The 'hup' for me will always be associated with Quake, as I played that for a long time.
When I was a youngster in the early 90s, a grade school classmate of mine had a huge computer network at home. His dad worked for the (local) Washington, DC NBC affiliate as one of their system engineers. Their house was fully networked mecca of multiple Unix, Windows, and Apple machines on different floors.
Back then most homes didn't have a computer, and if they did, it was just one. Internet connections were achieved with dial-up modems to the local BBS or service provider. Almost nobody my age was playing computer games, only people working in industry. Even fewer had a network, since online play didn't exist for most games (tho there were exceptions, like Netrek...miss that game too)
I originally learned the command line by using it to start computer games. This guy had basically ALL of the major gaming titles through about 1997, at which point I bought my own computer. Many of the other shooters back then were horror-themed knockoffs of Doom and Quake (like Hexen, Heretic, etc.), though all had their nuances. What I think of as the golden age of FPS games happened shortly after, in 98, with the release of Half-Life and Unreal.
That early experience was how I got into computing at a time when most kids had no real exposure to computers. Still miss those times.
> What I think of as the golden age of FPS games happened shortly after, in 98, with the release of Half-Life and Unreal.
I think there are two components to this: the quality of the games and the community. Modern shooters like Overwatch are amazing. Where they tend to falter:
It's been a long time since I played a multiplayer shooter, but I used to have admin on a UT2k3 IG CTF clan server. One oddly strong memory I have from those days was banning cheaters and swapping lists of banned UUIDs with the admins of our peer clans. Nowadays I read about rampant cheating and banwaves, but I think there was something to be said for local decisions around banning and the immediacy of it. It certainly felt like a cozier community, at least.
I'd like to add: 3. A huge (for the time) mod community. The amount of stupid mods I played in Quake 1/2 was amazing. So many original ideas that sometimes lead to the creation of completely new sub genres like action quake (a heavy influence for counter strike) or team fortress.
Totally agree. Half Life also had Tau/Gauss jumping. Movement dynamics by comparison nowadays are way more restricted, scripted, and generally "easier" but less rewarding. Nothing quite as thrilling as timing a perfect conc nade jump to launch yourself across the map deep into the teams flag room :)
Mountains of emergent gameplay (if you play at a high enough level), and community led servers with custom game modes via the workshop.
But people still queue up for competitive because the very existence of a 24/7 accessible competitive system with instant post match feedback (read: not going to tournaments) is a huge draw for a lot of people, even if it's at the expense of the community aspect.
It was gaming, specifically Half Life, Quake, and Unreal that really gripped me in my young years and fascinated me. I attribute my love for software those wonderful years!
What the article kind of gets wrong or at least doesn't mention explicitly: pre-Quake id shooters didn't have a jumping sound not because it wasn't a priority, but because it simply wasn't possible to jump in Wolf 3D or Doom 1/2. So it totally makes sense that the first id game where you could jump would also have a sound for it.
I still recall playing Hexan at the office in the 90s. I kept one of my co-worker as a chicken for 2 hours! Was driving him crazy. But as soon as he would return from chicken transform, I would shoot an egg at him and turn him back into a chicken! He would not give up...
I played lots of quake2-3 but that wasn't the golden age. Now you have even better selection for competitive gaming, like CS Go, valorant with their 128 ticks/s servers.
> When I was a youngster in the early 90s [...] most homes didn't have a computer
"Most homes" might be technically correct, but home computers were a thing since the late 70s, and really taking off in the early 1980s withe the ZX81, ZX Spectrum, VIC 20, Commodore 64, and a myriad of others, depending on your geography.
> Almost nobody my age was playing computer games, only people working in industry.
This, of course, is complete nonsense. By the early 90s capable home computers such as the Amiga and Atari had if anything reached their hayday, with a myriad of popular games available. (Not to mention the popularity of dedicated games consoles.)
I think you should allow people to share their own anecdotes and recollection of their own childhood. Its not like this person claimed that this was the case for all of the world, all of the US or all of their state. Maybe few/nobody his age where he lived was playing computer games, how can you know if that is nonsense?
This strikes me as a bit pedantic as both of you are somewhat right and ultimately a lot of the assessments have been pretty subjective/qualitative. I tend to lean towards the other guy’s characterization personally, but I wouldn’t say you’re wrong. Part of it is that we have to recognize the video game industry dwarfs all other media right now - but in the early 90’s? Not even close. Yes gaming existed prior, including computer games, but the vast majority of kids did not have the technical know-how, let alone the hardware, to install and run them until later in the decade. Adults at the time were a very mixed bag about it, with most electing to not participate at all.
Doom came out in 1993. Things really began to shift about that time. By ‘96/‘97 you had Starcraft and other games start blowing up, but that’s latter half of the decade for sure.
>Almost nobody my age was playing computer games, only people working in industry.
I recall these days and this statement has some truth to it. Sure, a lot of folks had home computers, but they were mostly people who were interested in computers in the first place, and that was because of their work in the industry.
Went to high school in an affluent suburb in the 90s in the US. “Playing computer games with friends” was either on one computer or involved dragging a computer over to a friend’s house and wiring it together with their desktop. Parent’s experience rings true to me.
Not quite the same sound but very memorable. I have it for the Genesis and put many hours into it as kids. Both the sound of the jump and guys waving their arms (nyaaynyana) was engraved in my brain.
There used to be a video game database that tried to catalog firsts. It was almost always wrong because fans would put in their faves and not know the history.
One example I remember is the claim that Sonic was the first character with an idle animation. Plenty of examples from 10 years before Sonic.
Others were things like first game with an inventory. First game to scroll. Someone would always find some older game. Then people would argue about influence or trying to define genres (first RPG, that depends on what an RPG is, etc...)
I remember we played Price of Persia without soundcard and one day my father came to tell me he saw the game in someone’s else computer and he could listen the steps and the junp.. we got a Sound Blaster 16 for that Christmas which came in a huge box. Bigger than a laptop today
Edit: maybe it wasn’t prince of persia, I am confused now.
The Prince of Persia had such iconic footsteps. I think in part it was the rhythm. You could never go more than one screen-width before the steps would pause as the next screen appeared, so even when you were zooming through well-known territory, there was a start-stop rhythm.
If I close my eyes, I think I could even work out the width of the screen in steps. I think around 10 or 11.
I believe we can conclude that the premise of the article is largely false... jumping sounds had a rich and varied history in gaming before hup, and grunts are just one arrow in the stylistic quiver thereof. For a real 8-bit grunt, scroll to the start of Jungle King. Awesome. New ring tone anyone?
I was reading the article incredulously, wondering how they kept going back and forth between pong and Quake, as if no game between had ever had a character jump before, in complete disbelief that the writer seemed totally unaware of the concept of a 2D platform game.
The increasing and decreasing blips as seen on your Manic Miner example is what I remember as iconic jumping sounds. The pitch and tones of those blips you vary from game to game but they were prevalent in the 80s era games on 8-bit micros.
After that I’d say it was shorter version that still employed a rising to lowering tone but which didn’t span the entire duration of the characters air time. The Super Mario example demonstrates this. Sonic The Hedgehog did too.
I find it weird to discuss jump sounds from an era where encoding PCM data was trivial but ignore several generations of games where sound effects had to be programmed as tones.
There is this explosion-like “swoosh” sound that was emitted in Doom by one of the big baddies, and ever since I played that game as a kid I’ve heard it in all sorts of TV shows, movies, and other games.
I know exactly the sound you mean, and I hear it all the time in other media too. You can hear it repeatedly starting at 1:19 in this video: https://youtu.be/GQnuj5QsJFE
Yeah, I keep hearing DSBOSPIT in various places: television, movies, and other video games. When I hear it outside Doom, it seems to suggest a lack of care in sound design, because it was pulled from a sound library and because people associate it with Doom. For example, in Super Mario, Fiery Mario always had a distinct fireball sound, but in the Galaxy games? Nope -- DSBOSPIT. And I'm like, really, Nintendo? You couldn't do better?
I also frequently hear some Doom mechanism and door sounds (usually DSPSTART and DSPSTOP but sometimes also DSDOROPN and DSDORCLS) in commercials, movies, and TV shows, as well as DSFIRSHT (imp/cacodemon fireball whooshing sound). Shows with werewolves or other monsters may feature the imp or zombieman sounds.
I always thought it came from Blues Brothers (albeit "hut" vs "hup", but we were always saying it for jumping around sounds in the 80s and after): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atks5rRqQkg
My memory isn’t what it used to be but I recall that the Bond Spacesuit character did have the ability to jump. I have the original cartridge and a somewhat functional N64. I’ll rig it up today and verify.
Bond couldn't jump, but I'm pretty sure I remember enemies doing a jump and roll thing. It's been long enough that I don't entirely trust that memory, though.
Pretty sure you are right. I can see the image in my head, the soldier would roll and then kneel while shooting. Bond had no jump that I can I remember though.
And now that I wrote that I sincerely hope to not have it mixed up with the "kneel while shooting" stance of the enemies in deus ex. Those did no roll.
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When I was a youngster in the early 90s, a grade school classmate of mine had a huge computer network at home. His dad worked for the (local) Washington, DC NBC affiliate as one of their system engineers. Their house was fully networked mecca of multiple Unix, Windows, and Apple machines on different floors.
Back then most homes didn't have a computer, and if they did, it was just one. Internet connections were achieved with dial-up modems to the local BBS or service provider. Almost nobody my age was playing computer games, only people working in industry. Even fewer had a network, since online play didn't exist for most games (tho there were exceptions, like Netrek...miss that game too)
I originally learned the command line by using it to start computer games. This guy had basically ALL of the major gaming titles through about 1997, at which point I bought my own computer. Many of the other shooters back then were horror-themed knockoffs of Doom and Quake (like Hexen, Heretic, etc.), though all had their nuances. What I think of as the golden age of FPS games happened shortly after, in 98, with the release of Half-Life and Unreal.
That early experience was how I got into computing at a time when most kids had no real exposure to computers. Still miss those times.
I think there are two components to this: the quality of the games and the community. Modern shooters like Overwatch are amazing. Where they tend to falter:
1. Lack of emergent gameplay (circle jumping, bunny hopping, conc grenade jumping)
2. Curated experience (matchmaking) is inferior to community-led servers and maps
The magic of games from that period was due to both the game design and the nature of the Internet itself.
Mountains of emergent gameplay (if you play at a high enough level), and community led servers with custom game modes via the workshop.
But people still queue up for competitive because the very existence of a 24/7 accessible competitive system with instant post match feedback (read: not going to tournaments) is a huge draw for a lot of people, even if it's at the expense of the community aspect.
Deleted Comment
"Most homes" might be technically correct, but home computers were a thing since the late 70s, and really taking off in the early 1980s withe the ZX81, ZX Spectrum, VIC 20, Commodore 64, and a myriad of others, depending on your geography.
> Almost nobody my age was playing computer games, only people working in industry.
This, of course, is complete nonsense. By the early 90s capable home computers such as the Amiga and Atari had if anything reached their hayday, with a myriad of popular games available. (Not to mention the popularity of dedicated games consoles.)
Doom came out in 1993. Things really began to shift about that time. By ‘96/‘97 you had Starcraft and other games start blowing up, but that’s latter half of the decade for sure.
I recall these days and this statement has some truth to it. Sure, a lot of folks had home computers, but they were mostly people who were interested in computers in the first place, and that was because of their work in the industry.
https://youtu.be/UndXYYosDk4?t=41
But note that Dark Castle doesn't make any sound on jumping -- it makes a sound (often) on completion of the jump. I presume that still counts.
One example I remember is the claim that Sonic was the first character with an idle animation. Plenty of examples from 10 years before Sonic.
Others were things like first game with an inventory. First game to scroll. Someone would always find some older game. Then people would argue about influence or trying to define genres (first RPG, that depends on what an RPG is, etc...)
Edit: maybe it wasn’t prince of persia, I am confused now.
If I close my eyes, I think I could even work out the width of the screen in steps. I think around 10 or 11.
Mostly of wrangling DOS & Win 95!
Donkey Kong Jr (1982). https://youtu.be/GmOJN-zq6yg?t=21
Moon Patrol (1982). https://youtu.be/39EsNumG3Fc?t=129
Jungle King (1982). https://youtu.be/ahfHlIqOLRY?t=13
Alley Cat (1983). Note silence until clothes line. https://youtu.be/C9pFZVfWPMo?t=180
Manic Miner (1983) and Jet Set Willy (1984) are roughly equivalent: https://youtu.be/BgUzteADsRI?t=4 https://youtu.be/94Ywx6uVn9E?t=2
Super Mario (1985). https://youtu.be/rLl9XBg7wSs?t=15
Bubble Bobble (1986). Allegedly a version came out in 1982/83, this sound may have differed. https://youtu.be/BuXOSBb4hQw?t=2
I believe we can conclude that the premise of the article is largely false... jumping sounds had a rich and varied history in gaming before hup, and grunts are just one arrow in the stylistic quiver thereof. For a real 8-bit grunt, scroll to the start of Jungle King. Awesome. New ring tone anyone?
The increasing and decreasing blips as seen on your Manic Miner example is what I remember as iconic jumping sounds. The pitch and tones of those blips you vary from game to game but they were prevalent in the 80s era games on 8-bit micros.
After that I’d say it was shorter version that still employed a rising to lowering tone but which didn’t span the entire duration of the characters air time. The Super Mario example demonstrates this. Sonic The Hedgehog did too.
I find it weird to discuss jump sounds from an era where encoding PCM data was trivial but ignore several generations of games where sound effects had to be programmed as tones.
I wish someone did an article on that sound too!
I also frequently hear some Doom mechanism and door sounds (usually DSPSTART and DSPSTOP but sometimes also DSDOROPN and DSDORCLS) in commercials, movies, and TV shows, as well as DSFIRSHT (imp/cacodemon fireball whooshing sound). Shows with werewolves or other monsters may feature the imp or zombieman sounds.
https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/wordroutes/hut-the-story...
And now that I wrote that I sincerely hope to not have it mixed up with the "kneel while shooting" stance of the enemies in deus ex. Those did no roll.
Edit: One can one enemy see do the roll in the next few seconds of https://youtu.be/D6l6_WKxRck?t=353.