Talking with game designers of the present and of the past
While it is universally recognized that games are not a “boys only” club, especially nowadays, it is difficult to deny an originally predominant male presence. Today, the situation is – fortunately – quite different, so much so that in certain countries, female gamers are quite more numerous than their male counterpart. Thus, it is important…
If there is one thing to be learned from many of the stories of Italian software houses is that developing games in the 80s was quite difficult. But even harder was finding a publisher, as there was no way anybody could find a public with DIY. In researching the history of Idea Software and the…
The Genesis Temple Podcast – Season 2 Since the first season of the podcast seemed to be appreciated by many people, I decided to soldier with The Genesis Temple Podcast season 2! I really did not expect to be able to talk to so many people that I had been following for a while. I…
Among several of the early Italian software houses from the 80s and 90s, Genias Software seems to be quite the exception. From day one, the company intended to actually cater to the audience’s tastes, not limiting their potential audience to national borders but, instead, keen on exporting games all over Europe and the United States.…
Everyone can identify that one definitive moment, the tiny magic second when a game managed to turn them from a casual part-timer into a full-time passionate gamer. Perhaps that passion, over the years, has been replaced by something else, but that hardly factors in this discussion. What matters is that mystical moment where everything else…
When I first ventured into the story of Trecision and found the name of Rick Gush mentioned by some of the developers, I did wonder. What was one of the writers of games like Dune II, Lands of Lore II and The Legend of Kyrandia doing in Italy, working for a relatively small and little known…
In my Interview with Larry Ahern Part 2, with the former Lucasarts graphic and designer we discuss the failed Full Throttle follow-up, his decision (and subsequent regret) to work with Microsoft, the indie experience with Insecticide and, finally, his time at Disney. Click here for the first part of the interview. Following up a success Hello…
In the 90s, Italian software houses struggled: from Simulmondo to Trecision, everyone was trying their hardest to stay afloat and Light Shock Software was no exception. The Italian market, despite the overall okay sales numbers, was always small, providing little funds and visibility to those that tried their hand at developing games. Also, even after…
John Holder was the founder of Leader, in 1987, which would go on to be among the major publishers of video games in Italy. But Holder had been working earlier than that, being the first to bring Mastertronic games in Italy and trying to organise a legitimate distribution of software, something that – at least…
After its first steps in a difficult industry plagued by piracy, as observed in the second part of the retrospective, Trecision managed to release two titles internationally, Nightlong and The Watchmaker, but crisis seemed to strike the studio between 1999 and 2000. In the history of Trecision part III we will see how, with making a fully…