The origins of Space Invaders

When I was at school they had a building which was mainly for the use of those doing their O Levels (the old name for what is now GCSE examinations). There were only two reasons I would get to go to the building: one was for music lessons as for some reason the music department was located there. The second was to attend the weekly youth night they held for each year group.

In the building was a Space Invaders machine and we would split the small amount of money we brought with us each week between buying penny chew sweets at the tuck shop and playing the game. I wasn’t particularly good at it but I do remember one person seemed to have mastered it and stayed on for ages. They also later got a table style PacMan machine.

This week I came across an article in Wired about the 45th anniversary of Space Invaders and the story behind how it was developed including some of the design decisions made. I hadn’t fully realised how much impact it had on subsequent computer games.

It took me back to my school days.

Links

The Space Invaders Creator Reveals the Game’s Origin Story | WIRED/