First game features backgrounds

[Serguei2]

Backgrounds mean a scenery in the game but there's no interaction with them.

 

Is Superman on Atari 2600 the first game have a background or there's another one before?

[Keatah]

Pong. It had a non-moving black background divided by a dotted line.

[Flojomojo]

Do overlays count? Magnavox Odyssey used them long before Atari VCS came along.

 

[CatPix]

It's unclear if the starfield was here from the beginning, but :

So between 1962 and 1970 when other small computerswere introduced, someone made a starfield for Spacewar!

 

The arcde version, Computer space, have it for sure, so it's a confirmed date of 1971 for a purely aesthetical background.

 

One very early example could be OXO, programmed in 1952, a simple Tic-tac-toe :

(here in an emulator, as EDSAC was dismantled in the 60's)

Howewer, while the grid doesn't serve much purpose, it's still "part of the game". It's not decorative background but an expected part of the playfield. I guess it depends how you define "background".

For me Pong doesn't have backgrounds : the lines and sides of the terrains are "part of the game", as in real life, they serve a purpose. They doesn't serve in Pong but to remember you the game you're playing; they aren't "decorative". Sure you could remove them, but how would you tell Tennis from Soccer then?

Edited July 8, 2016 by CatPix

[Torr]

TECHNICALLY... I'd say the Odyssey had FOREGROUND! Something that hasn't really happened much (if at all!) since!

[Serguei2]

It's unclear if the starfield was here from the beginning, but :

So between 1962 and 1970 when other small computerswere introduced, someone made a starfield for Spacewar!

 

The arcde version, Computer space, have it for sure, so it's a confirmed date of 1971 for a purely aesthetical background.

 

One very early example could be OXO, programmed in 1952, a simple Tic-tac-toe :

(here in an emulator, as EDSAC was dismantled in the 60's)

Howewer, while the grid doesn't serve much purpose, it's still "part of the game". It's not decorative background but an expected part of the playfield. I guess it depends how you define "background".

For me Pong doesn't have backgrounds : the lines and sides of the terrains are "part of the game", as in real life, they serve a purpose. They doesn't serve in Pong but to remember you the game you're playing; they aren't "decorative". Sure you could remove them, but how would you tell Tennis from Soccer then?

 

Yeah. Stars from Computer Space is a kind of a background, feeling you're into the space.

 

The dots from EDSAC simulator are leds from the original computer when they're not light on.

I don't count as a background.

 

 

TECHNICALLY... I'd say the Odyssey had FOREGROUND! Something that hasn't really happened much (if at all!) since!

 

Maybe Odyssey 1 is the only console using foregrounds.

 

I can't imagine using foregrounds today with so many tvs or monitors.

[CatPix]

 

Yeah. Stars from Computer Space is a kind of a background, feeling you're into the space.

 

The dots from EDSAC simulator are leds from the original computer when they're not light on.

I don't count as a background.

 

 

 

Maybe Odyssey 1 is the only console using foregrounds.

 

I can't imagine using foregrounds today with so many tvs or monitors.

 

The EDSAC used a CRT tube to display the OXO game, so it's not LEDs. But you're right on the fact that EDSAC used lightbulbs (I don't think LED existed yet in EDSAC's time) and a teleprinter to output data, not a CRT.

 

But as I explained, they are "part of the game" so I wouldn't count them as being background, but as being a "gameplay element" even if not an interactive one.

 

For "foregrounds", I can think of two more systems to use them : the Vectrex, and the Microvision. While not being graphics elements, several early arcade games like Space invaders were originally black and while and had a colored sheet of plastic in front of the tube to pretend to have colors.

[Video]

For "foregrounds", I can think of two more systems to use them : the Vectrex, and the Microvision. While not being graphics elements, several early arcade games like Space invaders were originally black and while and had a colored sheet of plastic in front of the tube to pretend to have colors.

oh yes. Space invaders anyone?

[Serguei2]

 

I just found an Edsac monitor.

 

I first thought the computer would use leds as monitor.

 

Yeah. Vectrex and Microvision also use overlays as well.

 

Thanks guys for the help.

[+cvga]

TECHNICALLY... I'd say the Odyssey had FOREGROUND! Something that hasn't really happened much (if at all!) since!

The Microvision and the Vectrex have a foreground then also

 

Nevermind - Should have kept reading the posts before responding

Edited July 10, 2016 by cvga