Tempest
by
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.
This essay may be found on page 325 of the printed volume.