Blinded by the light
Tracing the early history of video game visuality and programming practices
Programming is not just about instructing computers, but also about encoding human culture into software. In video games, game mechanics micro parts called ludemes are crucial, equally manifesting in both code and aesthetics to create playable digital experiences. The 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of home game development and professional game design, leading to intense focus on understanding, developing and using ludemes effectively towards such ends.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​1
How did techno-historic limits and programming practices in the 1980s and 1990s shape cultural encoding in video game development and the conceptualization of ludemes?2
This dissertation is framed by my general interest in programming as a meaningful human activity.3 I’m especially taken by ludic approaches to programming. The hacking away, the experimenting, tinkering, and bricolage, the creating of homebrew games and software. While this dissertation is driven by an interest in programming, this then becomes the foundation to look at how programming is applied towards video game graphics, in the coming of age of video game interfaces and their constitutive elements, ludemes.
Up to this day, little advance has been made in studying the material conditions of what makes video visuality. The difference to other visual media lies in the assemblage of computing, and the expression of productive or creative intent by video game developers. The specifics of video game visuality are deeply rooted in how human ideas must be translated into instructions that a computing system understands, and vice versa. This necessitates a mediation between the pure logic of the computer and the phenomenological experience of a playing person4. In other words, the video game image is a specific type of interface that needs to take care of a semiotic layer and offering functional affordances5, while being shaped by techno-historic limits.
General Approach
This is a paper-based dissertation. The defined scope includes four peer-reviewed and for publication accepted papers, as well as a synopsis that together form the deliverable thesis. To pursue my research, I bring together two disciplinary domains, the digital humanities and design research, as well as two methodological approaches, which are critical code studies and visual analysis. The following outlined texts lead through the process of studying aspects of this trajectory, forming a unified answer to my overarching hypothesis.
I am associated with the digital humanities at the University of Bern, and come from a master’s in design research at the Bern University of the Arts. Besides those two domains, I’ll bring a longstanding practice as a programmer to the mix. So far, the methodology is assembled through distant viewing and reading, oral history, formal analysis of visuality and source code, case studies and source criticism. The dissertation is part of a research project, that focuses on the early history of video game design and development in Switzerland, Confoederatio Ludens.
My research concentrates on structural aspects of video games as a combination of computing and creative expression, particularly focusing on the era of the 1980s and 1990s and the visuality of video games. I attempt to highlight the democratization of digital creation with the advent of affordable microcomputers for the home. This means I will explore the role of programming in video game development, noting its challenges and its evolution as a valuable skill over the past decades and raise questions about why developers choose to code as a medium for creative expression in video game images, compared to other forms of media.
Articles
1. Mapping the Territory
Distant viewing the history of video game interfaces from 1970 to 1990; Inquiring the relation of the games’ with their platforms (means) as well as the larger history of interfaces (discourse).
2. Critical Code Studies
Digital games are different from other software like databases or demoscene intros because they’re meant to be played. Ludemes, game mechanics’ micro parts equally expressed in code and visuals, are key to making games what they are. In the 1980s and -90s, game creators had to be inventive to implement these on limited computers, which shaped how we think about making video games.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​6
How can critical code studies illuminate the relationship between ludemes and their implementation in 1980s and -90s video game source code, and what does this reveal about the evolving vocabulary of early video game programming conceptualization?
3. Visuality
Video game graphics in the 1980s and -90s became more creative, but still had to be accessible for players to understand and use. These graphics were closely tied to how the game worked and what the technology could do at the time. Small visual elements in games, called ludemes, had to connect players with the game’s underlying rules, so they were created to fit both what players saw and how the game actually worked.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​7
“How did the aesthetic and functional constraints of 1980s and -90s video game graphics shape the implementation of ludemes, and what impact did this have on video game developing practices?“
4. tbd
Schedule
| ID | Paper | Where | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Intersecting video game studies and digital humanities | ||
| 1 | Observing the Coming of Age of Video Game Graphics | JOHD | Fall 2024 |
| 2 | Conceptualizing Video Game Programming in the 1980s and -90s | Spring 2025 | |
| 3 | Expanding on the Video Game Image as Interface | Fall 2025 | |
| 4 | Case Studies | Spring 2026 |
Events
… where I have presented parts of my dissertation research.
Research Material
Data I produced, that I rely on in my research, papers and presentations.
| What | Where used | State |
|---|---|---|
| Some finished, some ongoing | ||
| Ludens Wikidata Corpus | Finished, has potential | |
| FAVR+ Ontology | A handful of pixels of blood Expanding on the Video Game Image as Interface | Finished, needs dissemination |
| Ludens Image Corpus | Bootstrapped, needs more material | |
| Video Game History Screenshot Dataset | Observing the Coming of Age of Video Game Graphics | Finished, has potential |
| Ludens Source Code Corpus | Conceptualizing Video Game Programming in the 1980s and -90s | To do |
Case Studies
Footnotes
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I have some of the text above in more dense and unnecessarily complex versions: Programming isn’t merely the mechanical instruction of a machine, but also the multimodal encoding of human culture in software. Regarding digital games, ludemes, game mechanics micro parts that equally manifest in code and aesthetics, play an essential role in encoding game culture and make digital games what they are - playable experiences. The 1980s and -90s marked the arrival of homebrew video games culture, the professionalization of video game development - and an intense time for the conceptualization of ludemes as a vocabulary that translates between the possibilities of computers, the intentions of video game developers and the players’ experiences. ↩
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To what extent were the technological foundations and the materiality of video games intertwined and implicit in influencing and shaping programming practices of early video game visuality? How did video game developers leverage programming to shape the interface of early video games, and what implications did their approaches hold for the intersection of technology and visuality in video game development? ↩
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Most often, programming is seen as a very utilitarian practice, a means to an end. This is of course true as well, but it doesn’t encompass programming in its entirety. Programming is a very specific and unique way of production, with outcomes that can massively differ in terms of cultural value. People are drawn to programming by more than just an economic impetus. Reasons for peoples’ motivation to code can include socialization, technological affinity, feeling that programming is fitting ways of being oneself, thinking and creating, and it most often includes experiencing programming as a meaningful activity. ↩
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Which is neatly expressed in Berry’s Computational Image and Khaled’s and Barr’s Bidirectional Framing ↩
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I think the interface in video games always in relation to the very abstract processes in the computer, and how software and video game developers need to understand and access those processes. So not only a translation of one’s intentions into the computer, but also the translation of these computational processes into the phenomenological experience of the user/player. Here I found the work The Philosophy of Software very helpful. He’s talking about a mediation that translates between the human experience and the absolute logic of the computer. I’ve collected a few thoughts on this in Thinking about Images and Software and What is the Video Game Image? ↩
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Although being of the same software-based nature, digital games differ fundamental in their functionality from database applications or cracker scene demos, due to being intended of being a playable experience. Ludemes, game mechanics micro parts that equally manifest in code and aesthetics, play an essential role in this differentiation. How ludemes are realized is not a given, but necessitated finding creative solutions to encode the developers’ intent within the technological constraints of 1980s microcomputers, akin to the conceptualization of a vocabulary of video game creation. ↩
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Although video game graphics in the 1980s enjoyed ever-growing freedom in exploring visual conventions, they still had to offer affordances towards playability. As interfaces, and through their constituting elements, they can’t be decoupled from their functionality and technological base, but must be read in tandem with those. Especially ludemes, game mechanics micro parts that equally manifest in code and as visual elements, have to meditate between players and the games underlying computational logic, and are thus framed and shaped by such. ↩