I'm looking for a student for an M.Sc. in Computer Science at the University of Calgary. *This is a fully funded position.*

The project: building tools to help understand how "retro" video games were made under amazingly constrained circumstances. While it's a CS position, this is interdisciplinary work done in collaboration with archaeologists and others.

Needs: strong coding skills, good writing abilities. Ideally: low-level, reverse engineering, or compiler experience.

@herrprofdr Nitpicking on "retro"... strictly speaking I wouldn't say retro games were made under constrained circumstances (like memory, CPU and GPU) because of the meaning of the word retro (backwards looking, reviving old fashion). Even old retro games like Cave Story (2004) ran on GigaHertz machines. You can of course argue that the meaning of the word retro has changed, but then what is Cave Story? A Retro retro game?
"Retro gaming" might be fine though, maybe?
@androidarts Oh, "retro" is a *really* troublesome term to pin down, I agree - I gave a whole conference presentation on that once!
@herrprofdr Yeah, I saw you put it in quotes. I know everyone knows what is meant by it, but once I started thinking formalizing my thoughts around it, it kind of became irksome seeing it. Now it's like knowing the difference between optimal and ultimate, or knowing a full idiom that only gets quoted in part...

@androidarts @herrprofdr we all agree that we like the term retro. why not just hyphenate and/or add some words?

retro-inspired
retro-themed
etc?

this comes up a lot in the chiptune scene where people are debating whether someone's music is "chiptune" because someone is a part of that scene.

we don't have to use just one word. "cave story is a beautiful retro-themed indie game with pixelart and chiptune-inspired music." done.

pardon the toot gravedigging and late-night musing!