My experience in – and passion for – computer gamingA Computer-Gaming OdysseyThe early yearsComputer gaming has been an interest of mine ever since I was a young child. This article is part-reminiscence; part history – tracing the development of gaming culture over the decades.My youthful experiences – in the 1980s – included playing Pac-man on some of the early Atari models, to playing the early installations in the legendary Ultima, Wizardry and Bard’s Tale Series on my beloved Apple //c. While the Ultima series was comprised mostly of two dimensional tiles, the early Bard’s Tale and Wizardry titles involved a rudimentary grid-based first person view.The graphics – by today’s standards – could be described simplistic at best.Over the years game designers sought continually to to extract more and more from the limited potential of Apple II and Commodore 64 personal computers. (Although I do not include, here, the IIGS)Bard’s Tale 3 ‘The Thief of Fate’ – was perhaps the most impessive title to emerge for the Apple II- not long before the line was abandoned to concentrate instead on Apple’s Macintosh series.For its time, ‘Bard’s Tale 3’ provided a sprawling game world, and devilish, maze-like dungeons. Given the extraordinary limits…