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/vr/ - Retro Games

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10737967 No.10737967 [Reply] [Original]

From the mid-80s to the mid-90s, when the mouse-driven desktop GUI was still a novelty, some PC developers (mainly on the Mac and to a less extent Windows) would create point-and-click games that behaved more like applications, sharing the desktop with other software, adopting the host OS's native look and feel, and adhering to best practices for usability and consistency. This was in contrast to the typical full-screen game with its own fully custom UI, controls, and overall operation.

The most well-known examples are generic board, card, and puzzle games like Solitaire and Minesweeper that are commonly bundled with desktop environments to this day, but there were also meatier games like ICOM's MacVentures (Deja Vu, Uninvited, and Shadowgate), the original 1989 SimCity, Bungie's Pathways Into Darkness, and LucasArts's Desktop Adventures. As time went on, and as 3D action games quickly became the new core of PC gaming, these more casual point-and-click games abandoned the native windowed look-and-feel, and instead adopted a one-size-fits all approach, either going full-screen or migrating to web browsers. And the world is the poorer for it.

>> No.10738124

Weren't most PC users at the time office workers? The devs made games whose UI felt familiar.

>> No.10738134

>>10737967
The early Mac stuff basically had to work like that, as that's how programming on the Mac was at the time. Apple strongly discouraged coding "to the metal" on the Mac as it would break things later on,Archon is a good example of that.

>> No.10738136

>>10737967
Know any good Classic Mac emulators? I like these types of games. I already use DosBox for Windows 3.1 stuff.

>> No.10738154
File: 46 KB, 544x679, mac cig.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
10738154

>>10738136
mini vMac is the gold standard, it's also super easy to use. Drag and drop a disk image and you're ready to roll.

https://www.gryphel.com/c/minivmac/index.html

Keep in mind that it emulates a Mac Plus with 4MB RAM, if you want to go "newer" (mainly for color) you'll have to dick around with Basilisk II which isn't as plug and play. SheepShaver is the 3rd option, and it's mostly good for super late PowerPC Mac OS 8 & 9 stuff.

>> No.10738218

>>10738154
I used to use Basilisk II a long time ago. I downloaded the files for it from Home of the Underdogs and it wasn't too hard to figure out, but I think there was already stuff preconfigured.

>> No.10738279

>>10738124
Most PC users at the time hadn’t touched a GUI unless they were in the privileged minority of Mac users. The mouse was mostly seen as a toy until around the time of Windows 3.x and 95. Office workers were likely on MS-DOS before then.

>> No.10738309
File: 63 KB, 565x415, quenzarscaverns.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
10738309

for me, it's quenzar