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If you’re currently battling through hump day two of the week, here’s something certain to put a smile on your face — the Google Doodle for 1 December 2022 (opens in new tab) might just be the best one that Google has ever made.
Why? Because it lets you make your very own video games, right inside of your browser.
It focuses on the achievements of Jerry Lawson, the games engineer innovator who invented the video game cartridge way back in 1976, for the Fairchild Channel F console. Born on December 1, 1940, and passing away in April 2011, Lawson’s achievements have not always been given the reverence they deserve, not least of all because he was one of the first black games developers.
Super Jerry Lawson Maker
The Doodle kicks off with a little pixelated Lawson running through a Mario-like level (controlled by the arrow keys and space bar of your computer keyboard), and gives a quick history lesson on his life and the early days of video game development as a whole.
It then hands the keys over to the player, letting them edit and create their own levels using simple elements like blocks and triggers. If anything, it most closely resembles Nintendo’s own Super Mario Maker games, which also let you create your own levels for the moustachioed plumber to explore.
It’s fitting really — perhaps no company more than Nintendo benefited from Lawson’s breakthrough work on game cartridges, still in evidence today as the Nintendo Switch continues to favor the physical media format.
Here’s hoping that, like the games Lawson’s invention helped facilitate, that today’s Google Doodle sparks the imagination of some of the next generation of video game innovators out there.
And, with rumors that Apple might be set to create a search engine of its very own, here’s hoping that with it comes something as much of a daily delight as Google’s Doodle experiments.
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