They Create Worlds

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The games we love reveal something true about who we are, and about the world that made them. They Create Worlds is a podcast about the people, technology, and forces that built the video game industry.

Through video game history, the show looks at how culture, business, and technology shaped what we play, tracing the choices and circumstances that led to the games so many people around the world enjoy.

Each episode digs into where games came from, who made them, and why they were made the way they were. Business decisions, technological shifts, and creative choices all shaped what ended up on screen, and the show covers all of it together, not just one piece in isolation.

Hosted by Alex Smith and Jeffrey Daum, They Create Worlds grew out of long conversations about the strange corners of the industry and the patterns that only show up when you look across companies, platforms, and decades. That conversational feel remains, built on careful research, clear structure and editing that makes even the deepest topics easy to listen to.

History turns out to be less settled than it looks. New documents surface, memories conflict, and the clean stories about why things happened the way they did rarely survive contact with the evidence. The show digs into all of that, following the creative and business forces that pushed and pulled on each other, and uncovering the human stories that lie beneath the games so many people around the world enjoy.

New episodes are released twice a month.

Episodes

Friday Mar 01, 2019

Computer Game BASICs

Friday Mar 01, 2019

TCW Podcast Episode 085 - Computer Game BASICs

Now that we have explained how timesharing works, it's time to discuss games! In the 1960s, students and professional programmers alike created computer games that were played by dozens, if not hundreds of their peers on timeshared computers. In the early 1970s, some of these programs began to spread across the country thanks to the efforts of early pioneers in computer book and magazine publishing like Bob Albrecht and David Ahl. By the time the first microcomputers appeared in the late 1970s, these games were so widespread that they started being converted to platforms like the Apple II and TRS-80 as well. As a result, games like Lunar Lander, Star Trek, and The Oregon Trail continued to be played decades after they were first created and became recognized as some of the earliest classic computer games.

Kill us all on sight reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2Lc_1aNdZA

1969 Lander: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TkFCo4F0_U

Making Games by Year (Remaking Lunar Lander in Python): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJxNUdsnsos

Atari Lunar Lander: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McAhSoAEbhM

The Oregon Trail Franchise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fEWA3WGkZ0

The Oregon Trail Card Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg8lCvF1-Oc

Hamurabi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb9Z8FaaVZU

101 BASIC Computer Games: http://www.ccapitalia.net/descarga/docs/1975-101-basic-computer-games.pdf

Star Trek Text Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLKw4AU4KHU&t=86s

Star Trek C64: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p6qQEDp0Ug

Hunt the Wumpus Text: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETjYJBJrfq4

Hunt the Wumpus Graphical: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkWJMU16GrU