Get Lamp (2010)

With limited sound, simple graphics, and tiny amounts of computing power, the first games on home computers would hardly raise an eyebrow in the modern era of photorealism and surround ... See full summary »

Director:

Jason Scott Sadofsky

Writer:

Jason Scott Sadofsky

Stars:

Ernest Adams, Scott Adams, Hollywood Anderson

Cast

Credited cast:
Ernest Adams	...	Himself
Scott Adams	...	Himself
Hollywood Anderson	...	Himself
Jim Aspnes	...	Himself
Richard Bartle	...	Himself
Bob Bates	...	Himself
Michael Berlyn	...	Himself
Marc Blank	...	Himself
Ian Bogost	...	Himself
Amy Briggs	...	Herself
Tom Brucker	...	Himself
Mary Ann Buckles	...	Herself
Adam Cadre	...	Himself
David Cornelson	...	Himself
Chris Crawford	...	Himself

Storyline

With limited sound, simple graphics, and tiny amounts of computing power, the first games on home computers would hardly raise an eyebrow in the modern era of photorealism and surround sound. In a world of Quake, Half-Life and Halo, it is expected that a successful game must be loud, fast, and full of blazing life-like action. But in the early 1980s, an entire industry rose over the telling of tales, the solving of intricate puzzles and the art of writing. Like living books, these games described fantastic worlds to their readers, and then invited them to live within them. They were called "computer adventure games", and they used the most powerful graphics processor in the world: the human mind. Rising from side projects at universities and engineering companies, adventure games would describe a place, and then ask what to do next. They presented puzzles, tricks and traps to be overcome. They were filled with suspense, humor and sadness. And they offered a unique type of joy as ...

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Taglines:

Before the First Person Shooter, there was the Second Person Thinker.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 March 2010 (USA)

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bovine Ignition Systems

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shot using a Panasonic HVX-200 camera (interviews) and Canon Vixia (caves).

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Soundtracks

"Gliding Over Mountains"
(uncredited)
Written by Zoë Blade
Performed by Zoë Blade
Courtesy of Transistor Sounds

User Reviews

Could've been great

The movie seemed a little too personal to me, and I guess in many ways that was the point: it was a love letter to this type of gaming. A love letter to first generation gamers. In that sense, there were definitely some poignant lines on people reflecting on their work in these games/genre/time period. But I also thought there was a missed opportunity to show how this type of gaming really morphed into many of the popular games that we see today. To take one example, the common threads are so distinct going backwards from Lionhead's Fable series (third generation console gamers) to Sierra's King Quest (second generation PC gamers) all the way back to Adventure (first generation "computer" gamer). There's also the obvious example of Myst!

I think there were missed opportunities to create a great documentary (that could have had universal appeal amongst gamers). But if you were involved with interactive fiction, played interactive fiction, or just generally want to know where gaming got its start, the documentary is worth a look-see.