by Ken S. McAllister
about Ken S. McAllister
Ken S. McAllister is a professor of Public and Applied Humanities and associate dean of research and program innovation for the College of Humanities at the University of Arizona. A co-founder and co-director of the Learning Games Initiative, McAllister is the author or co-author of numerous books and articles on topics ranging from game preservation to critical technology studies.
Tempest
Abstract: Video games are often studied as “texts” that tell stories and as interactive technologies for play, but they can also be studied as artifacts using the archival method. In this chapter, Judd Ethan Ruggill and Ken S. McAllister outline the archival method for game analysis, drawing specifically on the 1981 Atari arcade classic Tempest to show how a game is more than the sum of its individual components; it is the sum of the many cultures, aesthetics, and industry practices that drive the game development process.