eli5: How do gamers figure out long cheat codes?
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For older games, like pre internet. There were magazines like Nintendo Power, and developers would send them cheat codes and they would print them. Sometimes they were in the games sleeve or booklet. So the headline would be like “exclusive new cheats for X!”. You then would share them and teach them to friends. For older consoles the code was more similar, as in there was a lot of cut and paste to use elements of already made games to save time. As such certain cheat codes that changed a parameter worked on multiple games for the same developer. So like a code sequence in “test audio” that turns off level clocks might work for a bunch of timed platformers made by the same company. There were even catalog books of cheat codes released now and then. Eventually cartridges like Game Shark came out, which allowed you to manually and semi-manually adjust a games code externally. The game slide into the Game Shark, which went in the console, then when turned on it went to it’s own modding screen where you could adjust code, make cheats, and even save them. They also had guides on common code sequences and how to adjust them for desired results, like make you invincible. It wasn’t super intuitive. This led people to understand the code, and now moders just use their computer to manipulate code and developers don’t need to put in cheats or codes cause the players will do it for free.
The true start of cheat codes is “Easter Eggs” and they predate video games. It comes from art, and film. Artists say conscripted to paint someone they don’t like, might sneak something in that means something to them but otherwise goes unnoticed. Eventually animators and such started doing it in film. Coders and game designers wanted to add something unique to their collective work, so they added little cheat codes and secrets to the games. Another big reason for cheats and codes is testing the game, a coder might add invincibility so they don’t have to learn the game to test maps and boundaries are working. That code is in the base of the game from the start and can’t be removed later, so the activation of that test setting is left in the game and leaked latter.
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