Agreed. Home computer developers were 'real people' who were always quite open with the players, but the world of arcade game development has always seemed shrouded in mystery, the stuff of legend. I'm not really sure why that is.
My wife and I grew up in Europe, and paperboy was there too. The streets and houses look much different there. When we came to the US we both had this response that "Wow , the streets and houses really do look like this!". Sometimes when we walk through a typical western-american (east coast is different) neighbourhood, it still feels like we're in a real life computer game.
I've been waiting for this postmortem for 30 years! Earl Vickers sent me one of those 720 Degrees records and I still have it in the envelope on my bookshelf! I'd love to find out more about Hal Canon, those guys made great music!
28:55 It goes against how I try to structure my games, but it 100% had this effect on me when I played the NES version. It's amazing how things changed for me, back in the day I could literally follow a singular straight path and feel like I found a ''secret'' at the end. Nowadays, I'll find genuinely hidden content without any real surprise, hell, in some games it feels like they're just arbitrarily hidden, leading me to do silly things like tediously walking into/hitting walls. Even when the game is good about cleverly telegraphing secrets, there is FOMO that makes me feel like I COULD be missing a hint, and thus it's back to brute force.
I loves these talks! So glad GDC puts them online for all to see. I played Paperboy in the arcade at least a little and own it for the NES (and Paperboy 2 for the SNES).
It's so interesting to see how 30 years ago, this simple game was deeply brainstormed and designed by a bunch of professionals, when today this is made within a few hours by just one guy in a Game Jam competition.
I remember seeing a band new cabinet of paperboy in Dublin in 85 and being amazed by the bmx style handle bars. I loved it and still play it to this day on my ps2. I’m old school now I guess This was a great video to watch. I miss the 80s arcades so badly. I’m not really into modern stuff 😩 😎✌🏻☘️
Wow, what an excellent presentation and wonderful video, absolutely fascinating! Thanks for this! :-) Paperboy was the first arcade game that totally captivated me as a kid. The happy memories will always be with me, and I am a life-long fan of the YM2151 music chip! Great to hear about the amount of work and scrutiny that went into the development. And the best bit… 35:26 LOL :-) :-) :-)
Wow - What an amazing account of the creation of a classic. I would love to see something like this for 720; largely developed by this same group. Skate or Die!!
Fun to imagine this arcade machine with the controller being an actual bike/hometrainer and a screen attached to it. It would have been a big hit in fitness studios back in the day! This should have been possible even in 1985 considering Hang On which Sega released it around the time. The controller was a (cheap-looking) replica of a motorcycle that had a monitor instead of a windshield attached. They improved on this design later on with something resembling more of an actual motorcycle and a bigger screen in front of it. 2019 this would amount to Paperboy being played with an UHD screen or VR-Headset, Motion-Tracker, and a strong possibility of being thrown off the bike if some obstacle is being hit or when leaning over too much to either the left or right. The trainer would of course be a Schwinn classic bike for that extra retro feeling!
I only ever played the first Paperboy in its ZX Spectrum port probably around 1989 (I was only born in 1985) but this was a wonderful video! Thank you, mr. Salwitz, for this amazing presentation! (Also, PDP-11 was an amazing machine and 6502 was a pain in the butt lmao)
I played the hecc out of this game on SEGA Genesis. The music was so catchy, and the voice samples were hilarious! By the way, I'm still wondering where I can buy that acid.
512x384? That sounds very familiar. In fact, it's exactly one-quarter of XGA, the most common resolution for computer monitors in the 1990s: 1024x768. (512 is exactly half of 1024 and 384 is exactly half of 768). Cool.
Funny listening to Atari Employees. Atari Arcade division? Best job ever. Atari home division? Coding slaves that were undervalued and regularly disrespected by higher ups.
What you share with your friends should be none of Facebook's business. But they are a very creepy, intrusive company who like to interfere with what people say and do. I hate Facebook!
It's amazing seeing developers being more and more open about older games.
Agree, I hope he does one on 720 Degrees
@@PlasticCogLiquid you just gave my ego shivers lol
Agreed. Home computer developers were 'real people' who were always quite open with the players, but the world of arcade game development has always seemed shrouded in mystery, the stuff of legend. I'm not really sure why that is.
at one point, that was your edge.
My wife and I grew up in Europe, and paperboy was there too. The streets and houses look much different there. When we came to the US we both had this response that "Wow , the streets and houses really do look like this!". Sometimes when we walk through a typical western-american (east coast is different) neighbourhood, it still feels like we're in a real life computer game.
I've been waiting for this postmortem for 30 years! Earl Vickers sent me one of those 720 Degrees records and I still have it in the envelope on my bookshelf! I'd love to find out more about Hal Canon, those guys made great music!
26 min in and I’ve had 4 ads already. Never had a single ad on any other GDC talk.
What a trip down memory lane. This was one of the first games I ever played on the C64.
28:55 It goes against how I try to structure my games, but it 100% had this effect on me when I played the NES version. It's amazing how things changed for me, back in the day I could literally follow a singular straight path and feel like I found a ''secret'' at the end. Nowadays, I'll find genuinely hidden content without any real surprise, hell, in some games it feels like they're just arbitrarily hidden, leading me to do silly things like tediously walking into/hitting walls. Even when the game is good about cleverly telegraphing secrets, there is FOMO that makes me feel like I COULD be missing a hint, and thus it's back to brute force.
I loves these talks! So glad GDC puts them online for all to see. I played Paperboy in the arcade at least a little and own it for the NES (and Paperboy 2 for the SNES).
Thanks John for the talk and for the game!
Great talk, loved Paperboy on my Gameboy back in the days and i broke a lot of windows
It's so interesting to see how 30 years ago, this simple game was deeply brainstormed and designed by a bunch of professionals, when today this is made within a few hours by just one guy in a Game Jam competition.
I remember seeing a band new cabinet of paperboy in Dublin in 85 and being amazed by the bmx style handle bars. I loved it and still play it to this day on my ps2. I’m old school now I guess This was a great video to watch. I miss the 80s arcades so badly. I’m not really into modern stuff 😩 😎✌🏻☘️
Yeah me too… I don't like modern games at all. The most modern games I like are SNES and Megadrive :-)
I'm old school too. The PS2 was the last console I purchased and played this game a lot (along with Spyhunter). I don't even own a TV anymore.
Wow, what an excellent presentation and wonderful video, absolutely fascinating! Thanks for this! :-) Paperboy was the first arcade game that totally captivated me as a kid. The happy memories will always be with me, and I am a life-long fan of the YM2151 music chip! Great to hear about the amount of work and scrutiny that went into the development. And the best bit… 35:26 LOL :-) :-) :-)
Wow - What an amazing account of the creation of a classic. I would love to see something like this for 720; largely developed by this same group. Skate or Die!!
Fun to imagine this arcade machine with the controller being an actual bike/hometrainer and a screen attached to it. It would have been a big hit in fitness studios back in the day! This should have been possible even in 1985 considering Hang On which Sega released it around the time. The controller was a (cheap-looking) replica of a motorcycle that had a monitor instead of a windshield attached. They improved on this design later on with something resembling more of an actual motorcycle and a bigger screen in front of it.
2019 this would amount to Paperboy being played with an UHD screen or VR-Headset, Motion-Tracker, and a strong possibility of being thrown off the bike if some obstacle is being hit or when leaning over too much to either the left or right. The trainer would of course be a Schwinn classic bike for that extra retro feeling!
Great postmortem for a real classic!
I only ever played the first Paperboy in its ZX Spectrum port probably around 1989 (I was only born in 1985) but this was a wonderful video! Thank you, mr. Salwitz, for this amazing presentation! (Also, PDP-11 was an amazing machine and 6502 was a pain in the butt lmao)
I played the hecc out of this game on SEGA Genesis. The music was so catchy, and the voice samples were hilarious!
By the way, I'm still wondering where I can buy that acid.
I didn't even know there was a Genesis version.
Paperboy on the 16-bit Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive is (was) a lazy (rushed) 4 megabit port (version) to cut costs
I wonder who Papergirl (in the sequel you describe) was modeled after?
That controller test sounds a lot like Nokias "Gorilla" test. Just handing it over to a big guy with the message, "break it". :P
hahaha the acid comment....what a great story of the project
Whenever I see the paperboy's face I think of ''MY CHEEKS ARE BLEEDING :)'' from Gamegrumps
This was possibly the first computer game I ever played, on an Amstrad CPC in the late 80s, maybe six years old
The lack of a conventional controller insured, to this day, a unique gaming experience that cannot be fully emulated with mere roms alone.
Cool. Boy did I drop a lot of quarters into Paperboy at 7-Eleven back in the mid 1980s.
I’m currently writing a script “Finding Hal Canon”.
Thank you Sir, for making my favorite game to this day
Where can I find the full cut of that live action trailer?
Lost my shit when I saw this vid exists. This game is one of the reasons I decided to pursue videogame development.
That's rad! May I ask what you have worked on?
LOVED THIS GAME AS A KID! :D
I remember this game was hella popular at my daycare. Excited to hear the thought process behind their design choices.
Thanks for posting this...really good.
512x384? That sounds very familiar. In fact, it's exactly one-quarter of XGA, the most common resolution for computer monitors in the 1990s: 1024x768. (512 is exactly half of 1024 and 384 is exactly half of 768). Cool.
You know basic math congrats
I loved this game
Maybe someday we can get John Salwitz to talk about Rampart.
Zaxxon, I've been trying to figure out the name of that one forever
Such a great postmortem!
The memories
What a wholesome guy !
Must have listened to a different video. He basically is bragging and promoting. Corporate shill now.
He sounds exactly like Pierre Bernard from Conan O'Brien.
So this was the origin of all the "_JOB_ Simulator" games?
I want VR Paperboy!
@@CaveyMoth that is a fantastic idea.
That was probably Tapper in 1983, two years earlier: a game where you play as bartender originally sponsored by Budweiser and sold to bars.
Dope.
so crzy taxi, inter loper
The sequel was called Ms. Paperboy.
The Paperboy has a bow!
Paperboy ll
2:37 Akka Arrh
Funny listening to Atari Employees. Atari Arcade division? Best job ever. Atari home division? Coding slaves that were undervalued and regularly disrespected by higher ups.
Look up 'Angry Video Game Nerd Paperboy' for a good laugh.
And don't forget Mega 64 Paperboy
@@CaveyMoth wow dude never seen that mega64 one. so good!
I shared this on Facebook, then got a warning notification and they took it off of my timeline. WTF is that all about!
And now Facebook are playing sillybuggers, it's just popped back onto my page again.
What you share with your friends should be none of Facebook's business. But they are a very creepy, intrusive company who like to interfere with what people say and do. I hate Facebook!
Corporate lackey bragging about working 8 days out of 7 days in a week.