Gaming World Forums
Archives => Projects => That Salty Air => Topic started by: denzquix on October 09, 2013, 12:08:26 am
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so, the main thing is obviously Windows Solitaire
(https://legacy.gamingw.net/etc/i.imgur.com/mCrzh4G.png)
pedantically speakin', what Windows calls Solitaire is more correctly named Klondike -- "Solitaire" is no specific game at all, it's an umbrella term meaning any kind of table-top game that you play by yourself
Solitaire was made a standard component in 1990 as kind of a tutorial/demo, "to soothe people intimidated by the operating system", in particular by familiarizing them with the exotic practice of drag & drop
Solitaire is also well known as the classic method, pre-ubiquitous-Internet, for bored office workers to avoid working
the card deck rendering system was actually not part of Solitaire itself, but a shared system file called CARDS.DLL
there were even tutorials made about how to use this DLL to render your own card games (http://www.catch22.net/tuts/using-cardsdll-api)
(however, CARDS.DLL has not been a part of Windows since Vista, when Solitaire's graphics were modernized for a discerning 2006 audience...)
(https://legacy.gamingw.net/etc/i.imgur.com/ebDFhQM.gif)
CARDS.DLL deck art by Susan Kare
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Solitaire was made a standard component in 1990 as kind of a tutorial/demo, "to soothe people intimidated by the operating system", in particular by familiarizing them with the exotic practice of drag & drop
it is the natural instinct of the videogame to distance itself from the operating system, to stand apart in a parallel universe from the desktop
so there's something disorienting & odd about games that try to work with, not fight against, the operating system aesthetic...
(https://legacy.gamingw.net/etc/i.imgur.com/XR9fsEw.png)
(https://legacy.gamingw.net/etc/i.imgur.com/gZRd6B7.png)
(https://legacy.gamingw.net/etc/i.imgur.com/xZX6AEf.png)
(https://legacy.gamingw.net/etc/i.imgur.com/kraOUs6.jpeg)
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Solitaire is also well known as the classic method, pre-ubiquitous-Internet, for bored office workers to avoid working
if this project was not going to be a standalone game, but part of something larger, it would probably be sliced up into chunks and be a recurring game-within-a-game, where the protagonist gets stuck at a desk in an office at several points in the game and has to play this thing just to make time pass till the next plot-progression event...
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Solitaire was made a standard component in 1990 as kind of a tutorial/demo, "to soothe people intimidated by the operating system"
one of Microsoft's schemes to soothe the intimidated user is the immortal MICROSOFT BOB (1995)
(https://legacy.gamingw.net/etc/i.imgur.com/Tp0LEuX.jpeg)
it was intended as a full replacement for the Windows desktop interface, using a cartoon house and cartoon character "assistants"
the "assistant" concept was later reused in Microsoft Office in the form of an anthropormorphic paperclip, and Bob's dog character was directly reused (in 3D modelled form) in the search function of Windows XP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xflQN-csX8M (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xflQN-csX8M)
(https://legacy.gamingw.net/etc/i.imgur.com/ACnqaLx.gif)