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Writer's Block: Beep, Bop, Boop
Apr. 23rd, 2011 09:02 pm[Error: unknown template qotd]
We never had a video game system growing up*, but we always had a really old Apple computer (I think an Apple IIc?)-- so old the screen display wasn't in color with just the visible long skinny pixels either lit (sort of bright greenish-yellow) or unlit to create images, and with lots of beep-y sound effects. It used large, actually-floppy floppy disks. When you logged on it asked you to type in the date-- but only the last two numerals for the year, and so Tory and I got a kick out of it freaking out when we typed in the date after the year 2000, which it interpreted as 1900. All it did was tell you the date was incorrect and to please put something after 1984, but when the whole Y2K scare was going on we thought it was pretty funny.
I'm not sure what was the very first game I played on it, but I do remember the features of a few of those we played. The only one I can remember the exact title for was Donald Duck's Playground, which was probably the most complex game and none of us were very good at it, so I never thought it was particularly fun. We also had a couple educational games, one which involved several insect-themed tasks involving memory and logic, like guessing the square the bee character was under. I also remember a game like Space Invaders, but you shot down the attackers by solving arithmetic problems. It took me a while to beat it for the first time, though one time I got so close and just at the last second couldn't remember how many times 4 goes into 28. (And now every time I divide 28 by 4 of course I remember that game. Dammit). They were fun enough but I wouldn't say they were particularly riveting. (And I would get pretty annoyed when it was Tory playing the games, since they usually had repetitive "reward" music when you completed a task that was like "Fiddle-dee-dee" composed of beeps and we didn't know how to turn off the sound!).
However, Tory and I really enjoyed the greeting card/banner maker program, which wasn't a game per se but we did for fun anyway. The template for the cards was ridiculously simple-- pick a front page image (which was selected from a small menu and included things like a baby, a cat, a dog, and a sailboat), a border, a second page image, and the text-- but it left a lot of scope for the imagination, especially since after we printed them we would add color and expand on the images. And even more fun than the greeting cards themselves was peeling the holey edges off the paper once it was done printing. Tory and I would cut up the scraps and use them as tickets or currency for games we played.
At that point in time (late 1980s/early 1990s) I don't think many households had a family computer (I'm not even sure why we did?), so there was a cool novelty factor to using the computer when I was in early elementary school. However, I guess because we "already had a computer" we were a little late getting a PC like the rest of the world in time for Windows 95, and I remember that being a problem when in third grade my teacher insisted we turn in a typed report for something. (Our computer had a word processor, but the ink we needed for our printer had long since been discontinued. And considering how often Tory and I made those greeting cards, we didn't have any ink left (:). On our first PC we enjoyed games like Yukon Trail (Oregon Trail's much easier, less tragic little brother), a Crayola art program, and Comptons Encyclopedia 1996, which explains why I happen to know the tune to a lot of national anthems-- because we would look them up for fun!
But we held on to the little old Apple for quite a while, first using it as our computer up at the lake (in middle school) and then in the basement in town (in high school). I think we still have it around somewhere, I'd be curious to see if it still works. They sure don't make them like they used to! I'd like to see a computer today made to last over 20 years.
We never had a video game system growing up*, but we always had a really old Apple computer (I think an Apple IIc?)-- so old the screen display wasn't in color with just the visible long skinny pixels either lit (sort of bright greenish-yellow) or unlit to create images, and with lots of beep-y sound effects. It used large, actually-floppy floppy disks. When you logged on it asked you to type in the date-- but only the last two numerals for the year, and so Tory and I got a kick out of it freaking out when we typed in the date after the year 2000, which it interpreted as 1900. All it did was tell you the date was incorrect and to please put something after 1984, but when the whole Y2K scare was going on we thought it was pretty funny.
*My little brother now has a Wii, but he got it just before I moved out. Pretty sure that doesn't count. And can I just say sometimes it feels like Neil grew up in a totally different family/household than I did? He got a video game system, got to stay up until like 9 or 10 pm in middle school, got snacks whenever he felt like eating them . . . Harrumph!
I'm not sure what was the very first game I played on it, but I do remember the features of a few of those we played. The only one I can remember the exact title for was Donald Duck's Playground, which was probably the most complex game and none of us were very good at it, so I never thought it was particularly fun. We also had a couple educational games, one which involved several insect-themed tasks involving memory and logic, like guessing the square the bee character was under. I also remember a game like Space Invaders, but you shot down the attackers by solving arithmetic problems. It took me a while to beat it for the first time, though one time I got so close and just at the last second couldn't remember how many times 4 goes into 28. (And now every time I divide 28 by 4 of course I remember that game. Dammit). They were fun enough but I wouldn't say they were particularly riveting. (And I would get pretty annoyed when it was Tory playing the games, since they usually had repetitive "reward" music when you completed a task that was like "Fiddle-dee-dee" composed of beeps and we didn't know how to turn off the sound!).
However, Tory and I really enjoyed the greeting card/banner maker program, which wasn't a game per se but we did for fun anyway. The template for the cards was ridiculously simple-- pick a front page image (which was selected from a small menu and included things like a baby, a cat, a dog, and a sailboat), a border, a second page image, and the text-- but it left a lot of scope for the imagination, especially since after we printed them we would add color and expand on the images. And even more fun than the greeting cards themselves was peeling the holey edges off the paper once it was done printing. Tory and I would cut up the scraps and use them as tickets or currency for games we played.
*We didn't use the banner function very often, since the banners would stretch across like twelve sheets of paper. (But honestly, those old paper reams were way more useful for making banners than the modern 8x11 sheets that are standard now!). My parents made one to celebrate the birth of my sister, and at the same time made one for me with cats on it reading "WE LOVE AMY!" so that I wouldn't be jealous. I had it up in my room until I moved out!-- and I still have it saved (:
At that point in time (late 1980s/early 1990s) I don't think many households had a family computer (I'm not even sure why we did?), so there was a cool novelty factor to using the computer when I was in early elementary school. However, I guess because we "already had a computer" we were a little late getting a PC like the rest of the world in time for Windows 95, and I remember that being a problem when in third grade my teacher insisted we turn in a typed report for something. (Our computer had a word processor, but the ink we needed for our printer had long since been discontinued. And considering how often Tory and I made those greeting cards, we didn't have any ink left (:). On our first PC we enjoyed games like Yukon Trail (Oregon Trail's much easier, less tragic little brother), a Crayola art program, and Comptons Encyclopedia 1996, which explains why I happen to know the tune to a lot of national anthems-- because we would look them up for fun!
But we held on to the little old Apple for quite a while, first using it as our computer up at the lake (in middle school) and then in the basement in town (in high school). I think we still have it around somewhere, I'd be curious to see if it still works. They sure don't make them like they used to! I'd like to see a computer today made to last over 20 years.
