The Secret History of Mac Gaming

Hardcover, 416 pages

English language

Published May 27, 2018 by Unbound.

ISBN:: 978-1-78352-486-0

(1 review)

From Amazon:

"The Macintosh challenged games to be more than child’s play and quick reflexes. It made human–computer interaction friendly, inviting and intuitive. Mac gaming led to much that is now taken for granted by PC gamers and spawned some of the biggest franchises in video game history. It allowed anyone to create games and playful software with ease, and gave indie developers a home for their products. It welcomed strange ideas and encouraged experimentation. It fostered passionate and creative communities who inspired and challenged developers to do better and to follow the Mac mantra ‘think different’. Drawing on archive material and interviews with key figures from the era – and featuring new material from Craig Fryar, Apple’s first Mac games evangelist and the co-creator of hit game Spectre – The Secret History of Mac Gaming is the story of those communities and the game developers who survived and thrived …

From Amazon:

"The Macintosh challenged games to be more than child’s play and quick reflexes. It made human–computer interaction friendly, inviting and intuitive. Mac gaming led to much that is now taken for granted by PC gamers and spawned some of the biggest franchises in video game history. It allowed anyone to create games and playful software with ease, and gave indie developers a home for their products. It welcomed strange ideas and encouraged experimentation. It fostered passionate and creative communities who inspired and challenged developers to do better and to follow the Mac mantra ‘think different’. Drawing on archive material and interviews with key figures from the era – and featuring new material from Craig Fryar, Apple’s first Mac games evangelist and the co-creator of hit game Spectre – The Secret History of Mac Gaming is the story of those communities and the game developers who survived and thrived in an ecosystem that was serially ignored by the outside world. It’s a book about people who followed their hearts first and market trends second, showing how clever, quirky, and downright wonderful video games could be."

1 edition

Michael Goodine reviewed The Secret History of Mac Gaming by Richard Moss

Review of 'The Secret History of Mac Gaming' on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

This is a really wonderful book that shines a light on an important period of computer gaming history that is quickly slipping from memory. A lot of people put a lot of work into Macintosh games in the 80s and 90s and it is great to have their stories told and recorded.

The book is mainly a collection of histories of companies and people. It provides an overview of the rise and fall of companies like Ambrosia, Freeverse and Pangea... but also those tells the stories of interesting individuals like John Calhoun (Glider) and Cliff Johnson (The Fool's Errand). These stories are told using research conducted by the author and a great number of detailed interviews with the people involved. The number of people Moss was able to talk to while putting together this book is quite impressive.

The design of the book is gorgeous, and it really highlights the …

This is a really wonderful book that shines a light on an important period of computer gaming history that is quickly slipping from memory. A lot of people put a lot of work into Macintosh games in the 80s and 90s and it is great to have their stories told and recorded.

The book is mainly a collection of histories of companies and people. It provides an overview of the rise and fall of companies like Ambrosia, Freeverse and Pangea... but also those tells the stories of interesting individuals like John Calhoun (Glider) and Cliff Johnson (The Fool's Errand). These stories are told using research conducted by the author and a great number of detailed interviews with the people involved. The number of people Moss was able to talk to while putting together this book is quite impressive.

The design of the book is gorgeous, and it really highlights the sort of pop-art that Mac games from the time gave us.

A good index is included, in case you are looking for something specific.