Ten Years of Great Games at Gamasutra

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Now nostalgic articles about games from the last X number of years are ten a penny, but we still love looking back and reminiscing about just how far gaming has come. Developers develop and consumers consume and the world goes on, but here's a look at Gamasutra about where we've been since 1998:

1998 was a huge year. We had StarCraft, Baldur's Gate, and Unreal, among many other excellent games. StarCraft raised the bar so high for RTS games that even now, almost ten years later, it's still the preferred RTS for pro competitions. However, I think each of those three were most notable for their high polish and excellent balance, rather than their design innovations. You don't actually need major innovations to make a best-selling game, and sometimes innovation can even hamper sales, as we'll see. Playtesting and polishing counts for more.

The most important thing that happened in 1998 was the inauguration of the Independent Games Festival, on whose jury I was privileged to sit. The IGF took indie game development out of the bedroom, made it respectable, and gave it media coverage. Indie games are now our most important source of innovation (Narbacular Drop, Darwinia, etc.) and my primary reason for optimism about the future of video games. The IGF is still going strong and always has a fascinating lineup.

If you've been playing the Baldur's Gate saga since it was first released, you'll definately want to catch up with old friends.