Video Games in the High Kingdoms
Video Games are a major industry in the High Kingdoms, the country is considered one of the most influential in video-gaming. The High Kingdoms has the largest video games sector worldwide and the 3rd largest video game market. Its growth as an industry is attached to the rise of the hacker subculture in universities, in contrast with the rise of video-game industries of Fazar and Ginsukyo, which came as a result of conventional corporations.
The Alaxian Board of Entertainment Classification and the Software Entertainment Federation are jointly responsible for rating video games as well as resolving disputes or organizing reviews. The SEF also extends it's purpose to organizing various events, funding development and encourage artistic quality in games. Being one of the pioneers in video games, the High Kingdoms are home to many video game publishers and developers; like: [PLACEHOLDER NAMES]. It is also headquarters to some multinational publishers such as [PLACEHOLDER], Masscalc Arts. and DNP Inc.
It is also the home of many prestigious award ceremonies such as the Royal Game Awards, the Mazrekhara and the Yoitau Awards. Major International gaming events are also held in the High Kingdoms, such as the Games Week of the SEF, held in the renowned Astellon Hall, AJAX and Estado 100. Yoitau Developers Expo is the world's premier video games conference for developers and publishers, while the Royal Game Awards was one of the most watched events in 2526 with around 120 million concurrent viewers.
The High Kingdoms video games industry employs around 126,000 people spread across around 36 publishers, over a thousand companies and many more freelance developers or small organizations. Many innovations has helped the video game industry. Chief amongst them is the development and adoption of the AN+ programming language, the Casemate Operating system and the series of early computers by Alo!
History[edit | edit source]
Early History (2450s-2470s)[edit | edit source]
The early 50s saw a rush in computer development, spurred by large government programs. While behind in theoretical underpinnings, the High Kingdoms saw advances in it's practical application. The development of the Bentar 'computer' by NIS-II Inc. saw first computer system developed in the High Kingdoms. It also saw figures such as Adovar Kisra and Lorena Wynnfall who created fundamental advances in computing with Lorena establishing the foundations of modern computer science.
Alo!, a large electronics company created the next major computer system with the AEDP-1. This system saw itself being bought by many universities, inadvertently creating a phenomenon. Inquisitive minds within the University of Avno hacked away at the AEDP-1 software, modifying files to create 'Man in Space!', the fist verifiable game to run on a computer. The game was distributed amongst university channels and became an overnight sensation. Eventually, by the 2460s, many universities such Avno and the University of Valar opened their own computing departments.
While the 60s were marked as the golden age of Arcade Games, in the High Kingdoms, the nascent industry was all but dominated by foreign companies with Alo! being a major outlier. Instead, largely thanks to the 'hacker' culture in universities, games began to move towards the home computer instead of purpose-built electro-mechanical machines. This period was marked with many games not available to the public. Games such as Rollerblades, the Submariner and Gargello the Giant were largely developed by university students and professors for various experiments and treatises.
Digital version of common board games started to pop up from independent coders, calling themselves 'developers' throughout the 2460s.This led to GOal!, a game that simulates penalties in Phutebola. This was the first game solely created for entertainment. Further advances in electronics and television technology allowed for exploration on the capabilities of an 'entertainment software system'. Studying the Ginsukyan Arcade Golden Age, a professor from the University of Valar, Sharan Manerin in collaboration with renowned polymath and inventor Mikel Ŗipera created the first video game console in the High Kingdoms in 2467. Although this would take nearly a decade to become a proper consumer product.
Ah-Netar quickly picked up the project and aby the 2470s, consoles started to uproot the arcade scene. Throughout the 70s, the development of consoles expanded rapidly, with innovations such as cartridges and separate controllers. Despite this, on the software scene, video games were mostly dominated by sport-based games or even arcade games ported to consoles. The prominent consoles of this period were the Ah-Netar Manerin-Ripera 2000, the Altos Paffin and the Boxmaiden. Only half a decade after this, both consoles and home computers received microprocessors and ROM cartridges, shaking up the industry. In 2478, the game Star-shooter laid the groundwork of many of the guiding principles of game design. The game allowed you to set and track high scores and other essential statistics as well laid the foundations of the dominant 'point-and-click' design of modern day. Another key thing was that the game was developed in-house by Ah-Netar coders on their free time and was eventually officially licensed by the company, surging the sales of the MP2000 and it's successors. This had led to it's competitors try to recreate the success brought by Star-Shooter. While this led to a sudden surge in game development, none were as successful as Star-shooter.
Emergence of Home Video Games (2480s-2500s)[edit | edit source]
The 2480s saw the switch towards microcomputers and a culture of far more private environment form around video games. This was complemented by the arrival of the affordable home computers, such as the revolutionary Casemate-3. Soon the Market was saturated with home computers to the point where it was not uncommon to see more than one computer in the homes of the average High Alaxian. The 80s were not as innovation driven in the case of game development, with many of the games being made were either recreations or unofficial ports of successful arcade and console games. The rise in home computer games was also supplemented by the government's leanings towards the piece of hardware with multiple initiatives and policies that saw computer skills be one of the core teachings in schools. Almost 78% of all schools were provided with a set of computers as the government, in collaboration with Ah-Netar looked to create a technologically adept High Kingdoms. Tinkering was also encouraged, spurred by the inventor dream that took root in the HKA.
Subsequently, by the 2490, the HKA had an emerging industry that was gearing to take on foreign markets. This was seen in the prominent Hacker culture in Ahitereiran universities as well as the Tinkering culture primarily in Kiavalari schools. Up until this point, games were typically made by a single person with a single creative vision, these 'home developers' had very little formal experience and even less ability to distribute their games. Soon, a market started to form that helped these developers in distributing their games. The 2490s saw the implementation of many video game norms, such as the 3D graphics rendering, lighting and shadows. This was first demonstrated by the 2494 video game Star Miner. The following year saw the release of Tirkan, an exploration game set in ancient Valar, it introduced design elements that is used in open-world games even today. It is also attributed as the first non-linear game.
The 2490s also saw the emergence of a myriad of developers and publishers that would continue to grow in renown in the following decades. A number of these include: