DGC Ep 453: Bonus Interview with Ed Fries

·1 hr 27 min·5 clips

Ed Fries claims Spacewar from 1962 is the first true video game, inspiring Nolan Bushnell's Computer Space and the entire arcade industry.

The episode begins with hosts Brett Douville and Tim Longo explaining a new experimental format for Dev Game Club interviews. Instead of focusing on a single game, they will interview industry figures about their careers through the lens of classic games that influenced them. Their first guest is Ed Fries, a veteran game developer known for his early work at Romox, role in founding Xbox, and current venture capital work. Fries selects five games: Spacewar, Rogue, Empire, M.U.L.E., and Dungeon (the precursor to Zork). He starts by recounting his childhood, influenced by engineer parents who brought home programmable calculators and a cardboard computer called Cardiac. For Spacewar, Fries argues it's the first true video game from 1962, detailing its path from MIT to Nolan Bushnell's Computer Space and Atari. He shares that he programmed his own version using a square root routine by Steve Wozniak from a magazine. On Rogue, he explains its procedural generation, unidentified items, and high-stakes decisions that define roguelikes. For Empire, he notes its influence on Sid Meier's Civilization, with Meier asking Bruce Shelley for improvements. Fries calls M.U.L.E. his favorite game, describing its mix of real-time action, economic strategy, and competitive multiplayer auctions on the planet Irata (Atari backwards). He mentions its influence on Will Wright and Shigeru Miyamoto. Finally, he discusses Dungeon (later Zork), praising its literary fantasy and scale, which led Infocom to split it into a trilogy. Throughout, Fries references his personal collection of vintage hardware, like a PDP-11 and Computer Space cabinet. The hosts conclude by reflecting on the experiment's success and encouraging listener feedback.

As heard by us

A bonus interview finds lasting roguelike tension in the simple dread of trying the wrong potion.

Dev Game Club's bonus interview format returns to the design gamble that gives Rogue so much of its charge: a potion or scroll might save a run, ruin it, or leave the player wiser only after the damage is done.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play when a black potion might heal you, blind you, or send the whole run sideways.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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