essays

Computing Culture

Essays on Constraint-Based PC Game Restoration

Past games were designed around specific hardware and human habits, and when those constraints change, the game itself changes — even if the software still executes.

This collection examines that idea historically. It explores how hardware, software, and human practice intersect in computing history, and proposes constraint-based analysis as a methodological framework for digital preservation and historical understanding.

The essays are written to be readable by technically curious players and tinkerers, while also offering a framework historians and preservationists can work with.

• Interaction Under Constraint: Retro Systems as Evidence in Human–Computer Interaction
• Worked Example: Unreal (1998)
• Worked Example: Motorhead (1998)
• Worked Example: Strike Force TC (1999)
• There Is No Such Thing as an “Era-Pure” Home Gaming PC
• Why games fade, and how to restore them
• Table: DirectX / VPU and GPU Compiled Reference
• Table: DirectX / OS Compiled Reference

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