Design Your Own Game on Google Doodle Gerald "Jerry" Lawson's 82nd Birthday Celebration
12/03/2022
If you have the desire to design your own game but don't have the skills to support it, today's Google Doodle might make it happen. The reason is, to celebrate the 82nd birthday of Gerald "Jerry" Lawson - the pioneer of " cartridge" video games -, Google created a special doodle that is very interactive.
When you open the google.com or google.co.id page, you will be greeted by a very attractive special Google logo. At first glance, this display only shows an illustration of a black man who appears to be playing a video game using a stick.
But if you casually click the “play” button in the image, be prepared to find things more exciting. The reason is, you will find the page turns into a kind of video game console complete with various games that can be played.
Presenting a retro video game interface , you will be invited to control a character similar to Lawson while at the same time knowing the short story of his life journey as a pioneer of cartridges video game .
Interestingly, this mini video game can also be edited at will. For example adding new characters in the game, making obstacles more difficult, to presenting more enemies.
Not only that, through Google Doodle today you can also design your own simple pixel game according to your wishes without the need to have special skills. Even more fun, the results of your game can also be shared with the public.
The game that appears in this Google Doodle was designed by three visiting American artists and game designers: Davionne Gooden, Lauren Brown and Momo Pixel.
A glimpse of Gerald “Jerry” Lawson
Lawson is an African-American man who was born on December 1, 1940. From a young age, he was passionate about all things electronic, from repairing television sets to building his own radio stations using recycled components.
Lawson studied at Queens College and City College of New York before starting his career in Palo Alto, California. Upon arriving in California, Lawson joined Fairchild Semiconductor as an engineering consultant.
A few years later, he was promoted to director of engineering and marketing for the video game department of Fairchild Channel F (“F” stands for Fun). It was the first home video game console to feature interchangeable game cartridges , an 8-way digital joystick, and a pause menu. The presence of Channel F became the forerunner of future game systems such as Atari, SNES, Dreamcast, and others.
Then in 1980, Lawson left Fairchild to start his own company, Videosoft - one of the first video game development companies owned by African Americans. The company created software for the Atari 2600, which popularized the .
The company was forced to close five years later, but Lawson had established himself as a pioneer in the industry. Throughout the remainder of his career, he continued to consult with various engineering and video game companies.
In 2011, the International Game Developers Association recognized Lawson as an industry pioneer for his contributions to the world of games. Lawson's achievements are enshrined in the World Video Game Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York.(*)
