Introduced 2 mechanics · Space Invaders 1
Space Invaders
Escalating pressure and a life budget turned the arcade into an economy.
Mechanics this game introduced
These are recorded as first appearing here. Each links to a full history of where the idea went next.
Progression & Persistence · 1978
Lives and Continues
Lives and continues turn failure into a budget: a player is given a fixed number of attempts, and running out ends the…
Origin: Space Invaders
Economy & Business Model · 1978
Coin-Op Difficulty Economy
Coin-op difficulty economies tune a game's challenge curve to the length of a paid session, ending most attempts withi…
Origin: Space Invaders
Mechanics it built on
Ideas Space Invaders inherited rather than invented — each traceable back through the ontology to a root.
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