account system memory and file sizes.

I might make an entire video about the history of backgrounds alone, there's so much information.

Gilbert

Quote from: Glenjamin on Tue 25/07/2017 17:20:40
So mystery house used vectors, and it's safe to say we didn't start seeing full bitmap backgrounds until 8-bit color depth was available.
No. LOADs of games use bitmapped backgrounds. Better say, MOST games on computers used bitmapped backgrounds in fact, be it on Apple ][, or PC with CGA, EGA or monochrome graphics. I just meant that early Sierra games used vectors.

Danvzare

Isn't Pong the first game with a background?
It had a line down the middle which served no purpose other than to serve as a backdrop. There you go, the very first background is on Pong.

Snarky

No, Spacewar! had already used a starfield as a backdrop a decade earlier, in 1962.

Danvzare

Quote from: Snarky on Wed 26/07/2017 13:45:56
No, Spacewar! had already used a starfield as a backdrop a decade earlier, in 1962.
Ah see, there's always something that came out earlier.
Also, thanks for the extra bit of knowledge. I've never heard of Spacewar before, but after looking it up, that game definitely has a background. (nod)

Mandle

Quote from: manifest class on Tue 25/07/2017 04:34:03
Yeah I think the graphics were drawn with that LOGO turtle. Remember that? (laugh) Flashbacks to Grade 3 computer class!

Flashbacks for me to junior high-school computer class:

The project was simply to draw a picture in LOGO, but what I did was make a screen split into four quarters with a picture in each quarter. And two of them were animated: A stick-figure dude swinging a golf club, which was just a repeated loop of draw-vector/erase-vector until the club hit the ball and then just another easy draw/erase loop until the 1 pixel ball left the frame. The other was a ticking clock where the second hand went through 8 frames per full rotation using the same draw-erase trick.

But I remember being held back after class by the teacher and made to explain to him how I had managed to do animation in a "static" drawing program...

And I remember his big beaming smile when he figured out what I had done, and also the perfect score I got on a class that nobody took seriously in 1982 except maybe him and me... 

milkanannan

Quote from: Mandle on Thu 27/07/2017 13:24:02
Quote from: manifest class on Tue 25/07/2017 04:34:03
Yeah I think the graphics were drawn with that LOGO turtle. Remember that? (laugh) Flashbacks to Grade 3 computer class!

Flashbacks for me to junior high-school computer class:

The project was simply to draw a picture in LOGO, but what I did was make a screen split into four quarters with a picture in each quarter. And two of them were animated: A stick-figure dude swinging a golf club, which was just a repeated loop of draw-vector/erase-vector until the club hit the ball and then just another easy draw/erase loop until the 1 pixel ball left the frame. The other was a ticking clock where the second hand went through 8 frames per full rotation using the same draw-erase trick.

But I remember being held back after class by the teacher and made to explain to him how I had managed to do animation in a "static" drawing program...

And I remember his big beaming smile when he figured out what I had done, and also the perfect score I got on a class that nobody took seriously in 1982 except maybe him and me... 

That's awesome. Nice to hear your teacher was humble enough to recognise and award your ingenuity. :)

Mandle

Quote from: manifest class on Fri 28/07/2017 03:56:35
That's awesome. Nice to hear your teacher was humble enough to recognise and award your ingenuity. :)

Yeah, he was a cool guy and a total geek, back when "cool" and "geek" couldn't belong in the same sentence... (laugh)

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