Deep Dive: The making of Colossal Cave
Game Developer Deep Dives are an ongoing series with the goal of shedding light on specific design, art, or technical features within a video game in order to show how seemingly simple, fundamental design decisions aren’t really that simple at all.
Earlier installments cover topics such as the scientific modeling behind the irrigation and water systems of Timberborn, how the 2D art of Songs of Glimmerwick benefited from a 3D art pipeline, and how the synergy between art and audio disciplines and a solid base of real-world data formed a surprisingly faithful televised broadcast experience in F1 Manager 2022.
In this edition, Ken Williams, co-founder of Sierra On-Line and Cygnus Entertainment, gives practical advice for game developers against the backdrop of Colossal Cave's multiplatform remaking.
Yesterday my wife, Roberta Williams, said to me, "I know what your next project should be!" I cautiously asked, "what?" assuming she had some new idea for a game. Instead, she said, "This isn’t the right time, but perhaps starting next summer you could write a book about, 'The Making or the Remaking of Colossal Cave.'" I thought about it for a few minutes and realized she was right. Colossal Cave has been an unusual project, and there are lessons from the project that would be valuable for others.
As I am writing this, the story is still unfolding. Arguably our game has not yet launched. We released the PC versions of the game and the first of our VR versions. We've also released a couple of console versions. Over the coming months, we’ll be adding PlayStation 5, Xbox series X|S, iOS, Android, Pico VR, Steam VR, and more to the list of releases. We’ve also been busy updating the initial release of the game to patch bugs, and to
Read more on gamedeveloper.com
